Ashley Newbrough

Unwrapping Christmas: Lily’s Destiny

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Signs

In the third installment of the Gift wrapping lalapalooza, we don’t hear much about the all so important Christmas Gala this time. That’s because there is so much else going on! Lily (Ashley Newbrough), the marketing and publicity director, is very busy going on actual dates, hosting a cocktail party to promote Gala ticket sales, mentoring an intern from a business school, and dealing with participating (or not participating) in “The Festival of Trees.” Busy Busy Busy.

While Tina was very super-organized and tightly wound and Mia was a romantic dreamer, Lily’s #1 personality trait is her belief in fate, signs from the universe, and horoscopes. Also she is dealing with Dead Parent Syndrome as far as Christmas tree decorating. This has caused her to not decorate a Christmas Tree for the Festival of Trees which is a neighborhood activity that everyone in the twin cities goes to. Strangely, it is not held in the neighborhood but in what appears to be a local school gymnasium. It is also strange that Lily’s sadness over her father’s death a year ago only affects her ability to decorate two trees. I can go with her not wanting to use her box of her father’s memory-laden decorations for her main home tree, but what does that have to do with the tree for the festival? The rest of her house is all decked out in Christmas bling including at least one other tree. Her lonely barren tree in the Gym has incurred the wrath of her next door neighbor whose zeal for the F of Ts rivals that of the HOA in the Haul out the Holly movies, and is just as scary. BTW, Festival of Trees trees are all very unimpressive and institutional looking. Do better, Hallmark.

Lily has two men vying for her hand, and they were the highlight of this movie. All of the “signs” (Literally. Batchelor #1, Owen, a star realtor and super salesman, has his handsome mug peering down on The Twin Cities from numerous billboards which are seemingly following Lily around whispering to her to date him.) Franco Lo Presti stole the show as Owen, who, as well as being the most eligible bachelor in the city, turns out to be a smug, self-satisfied know-it-all. The actor was perfectly cast as he is too good-looking to live with a head of hair that deserves its own screen credit.  Although he was a hoot as the wrong guy,  Lo Presti managed to give the character some vulnerability and conveyed the sense that maybe he was just trying too hard to impress the gorgeous and successful Lily. After he hilariously oversteps at her Christmas Cocktail Hour she breaks up with him pretty quickly for a Hallmark Heroine. Usually, it takes a while for the HH to get hit with the clue-stick. The other guy, Sean, is played by Torrance Coombs who turns out to be “The One.” He was also really good as the humble nice guy, who was also very attractive and charming. Lily and he hit it off immediately but are separated by each thinking that the other are in serious relationships. Another prime example of Hallmark’s characters not using their words.

Everything is ironed out in the end with the tree decorating and the romantic misunderstanding but there is a jaw-dropping twist at the end regarding the Gala’s Gift Wrapping Contest. No spoilers here! Hopefully, next week, in the conclusion of the series, we will have a reappearance of the magical Gift Wrapping Machine which turns polaroid snapshots into real wrapping paper. It has been absent since its debut in the first movie. I am really looking forward to getting another look at that thing. It was awesome.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Hearts Around the Table: Kiki’s Fourth Ingredient.

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I Didn’t know Whether to Add Stars or Subtract Them.

**Spoilers**

Jenna and Andrew are getting married in 4 days. Will Kiki, the last foster child on the docket, be able to meet, get to know, and fall in love with some man, have a big conflict, and then make up with him all the while preparing to cater her sister’s 100 guest wedding out of a food truck? It won’t be easy, but it’s Saturday night on the Hallmark Channel, so the answer is “yes.”  We see the road forward when we are introduced to Andrew’s best man who just happens to be the executive chef and owner of one of the most well-established restaurants in town. He is played by Torrance Coombs, who has been in a Hallmark and similar movie a time or two. There was one I didn’t like, but one I really did. And it turns out that he was the best thing about this one. He brought a suave and sophisticated mature older-man vibe to the proceedings that I really liked. Even though he was supposed to be the same age as Andrew. Kiki is supposed to be somewhat younger, so it was OK. I bought it.

