Hallmark Movies

Who’s Coming for Christmas?

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“If You Cook It, They Will Come”

I ended up quite liking this one. Rhiannon Fish plays Julie, a newcomer to the town of Mission, who has been hired as the head librarian of the local public library. First of all, Yay for librarians. A profession that is so much more to my liking than dress designer or baker. She is very excited about her mission of introducing more young readers to the joys of the library. To that end, her new project is the Christmas Corner, to introduce books to kids centered around the holiday. One day she checks out a ton of books for a father and his teenage daughter. Mark (Jake Foy) confides that his daughter Vanessa (Mila Morgan) is a writer as well as a voracious reader. He is set on giving his daughter the best Christmas ever as this is the first Christmas they will have without his ex wife who’s off with her new husband somewhere. Immediately, sparks start to fly between Mark and Julie. Being warm, friendly, and a font of good advice to all and sundry, she is already well on her way to making friends with everyone she meets including Mark and Vanessa, who, as it turns out, live in her same neighborhood. Inspired by Vanessa, Julie has added a new initiative, “Christmas Voices” to The Christmas Corner, where kids will sign up to share and read their own writings to others. Unfortunately, Vanessa is shy and hesitates to sign up.

Julie is also busy getting settled in on the home front. The centerpiece of her huge new house is her Nana’s beautiful dining room table for eight, which was delivered by a friendly and nice delivery guy (a fantastic Trezzo Mahoro), who Julie, of course, quickly makes friends with. Accompanying the table is a large framed needlepoint of her grandmother’s words of wisdom, “Prepare for what you want and have faith that it will find you”. That sounds nice, but just don’t think about it too hard. Also a mysterious locked box. While setting up her new dining room in her huge new house, she calls on Mark to help her with hooking up the chandelier. Julie bemoans the fact that it looks like she will not be able to carry on Nana’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner around the table as she had so fondly hoped. But inspired by Nana’s words, she decides to go ahead and start planning the dinner for 8, even though no one has even been invited yet. Mark will introduce her around town and help her plan the dinner for the as yet phantom guests. In return, Julie will help Mark with his holiday plans with his daughter. Both Mark and Julie are clearly smitten with each other, especially Mark. So two weeks before Christmas, Julie starts inviting her new friends and acquaintances to her Christmas Eve dinner. Unfortunately everyone turns her down or makes their attendance conditional on other plans. Now mind you, they all have legitimate excuses that take precedence over a random invitation, but finally, Mark steps up to the rescue. His family will be visiting him from out of town, and he will bring them over for the feast.

As it gets closer to Christmas, Julie, again with the advice, helps Mark see that his daughter would just like one on one time with him rather than all the elaborate plans. And Mark helps Julie with the dinner. But disaster looms when his family is prevented from coming to Mission because of a snowstorm. It looks like it’s just going to be the three of them and a 30lb turkey with all of the fixin’s. Will Nana’s needlepoint prove to just be some new age gobbledygook (No pun intended) or will Julie’s faith in her Nana’s advice be rewarded with a full table of guests afterall? There’s a little twist at the end involving the contents of Nana’s mysterious box, and I like the way all of the threads came together at the end with a spate of happy endings. It was nice. As was the success of Christmas Voices which included, at last, Vanessa. It put a smile on my face, anyway.

I’ve made no secret in some of my past reviews of not liking Rhiannon Fish’s acting style. Most, it seems to me, find her absolutely adorable. Despite her beauty, I’m not one of those. I have found her a little too fervent, for lack of a better word. She was very much an eager-beaver in this one too, but her portrayal seemed to flow more from the script rather than relying too much on overly animated facial expressions and mannerisms. I liked her pretty well in this. Hopefully Hallmark will cooperate with keeping the ditz to a minimum in her future roles as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Adopting St. Nick

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Fast Times at Jolly Acres

When you are going to have a movie based around a St. Nick character, it’s very very important to have a St. Nick one can feel really drawn to. I’m not sure whether I am an outlier here, but this portrayal just didn’t do it for me. He was very nice looking, but a touch too corporate looking for me. But my main problem was the smile he had plastered on his face through practically the whole thing which too often turned into a grimace, even when he was talking. I just didn’t like the vibe. He was good with the eye-twinkling though.

