Other TV Romance

Made for TV romances other than Hallmark. (UP, Pixl, BET, Lifetime, etc.)

Christmas With a Crown

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Save the Library

This is a no more than serviceable Prince Pretending to be a Commoner in America story. He is visiting a small town trying to discover the true meaning of Christmas, so camouflaged as it is in the palace by meaningless tradition and formality. He goes to the town where a late former friend of his mother lived and that to him embodies the spirit of Christmas via her letters to his mother, the queen. He gets on the wrong side of a woman who is trying to save the local library by reviving her mother’s yearly project, the Winter Fest. Her mother, it turns out, just happens to be the woman whose letters to his mother have brought him to town.

Teryl Rothery plays the queen, who is pretty unpleasant throughout almost the whole movie. Marcus Rosner, a Hallmark veteran is good as the square-jawed dimpled prince. He was princely. I actually liked his use of a quasi-English accent when in his prince persona and an American accent when in disguise. Unfortunately, the actress who played his love interest was not a good match, in my opinion. For one thing, she seemed too mature and worldly-wise to be a romantic lead for a prince in disguise in Small-Town U. S. A. The character got on my bad side right away by foolishly turning down his enthusiastic offer of help with saving the library because he was a visitor and not “part of the community.” Especially since No One in the Actual “Community” stepped up to the plate. Everyone had an excuse.

There is a priceless scene near the end of the movie where Queen Teryl orders Prince Nicolas to kneel before her and pulls out a crown that looks like it was snagged from the Burger King mascot. She **spoiler alert**coronates her son right there in the middle of Winter Fest. I’m not sure whether this added a star to my rating or subtracted a star. But one thing for sure, Teryl and Marcus looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

December 14, 2021

A Fiance for Christmas

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Amanda Payton is a “10”.

This is a very enjoyable version of the fake fiancé trope thanks mostly to plenty of wit and humor in the script and the acting of Amanda Payton. She is adorable and hilarious. When the sweet tooth-inflicted obstetrician stuffs a whole cookie in her mouth with her eyes daring the fake fiancé to say anything, I was sold.

Sawyer (Amanda) opens a private make-believe wedding gift registry for some retail therapy. When it becomes public, all of her friends, coworkers, boss, and mother think our workaholic too busy to date heroine is engaged and act accordingly with unrestrained joy and a bridal shower. Her mother even remodels a spare room into a nursery. As one thing leads to another she feels too trapped to confess the truth and is forced to recruit the handsome brother of a patient into being her fake fiancé. He agrees with alacrity, and I don’t blame him. Even her future career rests on not revealing her lie. Romance and hilarity ensue as Sawyer “I wanna marry this dough” and the agreeable Landon become more and more entangled.

Unfortunately, Adam Gregory as Landon is too passive and not up to the task of keeping pace with the force of nature that is Amanda Payton in her role as Sawyer. He is conventionally handsome and just plain conventional, bringing nothing to the table other than his too-perfect looks. There is no spark or chemistry although Amanda gives it her all. Marie Osmond is way over-the-top as the high-strung flakey Mom, totally unbelievable as a respected anthropologist, but she is funny. Will someone please tell her to get her hair out of her face though? In looking at Ms. Payton’s resume it appears she has missed her calling as a comedienne.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

December 10, 2021

A Lot Like Christmas

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It’s a Lot

Christopher Russell plays against his usual type as a big city corporate big wig. He usually plays rugged back-to-nature types. He has come to Maggie Lawson’s small town to open a big box store, which threatens to put the local Mom and Pops out of business. Most especially Maggie’s Christmas Tree lot. They meet and are immediately attracted to each other without knowing who the other is. Disaster looms.

Christopher Russell is excellent in this: funny and sincere. Maggie was OK, although her character comes across as trying too hard with the hot new man in town. But really, who can blame her? He is gorgeous and nice. If not handled well, however, this enthusiasm can come across as desperation. Unfortunately, the story was dull with nothing on the horizon that could remotely be of interest. When she learns his true identity, she turns on him and will do anything to beat him at his own game. She commences to cut off her nose to spite her face. Christopher remains good-hearted and easygoing as well as good at his job which makes her antics all the more unattractive. When her little brother explains to this genius that she has bankrupted the business with all of her expenses outstripping their sales, it finally comes the inevitable sad end. Did she just blame Christopher for her own stupidity?