Kiki is rather prickly with Clay when they first meet and she finds out his status in the local restaurant scene. She understandably feels a lot of pressure to make things perfect for her sister and now feels that she and her food truck will be judged and found wanting. And unexpected problems and glitches do seem to be mounting up. And no wonder, because she seems to be doing everything as if she didn’t know she was going to be the caterer until yesterday. Clay is very nice and makes it clear he has nothing but respect for her talent, admires her spirit and creativity, and even envies her freedom to create and serve what she wants.  Mainly, he points out that she is so preoccupied by prepping for the reception that she is missing out on her sister’s wedding and her bridesmaid duties. Kiki conquers her “I-can-do-it-all-by-myself-itis” and she lets him advise and help her. Only one day to the wedding, and they even have time to help out a local food bank.

All proceeds as expected on the romance and professional front until the night of the rehearsal dinner, when all things go to hell in a handbasket. Clay warmly introduces his female friend and colleague, another prominent chef, to the group and praises her skills and her restaurant. He praises Kiki and introduces her especially, and the lady makes some subtle digs at Kiki and her food truck.  Kiki goes on high alert, insecurity rears its ugly head again, and she gets huffy and sneaks out of the dinner. At first I thought she was being overly sensitive and overreacted. But looking at the exchange again, I didn’t really blame her for getting her panties in a twist. But she shouldn’t have walked out of her sister’s rehearsal dinner. She missed all of the drama.

While the Clay and Kiki saga was going on, Angie, the foster mother, tracked down Jenna’s long lost father behind her back as a special treat for Jenna. In the middle of the dinner, in he walks, still in his work clothes. What was the normally wise and caring Angie thinking? Not surprisingly Jenna was not pleased that the father who abandoned her and her mother (It wasn’t my idea!) shockingly intrudes uninvited by her on her happy (except for Kiki) rehearsal dinner. He didn’t even know her mother had died 20 years ago, and that Jenna had been raised in foster care (And why not, may I ask, you Jerk? That $64,000 question never gets answered.) She even turns on Andrew, the fiancé, in her anger and disgust. Uh Oh, SpaghettiOs.

And things go downhill from there! It got very awkward. As awkward as I’ve ever seen in a Hallmark movie. In fact, it was such a trainwreck, I almost gave it extra stars for the entertainment value. I’ll try not to give a play by play, but it mainly involves Kiki chopping vegetables like a maniac in her food truck the morning of the wedding after firing all of her temps instead of being a help and support to her traumatized sister. Also, Jenna refuses to walk down the aisle without the stranger she met the night before at her side (Don’t ask about the change of heart, because I have no idea). She keeps her Groom and his Groomsmen standing awkwardly in front of all of the guests in the pews waiting for her to appear while dear old “Dad” is rounded up.  They stand there quietly panicking and being stared at in silence without even any organ music for at least 20 minutes. They have no idea what is going on! And don’t get me started on Josh’s honey walking down the aisle like a hotdog in the middle of it all to straighten his tie. And the baptismal font in the middle of the aisle which Jenna, Deadbeat Dad, and Angie have to dodge on the trip to the altar.

Anyway, just to wrap up, the wedding happens in spite of itself and Kiki and Clay declare their undying love after knowing each other for 4 actually 3, days during which a good chunk of that time she was mad at him. What was the fourth ingredient? Another question goes unanswered. Stars for Mr. Coombs and all the craziness.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Hearts Around the Table: Josh’s Third Serving

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Hallmark Takes on ADHD

As an After School Special exploring the topic of ADHD, this was excellent. As a Hallmark movie, it was just OK. And I didn’t understand the title. No third servings to be found. Angie welcomes a new foster to her table as brother Josh meets the new English teacher at his school. Thanks to the charm and good acting of Millie Davis, who played Gina, the second teen foster child to be taken in by Angie, this movie did keep me engaged. She was a star. I did question the wisdom of having two equally attractive unrelated teenagers of opposite sexes living in the same house. But that’s another subject. The romance between Josh and Ella, the new teacher, who also was put in charge of running the extra-curricular music program, definitely took second stage to Gina’s troubles with studying and Josh and Ella’s efforts to raise money for their Track and Music programs, respectively.