Our main character, Maren Pollock, played by always good-to-see Amy Groening, owns the local Hardware store in Bright Creek which she has worked in all her life, and which she inherited from her late father. Not ever much into dating, we are told, but always wanting to be a Mom, she adopted her daughter Leah when she was a baby and who is now 10 years old, I believe. Five years ago her father died, and Maren has buried herself in her work, taking all burdens cheerfully on her shoulders, and going all out helping others because that’s how she is, but also to bury her sadness. She is yet another example of a sufferer of Hallmark Heroine Syndrome, closing herself off from meaningful relationships to avoid disappointment and hurt (except for her best friend and righthand woman, Josie, and Leah, of course.) The very much sidelined character of Josie was played by Stephanie Sy, who was wasted in the role. Time for her to be promoted to head girl like Amy Groening. About 3 weeks before Christmas Leah meets Kris Patterson in the hardware store, who reminds her of her late grandfather, whom she misses very much. He is an escapee visitor from Jolly Acres, a new retirement community in town. That name. Don’t get me started. I did not find it at all suitable for a nice retirement community, and it was not even meant ironically. Leah wants to sign up for their Adopt-a-Grandparent program that is going on, and Maren and Kris are more than happy to oblige. Thus, Maren and Leah start to get involved in all the Christmas activities at Jolly Acres. They meet Reid, the man in charge of opening new locations of Jolly Acreses all over the country and the attraction between the two adults is immediate. Conveniently, Maren is on the spot when Reid loses his contractor in the middle of renovating The Great Room for the center, which was to be a main attraction for the Grand Opening and Celebration. Maren, known locally as The Handy Ma’am, who can fix anything and knows people, takes over the project, which further throws her and Leah together with Reid and Kris.

Meanwhile, Leah has gotten the idea that Kris is really Santa Claus and is taking notes on everything he says and does that supports that theory. And there is a lot. He is always making lists, has a way with reindeer, always looking at a world globe, wants to know what the weather will be on Christmas Eve, and can turn on Christmas tree lights with the wave of his hand. For most of the movie, everything goes super smoothly with the renovation, the romance, and Leah’s investigation. A little too smoothly, actually. The only cloud on the horizon is the transitory nature of Reid’s life since childhood. He has always moved from place to place and he doesn’t even have a Christmas Tree! But not for long! That is a situation not to be tolerated in a Hallmark movie where homes do not just have one tree, but usually at least 3. Just when Reid is starting to think about settling down in friendly and nice Bright Creek, things come to a head when he gets his next assignment from “corporate” which will be in Honolulu. Needless to say this puts a damper on the nicely percolating romance. And then the ceiling to the Great Room collapses and the plumbing leaks all over Maren’s beautiful renovations.

Everything is solved and wrapped up romance-wise and career-wise in typical Hallmark fashion. Except, happily once again, we forego the dumb and totally avoidable last minute misunderstanding between the sweethearts. I think Hallmark has finally gotten the message in that regard. Next on the agenda is the almost-kiss-interrupted.  As to the final determination as to whether Kris Patterson’s last name is really  Kringle, no spoilers here in that regard. You will just have to watch it. It’s not a spectacular effort but perfectly watchable, even without your full attention.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

What If Christmas

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“I Know Things”

Saturday, we had an amnesia Christmas theme and Sunday night we have an alternate reality Christmas! Two of my favorites!  Yes, they have been done before and maybe better. This one is very similar in plot beats to Hallmark’s A Dream of Christmas starring Deloache and Walker, one of my favorite Christmas movies. This one had a lighter, less angsty tone (from what I remember of the older movie). Also, this one was about an older firmly established couple, probably in their 50s. That change also reminded me of  2021’s excellent A Kiss Before Christmas. Although it didn’t quite come up to the two earlier movies, it was an excellent start to Countdown to Christmas.  I know this weekend was not the first weekend , but since it’s not even Halloween yet, I will still call it a start.

Erin  and Adam are a happily married couple who have recently moved back to New York City from Boston. Adam is Chief of Cardiac Surgery, and Erin is his supportive wife who had found fulfillment and purpose raising money for the Boston hospital through the annual Christmas Gala. In Boston, her pet project was to enable patients to have the cardiac surgeries they needed and who otherwise could not afford them. But in New York City, she finds she is not needed in the important role spearheading their Christmas gala. It is doing just fine under the current director of the foundation. When she is offered the job as a coat checker, it serves as quite the wake-up call. At loose ends with nothing important to do, she starts to wonder what life would be like had she not given up her promising career as a dress designer when she got married. Thanks to an expensive heart ornament and a Christmas market Santa Claus, who asks her what she wants for Christmas, her wish is granted and she wakes up the next morning alone in a strange sumptuous apartment. Obviously Erin is unfamiliar with Hallmark movies because otherwise she would have known not to make Christmas Wishes around mysterious Santa Clauses. They might have great power. She is without a loving husband but she is now a very busy and important dress designer. Humor and drama ensue, but mostly humor as she struggles to understand what is happening and eventually finding her feet in her new role. But she is lonely.  One day, hanging around Adam’s hospital, she literally bumps into him by chance. Shocked and ecstatic, she gives him a big hug, but he has no idea who she is.  Adam is bowled over figuratively as well as literally by this beautiful woman, and they start to see each other. One of the ways they bond anew is in the coffee shop where they have a lot of fun ordering custom-made coffees and cocoas from the deadpan barista. (who has the Gen-Z stare down pat, I might add). I love that they just have their boisterous fun despite her poker-faced and apathetic service-It was a nice humorous relatable touch. As the warm and kind Christmas-loving person she now is, she makes a lot of changes in the life of her cold and career-focused alternate reality self. From her new perspective as a famous VIP now involved with Adam’s hospital, she also sees how she can contribute there as Adam’s wife in her “old” life. If she can only get back there.

