On the Road

I’ll Be Seeing You

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Follow the Leaves

Despite including S’mores,  the phrases, “It’s Complicated,” and “ You’ve got this”, I enjoyed this script’s overall intelligent dialogue and sparky banter between the four main characters.  The plot as a whole was the usual, unfortunately.  Over-planner and career oriented Amy ( check) goes on her journey to work/life balance (check) while communing with her grandmother (check) and falling in love on an actual journey (check). Needless to say she has to simultaneously get a contract signed upon which a greatly desired promotion and her whole career rests (check). The love interest is Mark, the activity director at her grandmother’s assisted living facility and he is, of course, a stop and smell the flowers, live in for the moment, breezing along with the breeze, tumblin’ tumbleweed type (check). While Mark and her grandmother are showing Amy that there is more to life than her career, he has to learn to stop going from pillar to post, forge a lasting relationship and put down roots (check). Fan Favorite Tyler Hynes (Mark) and and the lovely and charming Stacy Farber (Amy) lead a foursome which include the Tony Award-winning actress and singer Christine Ebersole as Amy’s grandmother, and Hallmark frequent flyer BJ Harrison in her usual role as a warm and wise elderly friend.  Both of the older actresses were sheer delights. The casting in this was great. I even liked Tyler Hynes’ character for most of the movie which is not usually the case. He does play a version of his usual charming misfit role, but in this one he is responsible, not weak, and good-humored rather than tortured. He had a natural and easy rapport with Stacy Farber which made for a good romance.  The whole foursome worked very well together which made for an enjoyable and engaging 84 minutes.

**Spoiler Alert**

Hard-working and ambitious Amy, her grandmother Vivien, and Vivien’s best friend Sue, have decided to spend their weekend together going on a 9-hour road trip down the Pacific coastline. Vivien wants to visit the charming town she has fond memories of where she met her first love, Teddy, in her youth. As they are ready to depart, Amy gets a call from her high-strung boss. She must, simply must, get a prospective client’s signature on a contract in person before Monday or no promotion. Luckily, the town that he lives in is in the general vicinity of their destination. On the way they get a flat tire and the seniors call their good friend Mark to come to the rescue and also to promote a match between him and Amy. The Three Musketeers become a quartet and, along with Mable, his VW micro-bus, they continue on their adventure. With no seatbelts, I might add. The usual ensues including a horoscope reading in which Sue is advised to “follow the leaves” which indeed do pop up from time to time to guide them on their way. In the town, a leaf guides them to look in a hole in a tree in which they find a message in a bottle left by her lost love Teddy. What. Are. The. Odds. This part could have been set-up much much more credibly.  The message “It’s in Teddy’s handwriting!!!” is for Vivien(!!) and tells her to come find him if she ever comes back to the town and finds the bottle. I mean…. Anyway, the road trip becomes a mission to find Teddy as well as get that contract signed.

Throughout the journey, Tyler (Mark) pretty much behaves himself being a good friend and support to the two seniors and falling in love with Amy (and vice versa). Their relationship and personal growth and journeys are believable and just nice. However, after some set-backs in both the Teddy and contract-signing fronts, Amy finally meets the client with contract in hand. He wants her to spend the afternoon with him walking him through the agreement and answering his questions. In other words, doing the job that she is being paid for. He hints that there are other parties interested in his invention. (She’s in Patent Acquisitions, which is a new one.) This presents a dilemma as this means Amy will miss Vivien’s big reunion with Teddy. She goes outside to explain to Mark who advises her to ditch her job responsibilities and leave with him right now (for no real reason other than his guilty conscience. No spoilers, but we get a bit of “Tortured Tyler” here) Thankfully, she does not, and Mark leaves her stranded with apparently no way back to Grandma in time for her big moment. So after an hour and 15 minutes of Tyler playing a character that I liked and had no beef with, he disappointed me once again. Mark and Amy get their heads on straight and It all turns out OK for all, including the inventor. But no apology from Mark. 🙁

Still, thanks to everything else good about this movie, and mostly due to the performances of all 4 actors and the characters of Vivian and Sue, this one is very well done.  It even includes good scenery which is almost a necessity on a road-trip romance. **7 1/2 stars**

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Journey to You

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Monica Gets a Pebble in Her Shoe and Falls off a Log

I’m sure this one will get a lot of criticism regarding its slow pace and many references to God and faith. But maybe not. Because honestly what would anyone expect from a Hallmark that was based on a workaholic nurse who goes on a Christian pilgrimage to learn to slow down and find balance in her life? The evening before Easter? Wouldn’t anyone guess what was in store for them with this movie and give it a pass if this kind of thing did not appeal to them? Those that stick with this past the first 15 minutes are those that are either masochists or appreciate more contemplative leisurely paced entertainment packed with lots of talk, walking, praying, nice scenery, life lessons, and inspirational religious stuff. At least the Hallmark version of all of the above.