The two teacher’s initial friendly encounter turns to rivalry as Ella’s little music group has the unmitigated gall to practice their rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” outside on the school’s lawn within earshot of Josh’s apparently very unfocused and easily distracted track team. I was firmly on Ella’s side in this dispute, despite the screechiness and lack of musicality of her half dozen little chicks (which include Gina). The alternative to practicing outside on the lawn is to use the music room which is full of toppling junk and infested with (possibly dangerous?) mold. When the two teachers receive the news that their budget has been cut in half, they start competing for money with fundraising, from the PTA, the Board of Education, and the Alumni Association. Josh’s track team needs new uniforms and Ella needs a complete renovation of the dangerous, possibly deadly, music room. Ella gets a tip from the head of the PTA that the wealthy Alumni Association might be interested in funding a new project. Because the decision maker, Mr. Gupta, is a “go big or go home” kind of guy Ella very nicely invites Josh to team up with her to pitch funding sports and the arts together. Their mild flirting is kicked up a notch to include a hug in the classroom (which was kinda weird) and a date in a restaurant. Meanwhile, we spend a lot of time delving into Gina’s ADHD and the reasons why some may be resistant to being tested, the resources that can help them, and some pep talks and words of wisdom in dealing with those challenges. Also we spend some time with Steve Lund (yay!) who is trying to figure out a good way to propose to Jenna.

The big conflict right before the happy ending is particularly weak and manufactured because it depends on Josh losing his frigging mind. He is approached by a sports agent who offers to help Josh secure the money for his track program as he is an old buddy of Mr. Gupta. Josh conveniently forgets to tell the guy that the pitch is for the school music program as well as the track team. He is just shocked when his and Ella’s joint pitch is cancelled because Mr. Gupta was won over by the sports agent to generously fund the track team by itself, as requested. Let me tell you, Ella was shocked as well, to put it mildly. Josh redeems himself by refusing the money unless Mr. Gupta funds both programs. Mr. Gupta kindly declines and neither program gets the money. Hilarious. The whole thing was weird because the also very influential Mrs. Gupta turns out to be a big proponent of music programs and is a musician herself. It was very strange and harsh of Mr. Gupta but luckily, out of nowhere, the PTA steps in to save the day. Perhaps someone important got a whiff of that music room and pointed out the school was ripe for a lawsuit on the grounds of child endangerment.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Hearts Around the Table: Shari’s Second Act.

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Everyone’s Confused. Including Me.

**Spoilers**

Now it’s time for the oldest sister Shari’s story. I really liked Shari in the first one. She was very fierce and sarcastic in protecting her sister against Andrew who did her dirty when they were teens. The movie opens shortly after the first one as Andrew and Jenna are an established couple although Andrew does not appear in person but only on the phone. Shari is coming back home to D.C. after divorcing her diplomat husband in Zurich, Switzerland. It starts off kind of cute as Shari and her siblings are on the phone, each one accusing the other of not going to pick her up from the airport and leaving her to find her own way home with a ton of luggage. When Shari walks outside the airport though they are all there together to pick her up as a surprise with signs and balloons and stuff. Group hug.

As we know, Shari is an artist, and she has snagged a huge commission for a painting, as well as a spot in a very luxurious apartment/studio/gallery for a below market rent called an “Artist’s Co-Op and Studio.” Except she seems to be the only one to ever be there. Except for the GQ/romance novel-cover-model-handsome-caretaker/handyman who turns out to be the owner, that is. It’s a little unnerving. Their whole romance consists of “You Lied to Me!” “I need some space!” “No, I need some space” “It’s a date” “It’s not a date” “Is something Wrong?” “I just got divorced and can’t get involved with anyone right now.” “Leave me alone. I need to chase my own dreams.” “I need some some space and told him to leave me alone but he’s pushing me away. What did I do wrong?” “Maybe he’s confused?” Ya think? The sisters’ advice consists of encouraging her to pursue love with this cute guy and then telling her to back off from any relationships because it’s literally days after she got divorced after hoping for a reconciliation. That last part made a ton of sense to me and I am sure any amateur or professional therapist would advise the same. But this is a Hallmark and we can’t have a happy ending unless that happy ending includes a pair-up. At the end, Evan the cute owner, gets a huge opportunity to repurpose some warehouses in San Francisco. It is the chance of a lifetime. And we have another round of confusion. “I must go to San Francisco to chase my dreams.” “Do you really want to go?” “I’m really happy for you.” “I love you but I can’t ask you to stay.” “This job is incredible. I want to take this job.” “I want to see if we fit”. “Maybe it will lead somewhere. Maybe it won’t.” “You must go. I love you but I can’t ask you to give up your dream job.” “Please stay.” “This is my dream job but it’s missing you.” They decide to take it slow. They kiss. She introduces Evan to her family as her best friend, muse, and soulmate. Yikes. Slow down, girl. It’s been how long? Two weeks? Three? At the end, I really don’t know if he went or not, or if he went, if Shari went with him. I kind of doubt it. Unfortunately for all concerned, I think he stayed.