I was very happy to have the story about an older couple, which allowed the talented Loughlin and Cavanagh to play their ages. I admit I was a little dubious about Lori Loughlin as our heroine. It’s been awhile and she’s never exactly blown me away before, but on the other hand she’s never given a performance that got on my bad side either. I really liked her in this. She was well cast in the role both as the wife of a prominent surgeon and as an elite dress designer. Classy and refined, but warm and spontaneous enough to be likable. She and Tom made a perfect match with great chemistry.  I’ve been a fan of quirkily charming Tom Cavanagh for many years, especially lately as Brooke Shields’  love interest in the mystery series You’re Killing Me. Rosemary Dunsmore plays fashion designer Erin’s even more successful and famous rival and frenemy Margot Braymire. It always makes me happy when this busy Canadian actress pops up in shows because of her role as Katherine in Anne of Avonlea.

In changing the life of her alternate reality self for the better, Erin also effects positive change in the lives of people she meets that she knew in her old life. But will she stay where she is now with her new career and apparently also continuing a new relationship with Adam, or go back to her previous life, armed with the knowledge she gained in her “dream life”? One unexpected bit of news tips the balance. The script is low-key but well written, with quite a few humorous lines and scenes.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Forgotten Holiday

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“Sam Darnold won a Super Bowl?”

I’m a sucker for a good amnesia story. And Forgotten Holiday was a pretty interesting love story, that didn’t always go down the predictable path. It opens with antique dealer Kathryn Liu snagging an antique projector out from under craftsman and restorer of vintage machines (I paraphrase), Rob Ashford’s, nose. In the ensuing banter, Rob (Daniel Lissing) falls head over heels for Kathryn (Janel Parrish). Kathryn, not so much, but she is interested. It is difficult for them to get together for a date during the busy holiday season. One of the events Rob has to attend is his family’s extreme extravaganza of a one-night cookie bake, in which they bake almost 1000 cookies for charities across New York City. He is thrilled when she suggests she accompany him there for their first date. He loves Christmas and his large welcoming and rambunctious family. Kathryn feels overwhelmed but settles in pretty well, which is quite the feat, considering she barely know him, and his family is *a lot.*

Some things become apparent as she is nicely grilled by his family. Kathryn is not a big Christmas person. The only “Christmas tradition” she has is a Christmas Eve pancake breakfast with her father. She is an only child and comes from a broken home. Her mother lives across the country with the man she remarried, and her father has been re-married and divorced twice and currently dating a woman who will presumably be wife #4. Rob’s family has always been happily intact and headed by his mother (Gabrielle Rose), a former judge, and his father, a former District Attorney. They live in a large home surrounded by their grandchildren courtesy of his older sister, Amy. Also, Kathryn was briefly and unhappily married 15 years ago in college. So although Amy and her father run a very successful antiques business together, Kathryn and Rob’s backgrounds and emotional foundations are as different as can be. Nevertheless, we jump ahead a year later and the two are happily still dating and getting ready for the holidays. One night, eager-beaver Rob pulls out a diamond ring and a marriage proposal. Kathryn is shocked and runs away in a panic. Rob is devastated and calls his sister Amy, who tells him to get in the car and come over to her house. On the way he has a car wreck. He is fine but now has a kind of amnesia where he remembers everything but the past year and his relationship with Kathryn. When she hears about his accident and rushes to the hospital, he has no idea who she is, although his family, assuming she accepted his proposal of marriage, assures him that she is his fiancee. Shades of While You Were Sleeping! Only his sister knows the truth, and given the circumstances, they continue the charade, especially since the Doctor thinks it would be a fine idea to try to relive the last year’s progression of their relationship to help him regain his memory. So that’s the set-up.

They start going on some of the same dates and dates that they planned on, and although Rob likes Kathryn and Kathryn still loves Rob, the dates themselves surprisingly do not go well. Also, He is no longer Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs about Christmas either. So what’s going on? They start to get on the same page again even though Rob is kind of different. Still nice, still wholesome, but more down to earth when it comes to Kathryn. Kathryn is afraid of losing him again once he remembers everything and finds out the truth about their non-engagement.

So there was a lot in this one to interest and engage. Will his family, particularly his intimidating and more than a little suspicious mother find out the truth? Will Kathryn be able to conquer her fear of commitment? They looked so happy and in love in the numerous photos we see of them together. What about their different backgrounds? Why isn’t Rob crazy about Christmas anymore? (I still am not sure about that one.) What’s going to happen when Rob regains his memory? It all culminates in a charity gala where a vintage Jukebox that Rob had been restoring is auctioned off.