Popular Hallmark actress Erin Cahill stars as Monica who is a Nurse Practitioner who has just been passed over for a long yearned for promotion to Practice Manager. This is very odd because she is a very hard worker and has been working very hard making herself indispensable to everyone, patients and colleagues alike, for a long time. She hasn’t been on vacation in 4 years, because, as she tells her new boss, “This place depends on me. I wouldn’t want to leave my patients high and dry.” Wow and Yikes. This to the woman who the higher ups hired instead of promoting her. And one who appreciates the value of teamwork. Maybe not so odd she got passed over, after all. After a talk with her mother and a visit to the chapel, Monica has a glimmer of self-awareness and decides to take up her mother’s suggestion that she would benefit from walking one of the routes of the Camino de Santiago. This is a Christian Pilgrimage through France and Spain that people take for many reasons: physical challenge, spiritual enlightenment, a break from modern life, renewal of their Christian faith, and in Monica’s case, to get a grip. Actor and famous devout Catholic Martin Sheen made a movie about this with his son Emilio Esteves called The Way.

Monica’s companions on her journey include a handsome divorced father, his teenage son, and his handsome not all that elderly father who is the same age as their wise and friendly guide, Consuela. It turns out that Monica’s glimmer of self-awareness was just the tiniest of glimmers. Her control freak ways have followed her to Spain. All of them have a lot to learn and no prizes for guessing that we will have two successful romances by journey’s end.

Even though the movie was not actually filmed along the Camino, it was filmed in Spain, and the scenery was a real plus. The characters were all likable, despite their flaws and weaknesses, especially Consuela who was an oasis of calm and wisdom. Even though the morals of the stories were nothing new and ones that Hallmark belabors on a regular basis, I liked the not too subtle suggestion that Monica’s journey was guided by a force greater than herself. Some of the coincidences turn out not to be coincidences. I liked it pretty well, but again, if you can’t tolerate talky faith-based leisurely movies stay far far away.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Jingle Bell Run

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Candy Canes and Cruciverbalism for the Win.

Besides starring two of their most popular and high profile leads in this “fun-type” Hallmark, This one did not have a lot to offer other than a tepid romance and high jinks. And I am not a fan of high jinks.

Avery, played by vivacious Ashley Williams is an elementary school teacher whose life, in her sister’s opinion, is too boring. Also, I think there is some mention of a recent romantic heartbreak situation. Or I could be mixing this one up with every other Hallmark ever made. Since she and the rest of her family are going away for Christmas, she has signed Avery up for “The Great Holiday Dash,” a national TV show where the chosen contestants are paired off and compete with the other couples in a series of games in cities across the country. The last couple standing wins a million dollars each. Avery is paired off with hunky Wes, a recently retired Hockey Player played by Andrew Walker. She being the brains and he being the brawn. We know he’s not the brains because he tries to argue 2 of the other contestants out of their airplane seats E and F on the way to Boston, their first location, because his and Avery’s tickets says C and D. And, according to Wes, Cs and Ds look like Es and Fs. At first I thought this might be a learning disability situation which might have been interesting. But No.

I will say that the script had some cute lines and humorous banter in the beginning while the two were at odds. But as they start to be a team and fall in love, it starts to get boring and repetitive. They get to know the hopes and dreams, and in one case, the tragic past, of the individuals on 2 of the other teams, which is how we know which of the 8 or so teams will be the final ones to be eliminated. As for Wes and Avery, we find out that Wes is vaguely estranged from his brother and his family, and Avery was a shy kid whose teacher let her spend her recesses in the library reading books. And now she loves being a school teacher where she too can help shy bookworms avoid recess.