We have some side stories too. The brother, Coach Josh, helps a troubled teen and his sister. Their father gets some help in the end too. Kiki can’t  decide whether to go to a funeral. Evan’s grandmother, a former artist who doesn’t paint anymore (why?) had to sell off all of her work “for pennies” and regrets it. It is Evan’s life’s work to find one of the lost paintings to give back to her. Grandma must have been pretty renowned and celebrated because one of her paintings is auctioned off to a collector or dealer for $10,000. Questions questions. It turns out one of her paintings was right there at Foster Mother Angie’s house all along. Thank God Shari stopped him from selling his car to up the $10,000 bid. She takes it right off the wall. No charge.

What really got my goat is that Shari never works on the painting she was hired to paint. She claims that she just can’t paint out of nowhere but must wait to be “inspired.” The thing is that Shari is a portrait painter, so she must have been commissioned to paint a portrait. Just paint the damn face. No inspiration needed. She paints Evan’s portrait. At the end, I guess to symbolize that she has finally found herself and her inspiration, she paints about a dozen self-portraits. But she never paints the portrait she was hired to paint. BTW, she is not a good painter. The paintings she painted at the end are not good, in my opinion. I do not see success as a painter in her future.

Shari was not the same Shari as she was in the first movie. If she had been, I would have liked this more. The romance was ill-advised from the get go. Between the dubious viability of Evan’s “Artist’s Co-Op”, and Shari’s half-baked “I have to be free” approach to her painting career combined with her lack of talent (in my opinion), I’m afraid we have another case of what I call “Bad Business.” This is usually death to stars-This a 4, which is bad (swear words were uttered), but with a few bright spots and not actively revolting.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

Hearts Around the Table: Jenna’s First Love

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Second Chancy Romance

First off, Welcome Back to Hallmark, Steve Lund. I don’t know what you did to get yourself banished, or what Hallmark did to you for you to have to take a break (actually I think I do know), but Gosh, it was good to see you again. I guess absence does make the heart go fonder, because though he’s been a favorite for a long time, now I love him. Move over Kris Polaha. Unfortunately, the role he plays in this one leaves a lot to be desired.

Jenna is a former foster child who was taken in by Angie when she was 13-years-old, joining three other children she considers her brother and sisters. She has made a great success of her life which we know because in the opening scene she is strutting confidently down the city street in heels and a trendy power suit talking on a cell phone. She is an “event guru” who is going to a meeting with a tech billionaire about a charitable event he wants to put on. In the lobby, she runs into (Yes, literally, papers a-flying) Andrew (Lund) who is Billionaire Tom Redland’s right hand man and consultant. They have a “What-are-YOU-doing-here?” moment. They were high-school sweethearts who broke up when Andrew ghosted her and went to Paris to study. They will be working together to put on this huge and important Charity event which Jenna handles like a boss. Actually she is the boss, as Tom Redlands, who is a good guy, handsome and short, makes her the lead on the project. Andrew, who is handsome, very fit, and tall, is a good sport about it. He does show that he is a good guy in moments throughout the movie, but he does have a character arc, so he is not supposed to be perfect like Jenna. Unfortunately it wasn’t handled very believably or well, so while Steve Lund’s performance is a positive, the character he plays is a negative.