I thought this romance had a little more depth and subtlety than usual. While Janelle Parish’s Kathryn was the same person throughout the movie, Daniel Lissing’s Rob was like two different people before and after the amnesia.  Pre-accident Rob was very intense and overwhelming. I didn’t blame Kathryn for running from his proposal in a panic. I liked Amnesia Rob much better, and so did Kathryn. But she obviously loved the old (new?) Rob as well. Who wouldn’t love a great handsome guy who was so smitten with you?  His mother Meryl, sister Amy (Jennifer Oleksiuk), and Kathryn’s father (Eric Yue) were the three other important characters and all three actors were great. Janel Parrish and Gabrielle Rose have a scene together in Meryl’s kitchen later in the movie that was a real standout, and also pleasantly surprised me. I had a little quibble with the intrusive product placement (which turned out to be an actual unboxing) and Lissing’s character got a little petulant once or twice at the end, which I didn’t like.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

‘Tis the Season for Setups

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It’s the Acting, Stupid!

This movie premiered Friday night October 16th, and marked the official beginning of Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas.” So we have two couples here, and a daughter. We are introduced to a mother/daughter duo (Barbara Niven and Amanda Shull) and a father/son (John Lowe and Victor Webster). Of the mother/daughter team, Amanda plays Lexi who is uptight, very organized, risk-adverse, and everything that that entails. She makes lists and then laminates them. Her mother June is a world traveler and a fun free spirit and everything that that entails. We have the same dynamic with the father and son except the son (Victor Webster as Ridge) is the fun-loving, easily distracted, and sometimes unreliable one, and his father Dan, is the more down to earth buckled down one. This dynamic between the potential couples is a Hallmark favorite, along with the old reliable pursuit of Work/Life balance. They often go together. Lexi’s daughter doesn’t have too much to do except to make Lexi feel bad through most of the movie that she is not “the fun one,” and was too serious and focused on work to be fully present for her daughter while she was growing up.

Dan owns a ski-lodge where his son is now working. There is friction between them because Ridge’s fly by the seat of his pants approach means that sometimes tasks are not completed on time and bills are paid a little late. Ridge feels his father doesn’t trust him and his ways and is over controlling. For good reason, from what I saw. Dan is throwing a big Christmas Party for his guests and through mutual friends hires Lexi who is a party planner. It isn’t long before Ridge and Lexi, seeing the rapport their parents have despite their opposite personalities, start conspiring to get them together, hoping they will balance each other out. Ridge hopes that this will get his father off his back and Lexi hopes a serious relationship will keep her mother at home. Needless to say, Dan and June are not the only ones to fall in love and learn from each other. The romances practically write themselves. I would say “no surprises here!” but in fact there is a little fun twist at the end.

This one really worked for me. The plot was nothing new, but the acting was terrific. Amanda Schull brought a vulnerability to her rigid super-capable character that was touching. She often had a sad and confused look when dealing with her mother and daughter which made me really feel for her. But she was funny too. There is a scene with her laminator that….Well. Victor Webster has never looked more attractive and though I mostly sympathized with his father’s frustrations, I couldn’t help but like him. The tension between his mature and commanding looks and his light way with a line was disarming.  John Lowe brought enough jolliness to his role that his pushiness never got too much. And of course Barbara Niven was wonderful as always. She is one of the best Hallmark actresses and stole every scene she was in. I thought the chemistry between the two couples was engaging, but I felt like the romance was secondary to them embracing their own good qualities but also learning some balance. But this was Amanda Schull’s movie. After she starts loosening up a bit, her daughter tells her, “You’re so cool, Mom!” Her surprised and gratified reaction was priceless.  Her stability and hard work helped her raise a great kid who also thinks she is cool. Wow. Is that every parent’s dream? It was a solid start to Christmas Movie season.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story

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The Windy City is Mighty Pretty

This is the third Holiday Touchdown movie Hallmark has done in what appears to be a #CountdowntoChristmas tradition in the making. The previous two…well let’s not go there. Except that the second one was better than the first, and I didn’t much like it thanks to a super-dumb story line involving the secondary love story. I was actually looking forward to this one because I am very partial to the two leads, Robert Buckley who plays Fireman Matt, and Lyndsy Fonseca who plays Avery, a freelance journalist. They did not disappoint, thank goodness. Although not spectacular, this one was the best of the bunch. They are trending upward, at least.