Unfortunately, once again this year, Hallmark has shoehorned two of their most beloved and seasoned stars into scripts that are not age appropriate. I really thought they had gotten away from that, but it seems like sometimes they just can’t resist. It’s not that people in their mid forties couldn’t do well in such a race, but the games once they got to their destinations seemed too silly and a few, downright awkward. Maybe I’m just a stick in the mud. How do I know this script was meant for a more youthful cast? 45 year old Andrew Walker’s character retired last year and is struggling to find what he wants to do with the rest of his life. When Avery asks him why he retired, he tells her that when a Hockey player gets to age 30, it starts to take a toll on his body. So probably 31 or 32, scriptwise? A case could possibly be made for 35 at the oldest. It was kind of weird, because he could have said 37 or 38 instead of 30. And as attractive as Ashley Williams usually is, she is no 35 year old.

I was very disappointed that the last minute bust up happened due to the ol’ overheard conversation where the eavesdropper leaves before the whole story comes out trope. That dropped it a whole star. It had to do with some skullduggery on the part of the producer to increase viewership. Wes was complicit, until he wasn’t. No points for guessing what the scheme this entailed. I won’t say which couple wins the 2 million dollars, but be assured that no couple leaves devastated and with their dreams crushed.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Falling Like Snowflakes

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Flakey

It’s Christmas in July time at Hallmark only in June. It was nice to get back to a Christmas story in the summertime. All that cold weather and snow when it’ so hot outside! And in this one, the snow, or at least the flakes, were (was?) the starring attraction, not just white background.

Teagan is a photographer who specializes in taking pictures of snowflakes. She also  works closely with the community center as a photography teacher. Her best friend runs an Art Gallery and Teagan’s snowflakes are center stage. There are 35 main types of snowflakes and she has  photos of 34 of them. She has been on the hunt for the last one to complete her collection for 3 years, since her Mom died. If she finds it by Christmas Eve, a collector will not only buy all 35 of the pictures, but donate enough to the community center to fix everything that ails it. Finding the rare and elusive 12 sided stellar dendrite will be like finding a needle in a haystack but if the needle kept melting!

Anyway, and you won’t believe this, One of Teagan’s star students, Julie, is the daughter of Teagan’s former high school honey, Noah,  and he is a not-too-sad widower. Now that his wife is dead, he has returned to his old hometown after giving up his former career as a climate scientist (weatherman) to become the world’s worst professional snow plow driver. Not sure why he did that since since the usual loving grandparents or other hometown family who could mother his little girl were noticeably absent. The two prospective love interests meet, sparks fly, etc. Being a snow plow driver,  Noah volunteers to take Teagan to a gathering severe snow storm on a mountain to hunt for the snowflake that will complete her collection and save the community center. Driving around, looking at the scenery, and staying at an Inn, they get to know each other. Excitement occurs when Noah runs into some black ice and crashes his snow plow into a snowbank. Now you would think that wouldn’t be a problem for a snow plow, but, like I said, he is the world’s worst. He failed to stock the humongous cargo box with the usual snow fighting tools such as salt, sand, and shovels to get him out of trouble.

Empty

Also no chains on the tires. But adorned with bows and wreaths aplenty! Meanwhile, back in Willow Creek a rival photographer is also on the hunt for the rare crystal. She looks like Sarah Silverman. Sarah starts cosying up to Julie trying to learn Teagan’s secrets for photographing snowflakes which are easily found on Google. She is so hopeless and incompetent that she ends up being comic relief rather than a source of tension and suspense. Nevertheless, she is taken dead seriously as a legitimate threat throughout the movie.

Back on the mountain, Teagan and Noah are somehow rescued. They continue chasing the elusive snow storm, but when they find it Teagan has barely gotten her camera out of the bag before she almost gets lost and is almost flattened by a falling tree branch. Thoroughly cowed, they give up on the snowflake and return to safety but without Teagan’s camera which she forgot and left on the mountain in the snow (IKR?). Just to set your mind at rest, the next day, Noah goes back to get it and somehow the camera snuck back into it’s insulated camera case which saved all of the pictures. It turns out she captured a shot of the rare flake (perfectly centered!) without even knowing it,  the community center is saved, and Julie looks like she is going to get a new mom.

I just touched on some of the stuff in this movie that didn’t make sense. Good ole reliable Marcus Rosner is OK, but for some reason I am not a fan of Rebecca Dalton who played Teagan. I’ve disliked most of the movies she has starred in and my dislike has mostly been  due to the obnoxious characters she has played. This one did not win me over.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Holiday Road

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Road Trip!!