  • He ghosts Jenna after highschool and although he apologizes, he never comes up with a good explanation other than “we were kids.” In fact, he blames his wealthy mother (weak!) for not approving of Jenna’s background and insisting on getting him away to Paris. But when we finally meet his mother she is perfectly lovely and seemingly thrilled that her son is in love with such a beautiful, nice, and successful woman. And she greets Angie, Jenna’s foster mother like an old friend. Definitely not the sort who must have wrapped Andrew in duct tape and thrown him on the plane to Paris to prevent him from saying goodbye and I Will Still Love You Forever to Jenna. And kept him like that to prevent him calling her on the phone. So it makes him look like a liar.
  • When Billionaire Tom invites Jenna to discuss their project after hours at dinner, Andrew acts like a petulant child, jumping to all sorts of jealousy-fueled conclusions. Yes, Tom does seem to be interested in her personally (who wouldn’t be?), but Jenna is pretty clear that it is Andrew who holds her heart in his hands. He goes to the gym to work out his anger and frustration, and he is actually pretty scary about it, suggesting a possible issue there, in my opinion.
  • Thank goodness he didn’t know that Tom proposes marriage to her on their second date which was very weird. Jenna actually is like “Dude. What?” and leaves the restaurant with the intent of talking to Andrew. She finds him sitting on the sidewalk outside her apartment (also weird). He is about ready to confess his love and regret, when Tom’s chauffeur drives up with her purse which she left at the restaurant. For some reason, this triggers Andrew (who already knew she was out with Tom) into stalking off into the night with no goodbye (sound familiar?). Jenna calls out after him “Nice Talk!!” which was kind of funny. God, Hallmark, can you please lose this big last minute misunderstanding trope? He rudely ignores her for the remaining minutes of the movie until, thanks to a pep talk from Mommy, he makes up with her and the rest is history.

Throughout the movie, we are treated to weekly dinners with Jenna’s foster family, setting up the next three movies in this Hearts Around the Table series which will feature Jenna’s three siblings. We also have a little story with Rory, a new arrival Angie is fostering. Angie is played by Mindy Cohn of The Facts of Life fame. She is great, looks great, and her character is very endearing. These home scenes are lively and warm. Older sister Shari seems like a real pistol. She is rightly very suspicious of Andrew, and makes her feelings crystal clear to the point of rudeness. And good for her. The other brother and sister are played by Jake Epstein, a big favorite of mine, and Kathryn Davis. In this one, talented actor Steve Lund conveys all the emotions his character is going through with skill and authenticity, even adding a little welcome humor that might not have been written into the script. Unfortunately I just didn’t like those emotions. I am optimistic about the next three movies, particularly Shari’s story and more of Jake Epstein (and hopefully, Steve Lund). And Mindy Cohn-loved her in this.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Love on the Right Course

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Par for the Course

This movie had some odd things about it although it certainly broke no new ground, staying firmly within the Hallmark standard formula, romance-wise. Except it was about golf, which surely must be a first? And was set in Hungary, the latest stop on producer Lief Bristow’s world tour. He likes to do Hallmark movies that are set in foreign countries that are not Canada. And likes to bring his daughter, Hallmark actress Brittany Bristow, with him sometimes. She actually wrote this one. Good for her. One of the foremost odd things is that, as of this writing, the description of this movie’s plot on IMDb has nothing to do with this movie’s plot.* Our Heroine’s Dad is not injured, His golf course is not struggling and It’s a whole resort. The leading man is not a groundskeeper named Austin but a golf pro named Daniel, and our leading lady is not “reluctantly” entering an annual tournament to “win the purse”.

Ashley Newbrough plays Whitney, a championship golfer who has hit a rough patch since the death of her mother, her coach, and herself a legendary golfer. Her caddy who wants to be her new coach is a jerk and not happy about her placing in 12th  at the latest tournament and barely qualifying for the Eastern European Open. He is a most annoying “Type A” personality who won’t shut up badgering and criticizing Whitney on her game.  When Whitney refuses to promote him from caddy to coach and tells him she is not going back to Arizona with him to practice for the big Open but going home to Hungary for her widowed dad’s birthday, he quits. She is not unhappy about that. Not at all. Unfortunately, I sensed that this would not be the last we saw of him.