NYC-based Avery is on vacation in Chicago visiting her mother who has recently re-married Ron, a local sports bar owner. Our Heroine is a little discombobulated, because she still misses her late father, and the mother she reunites with at Ron’s bar, is now a sports Bears fan and really loves her new life helping her husband run the bar. She is fully emersed in her whole new community and set of friends. Avery feels out of place in her mother’s life now, and understandably is cautious about fully embracing her nice welcoming Step-Dad. While waiting for her Mom to end her shift*, she has a no-spillage meet-cute with a guy at the bar. Later, she meets up with her ex-boyfriend who works for the Chicago Herald, and she agrees to do a story on a local woman who is about to attend her 500th Bears game. Her first point of contact is her grandson who has been emailing the Herald about doing a story about his grandma’s fast approaching milestone. He turns out to be the same guy she liked at the bar! It turns out that he and his grandmother, along with her very active friend group, are good friends with her mom, new step dad, and their crowd. They are all just like one big happy family! Even though Avery is happy for her Mom’s new life, this still kind of adds to her feelings of alienation, symbolized by her Mom not baking their traditional sugar cookies and baking ginger cookies instead. Yes, the ubiquitous baking/bonding montage is definitely in their future. We meet Matt’s grandmother, Darlene, who is described as a “sparkplug” who “makes friends wherever she goes”, and she turns out to be Marsha Mason of The Goodbye Girl and other Neil Simon scripted plays and movies! Her character could have been super annoying, but played by the accomplished actress, she was beautiful, wonderful, and charming. She also looks years younger than the actor who plays her son, Matt’s Dad. It’s not his fault, it’s just weird casting. While writing the article about Darlene, Matt and Avery build on their initial attraction and fall into “really really like” against the Chicago background, ably assisted by the matchmaking efforts of his grandmother.

**Spoilers**

By the end, Avery and her mother have a heart-to-heart and bake the cookies and Avery turns out to be a “Cornhole Savant” thus bonding with Ron, her mother’s new husband. There is an absolutely hilarious scene at a Cornhole Tournament parodying a classic cliche which is a fixture in all sports movies. You’ll know it when you see it. I am happy to report that the last minute drama before the HEA is not provided by a stupid misunderstanding between Avery and Matt, but by Darlene possibly missing “Da Bears” planned half time tribute to her on the Jumbotron. She made it in time thanks to Matt borrowing a firetruck to careen through the curiously empty (Thank God!) streets of Chicago to get her there. Avery is offered a position at the Chicago Herald which blows away the dark cloud of the perilous long-distance-relationship for the new couple.

Knowing that these football movies will attract a lot of viewers that may not necessarily be Hallmark fans, and, in fact, may indeed be Hallmark-averse, the producers include a lot of scenes to interest those viewers. As with the others, here, there is a lot of talk about Chicago attractions, food, and such, including locations filmed in Chicago to entertain fans of The Windy City. And of course they also do a great job catering to Bears fans with enough history, lore, artifacts, and talk to delight the most rabid devotee. Drifting in and out of various scenes are real retired and beloved Bears players and current star players, many with actual speaking lines. Sadly, we have to be satisfied with just a statue of Mike Ditka (RIP, Iron Mike.) The Irish Nobleman Pub which plays a big part of the story, is a real iconic Chicago institution, although it was never owned by Mike Ditka as the movie fictionally claims. There were welcome cameos by Hallmark regulars Tamara Mobley-Housely and Marilu Henner as well as the same Santa Claus (Abraham Benrubi) that was in the previous Holiday Touchdown movies.

Hallmark seemingly consults with football experts before deciding which football team they will feature in their Countdown to Christmas schedule and pick one that is likely to be successful. So far, being featured in the Holiday Touchdown movie of the year has been more of a curse than a blessing. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for Bears’ QB, Caleb Williams who was felled by a torn hamstring in game #2.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
  • Fun Fact: She is reading a 1921 novel by Edna Ferber set in Chicago. So whoever is responsible for that little set addition, Good For You! It was noticed and appreciated.

The Spirit of Halloween

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A Halloween Carol

When I saw the previews for this, I thought this one had a good chance of being one I really might like. But unfortunately for me it was a case of the previews being the best part of the movie. It was a Halloween version of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, the basis of several recent Hallmark Countdown to Christmas movies. Which makes perfect sense, right? After all, the spooky ghosts of the Dickens classic fit right in with a Halloween theme. I really liked what I saw of one of the ghosts, and a scene they showed of Meghan Ory, the lead who played the Scrooge character, was funny and she was cute in it.

Meghan plays Everly, a fashion designer who specializes in wedding dresses. We first see her stalking to work being all Scrooge-y about Halloween and all of its paraphernalia. We soon find out that she was publicly humiliated at the annual Fire Station Halloween Bash many years ago, and that has permanently cast a blight on her Halloweens. Along with that, as is usual with Hallmark heroines, it has caused her to erect walls around herself and close herself off both to love and in her professional life and her other relationships. And also, as usual with these characters, the big traumatic event has something to do with a man. Hallmark heroines are traditionally very fragile flowers when it comes to romantic disappointment. One setback and the whole trajectory of their lives is down the tubes. In addition to keeping Beau (Kevin McGarry), a great guy who loves her, and a fireman to boot, firmly in the friend zone, she has also quashed the ambitions of Tracy, her talented and loyal assistant. Her refusal to avoid risk and otherwise open herself up to change is symbolized by turning down opportunities to make custom Halloween costumes during the season. Specifically, a couples costume, Avocado on Toast, designed by Tracy.