I tend to like ensemble pieces, and I loved this one. To me it was the ultimate road movie with lots of interesting characters, intriguing stories, good humor, and touching, satisfying conclusions to the individual stories. And it even had a pretty nice romance in there. We meet nine diverse people at the Portland airport on their way to Denver for Christmas. The flight is canceled and, organized by the female part of the future romantic duo, (we’ve already gotten the meet cute out of the way) come together and prevail on the other half of the future couple to share his 15-passenger van to Denver. Because there is a problem on the interstate, they decide to go the back roads, and adventures, mishaps, and many opportunities for Christmas cheer abound.

At first, none of the passengers are particularly likable, some less so than others. But as we learn their stories and get to know them we start to care for and root for them to have their happy endings. Their pasts and the reasons they are going to Denver are revealed gradually. Just enough clues and information are eked out to intrigue us and heighten our curiosity about them before we hear their whole stories. This is done via a young social media influencer who is one of the sometimes merry, sometimes not merry, band and who is filming the journey for her 100,000+ TikTok followers. They call themselves “the Van Clan” and as time goes by, their journey starts to go viral. None of the nine are shortchanged and their stories flow smoothly and naturally. The writer and director were on their toes with this one.

I won’t synopsize the group’s stories, but tell you just a bit about them. The two who are destined to become a couple are a risk-averse dating app developer and the ring leader of the group, an adrenalin junkie and travel/adventure writer. She is caught searching frantically through her knapsack for medication that is not there. We have a mother and son at odds who are traveling to Denver to meet his birth mother. There is a grouchy old guy with a sack of cash who is going to visit his daughter, as is a down-on-her-luck young woman who is a talented singer. A Chinese couple who barely speak English with an estranged son in England are traveling to visit her sister she has not seen in many years. And getting them to open up about themselves is the young vlogger who has a journey of her own.

Of all of the really excellent swing-for-the-fences Hallmarks I have seen and admired so far this season, this one, which was a bit under the radar with only 2 known but not high-profile Hallmark actors, is my favorite so far. It had both humor and heart and, Bonus!, there was never a dull or nonsensical moment. Well, there was one, actually, but that’s OK. I probably missed the explanation. And I don’t care. Something to watch for on my next viewing, because I will be watching this one again.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Everything Christmas

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Don’t Peek Behind the Curtain

This one was not a real disappointment because, for some reason, I wasn’t expecting much. The leads were likable, not a Hallmark that I pre-judge negatively because of the actors. I’ve always had a soft spot for Cindy Busby and she did her typical Cindy Busby thing in this one. And Corey Sevier is always good. Unfortunately, the plot was rather a throwaway one, and I didn’t think Cindy and Corey had great chemistry. Although at least in this one there was not a big age gap. And yes, I can buy the 40-year-old actors being 32. I don’t think Hallmark had a lot of faith in this one. The production values were sub-par and the title is vague and seems lazy.

Lori Jo quits her job in the first scene because her bratty boss who has a man bun tells her she must work through the holidays and she has Christmas plans that are 10 years in the making. She is going to Yuletide Springs, the ultimate Christmas town, to put a special ornament on their town Christmas Tree. This is a trip she had always planned with her Grandmother, who unfortunately has recently died. She is doing this for Gran. She convinces her friend and co-worker, Tori, who is much more practical and down to earth to go with her.  What we have here is a road trip. And it’s kind of blah.

On the first day out,  LJ meets her Christmas-loving soulmate, a garage-owning mechanic who rescues the pair when their car breaks down. A magic Santa Claus figure also enters the picture and he gives the trio each a little gift that will prove to be mysteriously useful in the next few days. Through a series of his seemingly magical manipulations, Zack, the garage owner meets up again with LJ and Tori even though they are much further down the road from where they left him in his garage. This was confusing and I really needed a map. They have been diverted by Magic Santa whose name is Kris Kringle (nothing subtle there!) to another town on the way to Yuletide Springs. There, Tori meets her lovematch, Jason, and they visit an attraction called the Enchanted Forest, where the first gift comes into play. Jason decides to join them as Zack drops out because he has to go back to work.