Back home in Hungary at her father’s posh golf resort, she finds him bordering on, if not smack dab in the middle of, what appears to be clinical depression over the the death of his wife, Ashley’s mother. He has become a recluse and doesn’t get up early because “it makes the day too long.” He shows no interest in getting on with life even seriously looking into selling the place. He has closed the resort restaurant and has delegated running the place to Daniel, Marcus Rossner, who is also the golf pro. She is justifiably very worried. Instead of a good grief counselor or therapist, Whitney brings him a doggy to foster for a while. Smart move. Along with getting him out and about beautiful nearby Budapest and planning a barbeque for him to host, the dog does the trick. Dad is well on the road to recovery by the time the movie is half over. There’s even a possible love interest on the horizon. Meanwhile, Whitney is training for the Open and falling into strong like with Daniel, who loves teaching and coaching. How fortuitous.  She asks him to coach her as his laid-back approach, which has brought the fun back into the game for her, is proving very effective in getting her back on track. He is the complete opposite of Andrew the pest, who, as predicted, shows up unannounced wanting his job back. You quit, Dude. Go. Away. Just to be nice, she lets him follow her around carrying her clubs, and it isn’t long before he is back to his old heckling ways. Marcus misunderstands the relationship and backs off from coaching her. She has no choice but to give Andrew another chance as she needs a caddy for the big tournament. Meanwhile, her dad has gotten into a pickle with his greedy skank of a real estate agent, Bianka, who is charging him a large commission even though he has decided not to sell his resort after all. He even wants to re-open the restaurant! What luck that Marcus’s brother is a real estate lawyer and Whitney’s best friend is a talented chef whose own restaurant has fallen on hard times and needs a new position! Daniel’s brother deems Bianka’s claim that she is owed 200,000 euros for not selling the resort utter nonsense. So that problem is solved. Anyway, during the tournament Andrew persists in pressuring Whitney, nagging at her, and getting on her last nerve. This guy just doesn’t know how to read the room. In frustration, she just quickly whacks at a very difficult putt and it miraculously goes in the hole for an eagle! Andrew whisper-yells at her that it was just luck and this is where he gets himself permanently fired. I loved it. Marcus to the rescue and Ashley wins the tournament over her chief rival played by Brittany Bristow in a brief cameo appearance.

I mentioned some odd things. Although Marcus Rosner and Ashley Newbrough, last seen together in Countdown to Christmas’s Flipping for Christmas, seemed to have good chemistry (Argh! I have come to hate that word) the acting was very low-key and at times seemed stiff and stilted. In addition, the editing was not the best with some awkward transitions from scene to scene. The first hour or so was very slow and repetitive. And then there is also the mystery of Ashley’s biological father. Marcus asks her why she is based in Arizona. She says her “mom and dad” met when her mom was on a golf scholarship to the University of Arizona and she met “her Dad” there when he was studying Golf Course Management. But wait. She then throws her whole history into confusion by adding that she was not born in Arizona but in Florida and that her mom was a single parent when she married Hungarian Marton, who adopted her when she was 8 years old. And “he is the only father she has ever known.” What happened to the guy her mother met in Arizona and had a baby with in Florida? Did he drown in a water hazard? Cruelly abandon his wife and little daughter? Did he pay child support? Why does she refer to him as “her Dad,” just like her real Hungarian father? Sounds like this movie should have been about her mom because there is a story there, I bet! It was just a totally unnecessary and gratuitous detour into the land of TMI. And what was a Hungarian doing in Florida anyway?  I watched this scene 3 times to try to untangle the thing and still don’t know why she was based in Arizona. Marcus needed to ask some follow-up questions instead of just responding “That’s incredible” at the end of her tale (even though it was). Why so complicated? couldn’t Marton have just been her real Dad?

Despite its problems, I quite liked this one. It really picked up after the first hour, and I enjoyed the vanquishment of Bianka the slimy real estate agent and Andrew the pest. It also could have been beautiful Budapest and the lack of Christmas decorations and snow.