The night before Halloween, Everly is visited by the ghosts of, you know, past, present and future, to show her the error of her ways and help her turn her life around. The ghosts were the best part of the movie, particularly her dead former mentor, Anna Watkins, filling the role of Jacob Marley, and Grant, The Ghost of Christmas, I mean Halloween, Future, played by and Lochlan Quarmby. He had a lot of charisma.

When he takes her 10 years in the future she gets her final wakeup call when he shows her Beau, her childhood “friend”, playing with two little munchkins that she knows are not theirs, because she would be around 50 at this time. So would he, but he apparently found himself a much younger woman. Also her business has been taken over by her continually thwarted assistant and she is relegated to slaving away at her sewing machine all alone in her house. Lessons learned, she emerges on Halloween morning a changed woman, bent on making amends to Tracy and Beau. The Tracy situation goes well, but Beau is not as cooperative as she had hoped. She forgets the lessons learned and proceeds to hide herself under the covers instead of attending the fateful Fire Station Bash. This serves as the 15 minutes-to-go romantic setback and tension builder.

The production values of this movie were up to snuff and of course the Ghosts helping our doomed heroine change the trajectory of her life were a reliable if predictable plot device. The script was OK, though for me, the jokes didn’t land. I enjoyed Meghan Ory’s performance in the short snippets we saw in the preview. I liked her cheerfulness and energy. And she brought that animated performance to the whole role. But that became a problem for me. She maintained that high energy regardless of where she was in her journey with little nuance or modulation. Her crying scenes were unconvincing. Frankly, and I suspect this is an unpopular opinion, her exuberant performance got on my last nerve. I don’t know if it was the actress’s interpretation, or the Director’s, but it didn’t work for me. Unfortunately.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

A Knight to Remember

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“When I Wished for My Heart to be Turned to Stone, I Meant It Metaphorically!”

Hallmark’s time travel romances are amongst some of the best movies that Hallmark has made.* There’s something about the fish out of water trope that practically guarantees humor. I usually can summon up a certain degree of sympathy and empathy for the time travelers while they are being taught a much needed lesson. Which of course translates into a character arc for them or for people around them whom they influence. And then there’s the overarching curiosity and concern over how such an impossible situation is going to be resolved for the happy ending. Unfortunately, with “Knight” the filmmakers’ reach exceeded its grasp. Having a movie about an 15th century English  knight being plopped down into 2026 Chicago, USA was just a little too ambitious. There were just too many difficult hurdles to overcome to make a movie believable enough for me to  suspend disbelief and engage my full interest and investment. It could have been done, but time and money are too often an obstacle with Hallmark. Although pretty good, with an often cute script, they glossed over way too many improbabilities and plot holes to list. It was cute and at least it was different. So Hallmark does get props for that. I appreciate it when they rock the boat a bit and try something new.

The story opens in 1428 with Sir Griffin of Beauford, a knight with a 21st century haircut, on the eve of his arranged marriage to Lady Beatrice. He is on a hill gazing at the stars and consulting with his dead mother who is also up there somewhere. All of a sudden the stars and planets start moving together and as they are aligning, he wishes that his heart would turn to stone until “he finds what makes it whole.” By which he means finding true love, obviously, which is apparently not Lady Beatrice. He promptly and literally turns into a stone statue. Thanks, Mom. Flash forward to a museum in Chicago where our heroine is receiving a newly discovered medieval stone statue that she is to clean and restore for an exhibition. She uncovers a message on the statue that says “I Shall Not Wake But By the Kiss.” Being a normal girl, of course she kisses the statue, and low and behold the statue comes to life. Guess who? It is our handsome and noble knight in the flesh! The usual antics ensue. She takes him back to her “chambers” where he marvels over cars (foul beasts) indoor plumbing (“indoor rain as hot or cold as one likes!”), and modern appliances, (How can there be warmth with no fire?!) The fashion choices of 21st century women and men are strangely unremarked upon. Naturally he goes walkabout when she goes back to work the next morning, and rescues a kite from a tree and catches a robber  while on a borrowed stallion, to the admiring gazes of the female audience. Emily finds him while panicking on the phone with her best friend (Methinks I have found my quarry!) and in a nod to the “Fall into Love” Hallmark theme, she introduces him to Pumpkin Spice Lattes. (It’s a kind of gourd.) All of this is complicated by Emily (of Porter) and “Griffin”, who were caught leaving the museum by the surveillance cameras, being accused of stealing the stone statue by the FBI. And the investigating agent just happens to be her very unlikable ex-husband who has caused her to be love-averse. Hello?! Conflict of Interest! Hello?! How could they possibly carry out an 800 lb. marble statue out of the building in full view of cameras? Hello?! He broke into her apartment without a warrant looking for evidence! The eyebrows of even a casual fan of police procedurals would spike at any one of these faux pas. And I am not a casual fan. Anyway, with the help of her best friend Ivy, who is an astrology fan and in on the whole thing, they discover (long story that didn’t bear thinking about too hard) that the same alignment of planets that turned him into a statue is going to repeat in 3 days. If he doesn’t want to be turned back into stone forever, his true love must admit her love before the fateful hour.