Skip skip skip. They eventually get to Yuletide Springs, which is somewhere out west (I need a map!!) and LJ breaks the special ornament while hanging it on the special Christmas tree.  Another gift comes in and the situation is saved in another seemingly magical and fateful way. Also, Zack shows up in Yuletide Springs. The movie ends in a strange way. All through the movie, we are wondering if this Kris Kringle is the real Santa or just a magician. When they reach Yuletide Springs, Kris is there and established as the town Santa. By this time all 4 are convinced that there is real Santa magic going on, but then we learn some information to the contrary. He is a retired professional illusionist named Chris Bronstad. They are confused and disappointed. Especially Tori who has been the “logical explanation” girl throughout the whole movie. But all those magical occurrences that happened on the way to Yuletide Springs can not be explained by a magician’s tricks and illusions. It ends with some dissonance that is rather awkward. And you know what? It could have been fixed by having Chris’s surname mean something like magical or mysterious elf or saint or something in Swedish. But wait, that elf at the very end. Haven’t we seen her before? I’m still confused, but as Chris/Kris says at the end, “Don’t peek behind the curtain.” Mmmmm…that doesn’t fly with me. I probably won’t be peeking at this one again. But not horrible.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Welcome to Valentine

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Christmas in February

This lost me in the first 15 minutes when struggling artist Olivia tries to corner the gallery owner who is hosting a fancy art gala Olivia is waitressing at. She barges in on the hostess while she is talking with one of her guests in order to show her her paintings on her cell phone. With the help of the soon-to-be love interest, who is an invited guest,  she tips over a tray of soup all over her. Wow. What a clodpole, boorish, unprofessional, and fired.

Since her best friend who has been letting Olivia camp out on her luxurious N.Y.C. apartment’s couch is moving to Chicago and she is no longer employed, she decides to go home and help her sister set up for the big Valentine’s Day parade. Her friend’s cousin (who turns out to be a rich important kinda nationally prominent successful person and who also was the handsome guest at the gallery who bumped into her causing her to douse her potential benefactress with cream of mushroom soup) is driving his Dad’s vintage car to Los Angeles. They all get together to share a ride. But it’s not a road trip romance. First of all, her friend is occupying the back seat, and as soon as she is dropped off in Chicago, they arrive in Olivia’s hometown with over 90 minutes to go in the movie including commercials. In honor of Valentine’s day, her hometown is named Valentine, and it is famous for loving Valentine’s Day and having a parade. It is like a Christmas movie, except in February! I don’t think we’ve ever had a Hallmark set in Nebraska before, and apparently, they say “Hiyah” instead of “Hi” or “Hello” there. It’s a thing. The hero is set to leave for California when his car battery fails. The mechanic screws up the jump start (I mean really?) frying the car’s electrical system. Our hero rightly loses his temper and is rude. I liked him. Since it is a 50-year-old car, it will take a while to get parts, and yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill. It was boring and there was nothing to distinguish this one from all of the other below-average Hallmarks, except it was pretty diverse. Gay pride flag in the diner and lots of black people, which Nebraska is known for (not).

I didn’t like the heroine. Although she didn’t do anything else that was as spectacularly stupid as the disaster at the beginning, she didn’t do anything to win me over from my bad first impression either. And I was not a fan of her false eyelashes or her acting either, for that matter.  I did like most of the secondary characters as well as the hero. Her friend was funny and cute, the hero was as good as the script allowed him to be, and Olivia’s sister was nice and sensible as well. And the diner lady too.

There were two imponderables in the script that further annoyed me. The wicked old witch who was the jealous former chairman of the parade disables the main parade float for sheer spite. Throughout the movie, she has been sitting outside the parade headquarters in the middle of February staring balefully at all the activity. Her time to shine arrives and she gives the float’s vintage alternator etc. to George so he can get out of town. This under-the-hood sabotage is discovered on Valentine’s day morning while George is probably well into Wyoming. To solve the mechanical problem Olivia and her sister make the old harridan the grand master of the parade, which miraculously gets the float running again. Huh? Is the old bat the equivalent of the magic Santa only female and mean? Meanwhile, our hero has pulled over to the side of the road to join a conference call with his Dad and the board of directors. He quits the family business or at least turns down the CEO position he has been elected to.  He wants to “follow his heart” and recover the “soul” of the company by going against his father to establish a charitable arm for the business.  But how is he going to do that if he is no longer with the company or at least not in a position of power? Huh? Huh? He heads back to Valentine to reconcile with Olivia with whom he has had a fight over something or other.