But wait! Thanks to her sudden inspiration of turning her farm into an event venue, the farm is miraculously saved. Like the next day. When very clueless (but still lovable) Christopher learns that the corporation he works for is based on lies, he decides the small-town life is more his speed, and the romance is saved as well. I really like CR without whom I probably would not have finished this movie.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

December 10, 2021

Mistletoe and Molly

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Help Not Wanted

We meet Molly in the coffee shop where she works with her best buddy. We learn that she is the daughter of a prominent founder and head of a PR firm, but she is very anxious to snag a job with a rival firm and is avoiding her father including ignoring his texts. We only see the father through Molly’s eyes and that made me wonder if he deserves her treatment or is he just misunderstood? Is her insistence on making a success in her career without any of her father’s help justified or is she just being stubborn and prideful? Especially since she is dead broke. I liked the “show don’t tell” aspect to this. Meanwhile, she has some encounters with a rich and handsome man, Aiden, (who we know is a good guy because he has a hearing-impaired nephew that he is nice to.) It turns out that he is friends with a partner in the firm that Molly is wanting to work for. Molly and Aiden start to date. They are smitten.

I loved the actress who played Molly. She was beautiful in a girl next door type of way with gorgeous hair and a natural delivery. She was a very good actress. The actress who played her friend, on the other hand, was annoying. She was supposed to be extroverted and quirky but just came across as loud and rude.

On a special date with Aiden, her father shows up in the same restaurant and Aiden invites him to join them! This is a very tense scene and had me on the edge of my seat (mostly because of the acting). Aiden knew how she felt about her father. And for the first time, we get a dose of him firsthand. And he is horrible! He totally disrespects Molly by overriding her preferred house Chardonnay with the most expensive bottle in the restaurant. He is overbearing, patronizing, and controlling. He takes over the date and Aiden goes along with it! We later find out her father stalked her to the restaurant! He wants her to work for him, and won’t take no for an answer. I found his behavior abusive and dangerous. Aiden doesn’t get it, especially since he got along with him just fine, but after talking to his sister he realizes that he really screwed up and practically begs her to forgive him. She is offered the job and she is thrilled. She goes over to Aiden’s apartment to forgive him. But then she accidentally sees a text that shows that Aiden tried to pave her way to the new job offer even though she told him in no uncertain terms to let her earn the position on her own. OMG! What an idiot! Plus that is treating a grown woman like a little girl who needs a man to take care of her. That kind of discounting is an intolerable insult. At this point, I was hoping she would dump him for good.

The resolution and the happy ending for her love life and her career was an anticlimax. Of course, I was happy for the happy ending but… she breaks down and asks for Dad’s help to help Aiden’s sister’s struggling charity and their relationship is repaired just like that. Apparently, he finally gets that he is not going to have her under his thumb. It was way too easy after all the drama. She realizes she got her new job because she is awesome and not because of the undue influence of Aiden. So she forgives him. I was OK with that because I think he really learned his lesson. And she learns that it’s OK to ask for help. That part was lame-It is NOT OK to take advantage of who you know to get something you want over someone else. It’s not fair. She was right the first time. It was not made clear that it IS OK to ask for help in order to do good works for others.

Despite the ending, I loved this. But it could have been a 10.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

December 8, 2021

Dancing Through the Snow

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Dating and Dancing

A single father who is also a sexy fireman gets caught on video doing a ballet dance with his young daughter. It is adorable. (It really is!) It goes viral and he is anointed America’s Favorite Single Dad. He is inundated with women trying to date him and the media trying to interview him. But he is a low-key down to earth kind of guy and doesn’t let his sudden 15 minutes of fame go to his head. Meanwhile, he meets Olivia, his daughter’s ballet teacher, and the attraction is mutual. The romance is mature, slow burn, and realistic. They are well aware that any relationship must be serious with no rush into a temporary fling. Although there are some humorous moments and some dramatic suspense, the overall tone to this one was serious and steady.

During one of their dates, she confides that her ballet studio is in trouble and she is being nagged by her parents to move down to Florida to live with them. I immediately thought, “Uh Oh here comes the “I need a big loan or I’m going to leave” scam.” But then I remembered this was not a Lifetime movie, but a Lifetime Christmas movie, which is a whole other vibe entirely. The other roadblock to their happily ever after is his young daughter. She starts acting up out of jealousy. The young actress is a highlight of this movie. She is adorable and sweet when required, wise beyond her years when required (“Dad don’t patronize me!”), and a petulant little brat when required.