A lot of prominent Hallmark actors took part in this movie. Julie Gonzalo plays Emily and as usual, she was just fine. Her real life husband, Chris McNally, had a small cameo, and the harried museum director was played by Matty Finochio (Welcome back!). Britt Irvin was great as Emily’s best friend, Ivy, who has a bit of a secondary romance with a Renfaire guy. Sir Griffin was played by James Trevena in his first foray into Hallmarkland as the lead, but I hope not his last. He was very handsome and perfectly cast as the romantic Knight. But he was also good in the role and quite endearing. He made a nice statue as well. Ivy’s brother who was also a much needed lawyer, is played by David James Lewis who is a very familiar face. He plays a good guy in this one. Even the tiny role of the apartment janitor was played by Liza Huget whose been in like over 12 other Hallmarks.

**Mild Spoilers**

After Emily and Sir Griffin are cleared of all charges thanks to Ivy’s brother, and Sir Griffin is saved from being permanently turned into stone, he is sent on a world tour. The museum made an exhibit featuring him playing Sir Griffin of Beauford and Emily will be coming along as the permanent curator. Imagine that. The whole resolution and ending had a “Well…Bye!” feel about it, leaving many unanswered questions.  Like how was Griffin going to get a passport for his world tour?

Rating: 7 out of 10.

*My 10 Favorite Time Travel Hallmarks (in very rough order)

Pumpkin Regatta Romance

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Rise of the Giant Squashes

To say I was dubious about this one is an understatement. I mean, A regatta race using giant hollowed out pumpkins as boats? Come on, now. All I could think of was the slime.  I thought this was one of those spurious Hallmark disconnects from reality that many of their movies are based on. But to my surprise, Pumpkin Regattas are a real thing! (in the far north like Oregon, Maine and Canada, far far from where I live.) They actually work as boats and are not as unstable and precarious as they look. The portrayal of the role of the giant pumpkins in the plot of this movie was actually fairly authentic. Unlike the actual squashy props. But thanks to the acting and the fall vibes, I enjoyed this movie.

Nadine is determined to bring back the Pumpkin Regatta after her recently widowed father and Andrew, his former best friend and co-founder of the regatta, cancelled it. They got into a fight when Andrew accidentally bumped George’s giant floating gourd during the race and George accused him of doing it on purpose to cheat him and win the race. Nadine is disgusted that the childish feud between her dad George and Andrew is depriving the whole community of an event that everyone looked forward to every year. And Andrew’s son, Ethan, her youthful crush, agrees with her. I was pretty disgusted as well. Grumpy old men who try to control their grown children are a pet peeve of mine in Hallmark movies. Also, George hates change and refuses to let Nadine make modern improvements to their marina boat shop. Another pet peeve. Along with their friends, Nadine and Ethan start to organize the event behind George and Andrew’s backs. And the stakes are a little higher this year because they decided to make it a fund-raising event to help the son of a public-spirited but poor single mother send her son to University. I was all for this sneaky behavior, because why should two silly old coots have all that say over whether a community event goes forward or not? Well, unfortunately, as Nadine and Andrew find out, they can’t get the permit without George’s signature, as he owns the land and marina where the festivities must take place. Ethan’s Dad is retired from the farm that grows the pumpkins. Ethan now runs it, but he and his supportive mother still try to keep him out of the loop to avoid unpleasantness. So that’s the set up. Ethan and Nadine re-ignite their romance while running around organizing everything and baking Cake Pops while keeping their leafy, crafty, pumpkin-y, apple-cidery, and fire-pit activities a secret from their fathers. Not to mention their budding relationship. Nadine hopes against hope that once her Dad is presented with a fait accompli, the community enthusiasm, and all the work she put into it, that he will sign the permit allowing the regatta to take place.