One year later, Olivia is a successful artist working out of Los Angeles, New York, and Valentine, Nebraska. She is the star attraction with the same gallery whose owner she assaulted and embarrassed. George is there too. His employment situation remains unknown.

Rating: 3.5 out of 10.

The Wedding Veil Journey

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The Best of the Bunch

At the beginning of the movie, The three friends have gotten together and since they are also enjoying their wine, we know it’s been well over a year since the end of “Inspiration” when we learned Emma was newly pregnant. It’s been a total of 3 years since they first bought the veil. We follow Tracy (Alison Sweeney) home and we see that she and Nick (Victor Webster) rarely see each other, as she works during the day as the head of an art auction house, and he at night at his two restaurants. After talking to her friends, Tracy is inspired to give her marriage the kick in the pants it needs and the two end up going on their long-delayed honeymoon. They decide on Greece, the veil in tow, to lend to Nick’s still single sister in Spain. As in the second installment, we are treated to some gorgeous scenery throughout the movie.

I believe this one was very well done. It was very well put together and although not really comedic, had plenty of amusing scenes, dialogue, and a lot of heart. Alison and Nick’s relationship was very loving and mature. Any rough patches were handled by communication and a sense of humor. At one point, Nick starts surreptitiously doing the cooking for one of the owners of the struggling inn they are staying at. His food is inedible which is both a running gag and a real problem. Tracy is irritated when he starts “working” on their honeymoon, but, no worries, it is handled with no silly drama. There is drama in this one, but it is definitely not silly. Tracy and Nick get close to a cute orphan boy, a talented artist and athlete, but who lives at his school under the rule of a temperamental headmaster who actively discourages his art. As he explains to the interfering Americans, Leo will have to earn his living when he leaves the school and can’t afford to indulge his talent in a vocation that will not support him.  He has no one to fall back on, unlike impractical art majors. The neighbor who was raising him after his parents died had to be put in a care facility for early Alzheimer’s. Leo lovingly sends him his drawings weekly but it is doubtful he even remembers Leo. It is a very tragic situation and when Tracy and Nick take Leo to visit him it is a real tearjerker.

Meanwhile, in the light sweet romance department,  the veil works its magic with the young beautiful Inn owner and the grandson of a wealthy aristocrat played by Jane Asher, a British actress most famous for being engaged to Paul McCartney in the 1960s. When the young man called her “Granny”, it was jarring, to say the least. Equally jarring was learning she is almost 80 years old! Off the subject, but hey, we all love the romance and happy endings Hallmark is famous for, right? After her very public breakup with Paul, Jane Asher met Gerald Scarfe, a famous English illustrator and cartoonist. They have been together for over 50 years, and happily married for over 40. Can we have a movie about that, please?

There was a lot going on in this 6th Wedding Veil movie: Mystery (the veil keeps disappearing) light romance, Humor (the inedible food and the victims’ efforts not to hurt the amateur chef’s feelings) suspense and drama ( the antagonistic head of the school), and some real heartwarming moments involving how Tracy and Nick handle their attachment to Leo and how they help him.  Tracy and Nick have to have a think about their whole lifestyle and the kind of people they are individually and as a couple.  I thought it was well handled, with due respect given to balancing each of their careers with their relationship along with how they handle the situation with Leo. Unlike some of its predecessors,  All of the plot threads were fully developed, interconnected, and well-integrated into one coherent story. We are also treated to a thought-provoking defense of the importance of art in everyday life.

Yes, Autumn Reeser and Lacey Chabert do horn in on Alison’s honeymoon, Autumn on a small pretext, but Lacey flying halfway around the world on no pretext whatsoever. This does serve to illustrate what a good sport Nick is, however. Tracy is one lucky woman. I want to add that Alison’s acting in this was superb. I once referred to Alison Sweeney as Hallmark’s best crier. She is, IMHO, but in this one, her performance was truly moving. And she was funny too.

After a 7th couple is brought together by the Wedding Veil, (Nick’s sister is now married, we hear,) Tracy, whose skepticism is a running thread throughout the series is forced to admit that she has no choice but to believe in Magic.  The movie ends with the women going shopping, being lured into a shop, and tempted by a beautiful antique necklace that, Oh No! has a legend attached to it. Everything has come full circle. Well played, Hallmark.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Road Trip Romance

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Not Dreadful, but Very Very Average

Which is almost worse than dreadful.