Thanks to some wise advice from his happy-go-lucky brother and a “woman-to-woman” talk between grandmother and granddaughter, the family roadblocks are removed. A neat resolution is also found to her financial trouble and it is one that comes full circle to the original viral video. The hint of romance at the end between Noah, the brother, and Olivia’s best friend is very cute.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

December 7, 2021

A Kindhearted Christmas

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Secret Santa and Mr. Hyde

Widow Jamie, played by Jennie Garth, is inspired to become a Secret Santa to her town. With a seemingly limitless pocketbook, she successfully provides a Christmas Tree to the town, replenishes the local food bank’s coffers, and provides a needy family with the Christmas of their dreams. Her good works catch the attention of a local anchorman who makes it his business to unmask the do-gooder. Jamie has admired him from afar and is thrilled yet nervous to have gotten his attention. He unsurprisingly is attracted to her as well. Jennie does very well in this. She is warm, amusing, and relatable as a shy older woman getting a second chance at love. Emily Tennant is good as her married daughter, who along with Jamie’s employee, Colleen, figures out their mother and boss is the mysterious Santa. They work together to help Mom in her mission and also to help her avoid exposure.

There were some serious problems with the male lead character played by the normally likable Cameron Mathison. Anchorman Scott, like Jamie, has some mysterious source of limitless income. Local anchormen do not make a lot of money. Yet he buys out a whole expensive restaurant in order to dine alone with the winsome Jamie. Given the theme of this movie it seemed wasteful and indulgent given all of the good Christmas causes the money could have been spent on. Second, he is thoroughly taken in by an obvious imposter who falsely confesses to being S. S. He is really a gullible idiot in this scene, compounded by the fact that he is supposed to be a seasoned journalist.

The third strike is his harsh reaction when Jamie finally confesses that she is the Secret Santa. He turns on her on a dime screaming at her “You lied to me!” and acts like a crazy jerk. His change of personality comes out of nowhere, is totally out of character, and is shocking. He even accuses the modest and reticent Jamie of “doing it all for the publicity,” which makes zero sense. To make matters even weirder, the next day he provides a trip to Paris for her daughter’s honeymoon. I mean, why? when he seemingly now feels betrayed by her mother and Emily confessed she was all part of it? (And again, where is all this fundage coming from?) Jamie ends up apologizing and groveling when it should have been the other way around. All of this honestly ruined the integrity of the movie and brought a sweet story way down in my estimation. It would have been at least a “7”

Rating: 6 out of 10.

December 6, 2021

Royally Wrapped for Christmas

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That’s a Wrap!

This took the corny fairytale aspects of the heavily clichéd royal plotline to a new level. It was enjoyable. If you were 10. I checked this out solely because of Brendan Fehr who has had a lot of chemistry with his costars and lots of charisma on his own in the two other movies I have seen in him.

In this one, Jen Lilley plays the head of the New York branch of the royal charity of Veronia. The prince visits one day incognito and they are both secretly smitten. Next thing you know, she is invited to Veronia along with the Dublin head and the Mumbai head to help with the 100th anniversary of the Christmas charity. Little do they know that they are being screened to see which one of these top performers gets the big promotion to the worldwide director of the charity.

I won’t go further into the plot, but rest assured it involves a disapproving Queen, an unwelcome arranged marriage, heartwarming interactions with the peasant children, a cheating rival, a supportive friend, a Gala ball, and a public proposal of marriage despite not even a kiss. That’s all fine. I didn’t expect anything different. However, Jen Lilley and the character she played got on my last nerve. I am usually fairly neutral about her as an actress, but this one really highlighted why she is not a favorite. Her character was so humble and self-effacing she came across as more of a spiritless victim who wouldn’t say boo to a goose than an intelligent capable woman. I can’t really be mean about the actress, because that is the part she was playing, after all. But let’s just say she was perfectly cast. No one can do self-deprecating and shy, with those huge goo-goo eyes, like she can. The character was so kind, so sweet, and so gentle that if I had been the prince I would have wondered what she was up to. At one point her colleague says, “Stop making yourself so small!” Thank-you! In a few scenes, she even comes across as disingenuous. GAC had a strong start this season, but as Hallmark is well aware, you can’t win them all!

Rating: 4 out of 10.