It was all pretty standard stuff for a Hallmark, but what made this movie special and enjoyable were the actors and the writing. Nadine is played by Emmy-winning Mishael Morgan who was one of the stars of last year’s  little 4 parter, Hearts Around the Table. She was very likable and very good in this. Her chemistry with Corey Sevier who played Nathan was natural and believable. Corey Sevier is one of my favorite Hallmark stars and he was great as usual. Loved the flannel and the puffy vests. The young actor who played Sam, the hopeful recipient of the college money raised by the regatta, was a cutie pie and very sweet. Ethan’s Mom was played by Paula Boudreau. She took a nothing part and made it charming and interesting. And to top it all off, a top favorite of mine, Jake Epstein, had a small part as The Mayor, who had a yen for Nadine. At the end it appears that there might be a romance on the horizon between him and Ethan’s “good friend,” Lola who fit into the plot as the owner of an apple farm. Nadine was jealous of her but also tried to push Ethan off on her. Long story.  Of course I hated the antics of the two Dads, but finally moved by some plain truth telling by their loved ones, their contrition and their apologies to each other were so sincere that I couldn’t help but like them in the end. Their reconciliation scene was well written and satisfying. As were the fathers’ make-up scenes with Nadine and Ethan. George also added to the general happy atmosphere at the end by putting Nadine in charge of his business and embracing change. And the Giant Pumpkins were so-o-o-o-o fake, but also funny, and kind of awesome. Rounding up to **8 stars**. They took a gimmicky nothing idea and made it good.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Falling Into Place

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Falling Peacefully to Sleep.

This was the same, yet different. It included all of the usual Hallmark clichés and plot points that loyal watchers have come to expect and even rely on for their weekly dose of cozy happy romance. Yet this one took it to a whole other level of comfort and tranquility. We have the successful city girl, Kaia (Alvina August) going back to her small hometown. But she is not on any kind of mission. She is not there to stage a takeover of a beloved institution or recover from a failed romance. Nope. She is just taking a weeks vacation to attend her High School reunion and to visit her Gigi:  BJ Harrison, Hallmark’s go-to when a wise elderly black woman is required. Don’t get me wrong, I love her. She’s great. There were a lot of comforting familiar faces in this one. Kaia’s boss is demanding and always calling her on her phone, but she is not a bully, she’s nice. Kaia’s career is at a turning point, but there is no deadline she has to meet to secure the promotion she has worked for all her life, or to not be fired. In fact, she gets the promotion halfway through the movie. Her boss keeps calling her because Kaia is hesitant to accept, as this is taking her even further away from what she originally loved about the job: helping the little people rather than big corporations.

She meets old high school best friend, James (Nathan Witte), who has a back-to-nature type career, in contrast to her own. They fall in love while reconnecting trying to complete their High School bucket list. Is a bucket list for 18-year-olds a thing? I don’t think so. But it is Hallmark, after all. Their mission is to check off such aspirational endeavors such as “Win the Maplecrest Scarecrow Contest,” “Obtain the Super-Secret Recipe for the Apple Cider Doughnuts at the Mill,” “Make Mr. Winters Smile,” and “Win King and Queen of the Harvest.” The easy stuff, like “Jump into a Pile of Leaves,” had already been checked off 20 years ago. Like Kaia, James has no tragic romantic history to explain why he is still single at 38 when he is so eligible as far as looks, character, and professional success. There are not even any interested townswomen waiting to swoop down upon him like birds of prey. They just have a nice rekindling of their relationship with a few almost kisses. No lies, conflicts of interest, or secrets to complicate things. The only roadblock is that James lives in Maplecrest and Kaia’s life, so far, is in the city.

Kaia has a pregnant best friend of contrasting ethnicity who owns some kind of old-timey store with so many autumn flavored tchotchkes and decorations that I couldn’t really figure out what she sold there. Gigi is selling her house and set to move into an assisted living facility, but it is not against her will. In fact, she can’t wait to get to there with all its fancy amenities. The real estate agent is not greedy and looking to rip her off, but is the husband of Kaia’s best friend. So no stress there either.

There is a flirty baking scene. And there is a Fall Festival! But it doesn’t need to be saved, nor to raise money to save something else. There was that reliable little last minute drama in Kaia and James’ relationship but it was very little and not a stupid misunderstanding. James declares himself and wants to take their friendship to the next level but Kaia is still set on returning to the big city and her promotion (kinda), and is afraid of losing her friendship with James if something goes wrong in their romance. That was pretty weak, because no history of romantic disappointments had been established that might justify her fear of commitment.

Thanks to her best friend and her wise grandmother, Kaia does see the light and takes another position in her company that allows her to work remotely so she can stay in Maplecrest. And, Bonus! She can get back to helping needy small businesses instead of unappreciative Big Businesses. So Handy!

Anyway, this was an 84 minute masterpiece of calm, stress-free, and predictable viewing, amply decorated (but not too tackily) with Fall embellishments. James even wears at least one flannel shirt. Unfortunately it was so calm that I kept falling asleep. It took me hours to get through the whole thing, and even so, in my re-winding and fast forwarding I may have missed some important points. If this is the case, I apologize. I prefer the Hallmarks that are more out of the box and with a little suspense and drama. But I can certainly appreciate the appeal of ones like these. It didn’t make me mad or trigger contempt or disdain, so I’m giving it 7 stars.

Rating: 7 out of 10.