I’m getting to be able to judge if I am going to like a Hallmark( 8, 9, or 10 stars) by the amount and application of make-up the head girl is wearing. Natalie Hall’s foundation and eyelashes were thick and ever-present, therefore I didn’t like this one. As unflattering and aging as a lot of make-up is, at least it was understandable at the beginning when she was pitching her company to a potential client. It’s not like this was a ranch-girl part. But why the next day, when she was off the clock in a small town or alone in a car with someone she supposedly doesn’t like? I mean, how long does it take to put false eyelashes on? And why bother?

Natalie meets an ex-high-school rival in the same distant city while they are both competing for the same contract. And their companies sell the exact crazy thing: very niche mechanical party favors. What are the odds? I guess the same as two rivals both being butterfly wranglers for parties and having their parties right next door to each other at the same time. Even though they are both at least in their 30s, they, at least Natalie, are still nursing their petty high-school grudges.

After their business is concluded they both have to fly back to Hometownsville. She for her sister’s wedding, he for his Dad’s retirement barbecue. The flights have all been canceled. Road Trip! Forced propinquity! Hate to Love! That’s all folks!

A couple of highlights: Along the way, their car break-eth down, and they are force-eth to attend-eth a Rennaisance Festival in a small town, sleep-eth in a tent (no s’mores thank God), and deal-eth with a mechanic who won’t fix-eth their car because it’s a Renaissance festival and they didn’t have-eth cars in the Renaissance.  Natalie, the maid of honor, misses all of the festivities and her maid-of-honor duties and almost misses the wedding. The bride’s ”best friend”, who is a dead ringer for Joyce DeWitt of Three’s Company,  is corralled into taking over for Natalie, and she likes it a little too much. When Natalie finally arrives, Joyce tells her the wrong church and leaves her with the wrong dress. Wow.

Natalie seems to be a favorite with many and seems to be the go-to girl when a  young(ish) lead is needed. I am not a fan. I do like Corey Sevier, who plays a bit of a nerd. He has the best line in the movie, “When the real men were huntering and gathering, I always preferred to stay at home and read about it.”

Rating: 5 out of 10.

May 20, 2022

A Royal Runaway Romance

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” So You Went and Fell in Love with a Princess.”

A royal on a road trip. What could go wrong? This one was ripe for every cliche in the book being a mash-up of two popular Hallmark tropes. But it was actually pretty good. Yes, we had a festival, S’mores at the fireside, save the Bed-and-Breakfast, and a ranch family reconciliation, but thanks to excellent rapport and chemistry between the two lead characters it was slightly above average for me.

The Princess of Bundleberry? Burberry? (obviously not an eastern or southern European  country because it doesn’t end in “ia”) falls for the Chicago, America artist who is painting her portrait. When he goes back home, she schemes to follow him by visiting her Uncle in California. Once in California, her passport is confiscated (S.O.P. for royals in case they want to fly the coop) and she is forced to drive instead of fly to Chicago where the supremely barely interested artist is having a showing. Meanwhile, she is assigned a bodyguard/watchdog. Her Uncle sympathizes with her predicament and gives her his blessing to follow her heart, as he once did, and hires the reluctant (he’s about to go on vacation) bodyguard to drive her across the American west to Chicago (in a gorgeous vintage Mustang) to see if there is a future with this artist fellow. Of course,  the alert viewer understands that there is no chance of this thanks to many clues.

A couple of things pulled this out of the mire. First, the princess, played by newcomer Philippa Northeast, who started out stiff and boring, really opened up once she started experiencing “typical” American culture. Her enthusiasm and embrace of diners, food, festivals, salt of the earth Americans, and the beautiful expanse of the United States was very endearing. The romance going on between her and the bodyguard was well constructed. In addition to the fun they have along the way, they also have a few serious conversations that contribute to their friendship and understanding. He always maintains his professionalism despite being friendly and nice so there was a slow burn thing going on. There is the anticipation of her reunion with the artist and what’s going to happen. We know he was just casually flirting with her in Buttleberry and he is more involved with his career than with a relationship with her. His cavalier treatment was a stretch since he probably owed his current popularity to painting her portrait, she is beautiful and nice, and he is single. We know he is not gay, because that role is filled by the understanding Uncle. Yet he disses her every step of the way, not even returning her calls.  You gotta kind of admire his chutzpah, actually.

I need not say more about how this all plays out except to say it is a much better ending than Roman Holiday.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

April 14, 2022