November 29, 2021

Christmas on 5th Avenue

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The Grinch and the Good Fairy

Eva runs a concierge business and is very busy during Christmas. When one of her most important customers offers her son’s penthouse to live in while he is in Vermont in exchange for decorating and filling his freezer with home-cooked food, she jumps at the chance. But surprise surprise, the grieving reclusive best-selling author shows up unexpectedly. Romance and reclamation ensue.

I’m in the minority in thinking Olivier Renaud’s performance as Lucas was right on the money. He was supposed to be a cold fish, harsh, and stiff. Eva was so perky and sunny that it made a nice contrast and upped the chemistry between them. As the movie went on he started to grow on me. When she made her move and he rejected her it was kind of a shocker. We know he had feelings for her, but his issues ran deep. When he finally did warm up, it made it all the more affecting.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

November 27, 2021

Christmas Angel

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Good Story and Acting

A down-and-out young woman finds a new lease on life when she becomes a Secret Santa’s head elf.

Right off the bat, I did not like the male lead. I did not like the character or the actor. His dishonest and harmful brand of journalism and snotty behavior toward the fact-checker who called him out on it showed that he was not a good man. And he even looked like kind of an immature smart-aleck. Since part of the plot was his eventual rehabilitation, though, the character and the actor grew on me. I guess I’m used to the Hallmark heroes who are almost always knights in shining armor from the get-go, even though they may be disguised by grief or hurt.

On the other hand, Bruce Davison and Kari Hawker-Diaz more than made up for the initial weakness of the male lead. Oscar-nominated and New York Film Critics and Golden Globe-winning actor Bruce Davison needs no praise from me on his acting. These little TV movies are blessed that he isn’t snobby about the roles he takes. Gee, I guess he just loves to act and wants to work. About a half-hour into the movie, I realized that Kari not only reminded me of Sandra Bullock, but sounded like her too. And her character took me back to the sad, struggling, and lonely Lucy of While You Were Sleeping. So she already had a head-start with me on the likability scale.

The idea of the movie, that, a modest humble man who is a **spoiler alert*** secret millionaire,**end spoiler** roams the city looking for people who need a helping hand was a real winner. I loved the idea that he recruited “elves” to help him find worthy recipients of his bounty as well. When one of them turned out to be Francine, the fact-checker who had Will’s number it was a good surprise. “He’s always on the lookout for a future ex-girlfriend.” Of course, our hero, rightly and satisfyingly demoted due to his shoddy journalism, (in real life he probably would have gotten a raise) and trying to win back his former position, threatens to expose “Nick” and ruin his mission. There were quite a few genuinely touching moments in this warm-hearted movie as well as some humor. The romance took second stage and mostly served to provide our heroine with closure and the resolution of her challenges. I’ve seen worse though!

Rating: 7 out of 10.

November 25, 2021

My Santa

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Delightful.

I loved Samaire Armstrong in Heavenly Match in which she played an Episcopal Priest and she did not disappoint in this one. She was adorable and a nice match with Matthew Lawrence, who was also well cast in this movie. I usually do not like Santa’s offspring-themed movies, but this one was the exception to the rule. I loved Matthew’s sweet innocence as Santa’s son who has to find a wife by Christmas. The two leads are drawn to each other, but Samaire is not suitable wife material because she doesn’t like Christmas. something bad happened to her on Christmas a while back, and “Chris” has to overcome this roadblock before he can even think about a possible future with her. Yes, it’s pretty formulaic as all these are, but the slow burn romance was sweet, and the scene where Jen, our single mother heroine was finally convinced he was on the level was touching.

I don’t know what fuse this movie lit under Christmas “I Have no Agenda” Reviewer on IMDb, but to call this the worst Christmas movie this year?? To nitpick address numbers and the expensive homes the characters live in? I’ve never seen a Hallmarkesque movie that the homes weren’t way too much for the probable income of the occupants. I challenge anyone to offer an example where the home matched their income level. To say that cute Samaire Armstrong looks 10 years older than Matthew Lawrence when she is almost a year younger in real life? Come on. Since Lawrence looks about 18 in this movie there are very few adult actresses who wouldn’t look older. Except this actress doesn’t in my opinion. To call the little kid actor, who was perfectly competent “creepy” and like “Chucky?” Steady the machete. Pick on someone your own size, lady. Child actors can sometimes not be great, but it is almost always the director’s fault.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

January 15, 2021