* it has since been corrected, but that was really funny.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Flipping for Christmas

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A Throwback to the Olden Days

This was a typical old-school standard issue dyed in the wool “Hallmark Christmas Movie”. It hits all of the buttons and no trope is left behind. Abby is an ambitious successful New York City home designer who is all about “go go go” and taking her company to the top. She has just snagged a huge contract to design a condo and retail development in the New York City area. We meet the corporate mogul who has just hired her for her devotion to work and profits. She has adopted her father’s motto, ” You don’t stop when you’re tired you stop when you are done.” And, of course, she has no problem working through the Christmas holidays. This developer guy, Antonio, exudes menace and ruthlessness. There is no need for him to twirl a non-existent mustache because it’s all in his eyes and tone of voice. Actor Ray Galletti does a very effective job in his role.

Abby receives a call from her sister, whose husband’s grandfather has just died, and left them his old Victorian house. She needs Abby’s help and expertise to renovate and flip it because they need the money. The two sister’s mother has recently passed and their devastated father has come to live with her because he also lost his company and his pension. So much for that motto. He lives in the family’s made-over garage and she wants the profits from the house to expand the family home so Dad can get out of the garage and live inside the house. Plus they are living paycheck to paycheck. This is a little more depressing than usual for Hallmark, I have to say. Abby is a good person in spite of her big-city workaholic ways and is happy to come to the picturesque and idyllic small town to help out over the holidays. She will work on her new big-city project remotely.

What her sister does not tell her is that Grandpa’s will left half of the house to the local carpenter/handyman/do-gooder who does not want to sell the house but turn it into a B&B because it will be more of a benefit to the community. Also, Bo doesn’t really have any other visible means of support as he never sells anything but is always donating his projects and working for free. So just the opposite of Abby. They both start to renovate the house at the same time hoping to work it out mid-job (?). In addition to their opposite philosophies and personalities, the initial antagonism between the two plays out pretty well. The conflict between them is for good reason, not some stupid high school misunderstanding that has festered for years. Both of their plans for the house are worthy, and both will not give an inch. (When they can’t agree on a paint color the room ends up in alternating stripes. Those crazy kids.). There was plenty of tension and I was semi-engaged in their struggle of wills when all of a sudden all of the drama left the building like air out of a balloon. They start to like each other for no apparent reason. We know this because they start to smack each other playfully with their paintbrushes. The flirty shenanigans commence and continue unabated with Christmas activities thrown into the mix. Cue Christmas tree cutting and the snowball fight.

The rest of the movie follows the formula to a “T” involving Abby embracing small-town values, saving a park from the evil developer. The word “gentrify” is used many times in this movie with the same tone one might say “salmonella poisoning”. And of course we have the last minute temporary break up because it’s Abby’s fault the park is in danger in the first place. Sound familiar?  Must I go on?

I can’t be too hard on this. The stars, Ashley Newbrough and Marcus Rosner are attractive Hallmark veterans. I have no problem with them. The comfortable formula has its place, and, indeed is treasured by a certain segment of the Hallmark audience. There is no controversy, No gays (that we know of), and only the lightest smattering of diversity. For GAF devotees who still sneakily look at Hallmark movies, it’s just what the doctor ordered for the hectic and stressful Holiday Season.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Love in Glacier National: A National Park Romance

/ Rebekahrox / 11 Comments

Snow Job

This one left me cold. The plot was the usual boring and predictable with the added bonus of annoying characters (3), examples of lazy incomprehensible plot elements (2 main ones), and downright offensive stereotypes of women (2). It drove my rating below  5 stars, that is, not entertaining but tolerable, into 3 or 4-star territory (not entertaining plus something very very wrong here.) It had some beautiful mountain scenery if you do not mind it was not filmed in Glacier National Park or any National Park at all, or even in this country.  The title of this one would be the worst ever for a Hallmark even if it were filmed in Glacier National Park.

Heather is a world-renowned expert in snow and avalanches. She has a doctorate in the subject and has developed a technology that predicts them with proven accuracy. She accepts an invitation to visit an old friend’s ski resort and install the forecasting equipment. She brings her sister who has spent the last of her and her husband’s savings on IVF treatments to get pregnant. It has been very hard on them and she needs a break while waiting to find out whether this last treatment has worked. Heather meets handsome hunky Chris who is the head of the search and rescue team. He is not only a Luddite who eschews her science-based life-saving technology, he is downright offensive about it. He relies on looking at the weather and sniffing and tasting the snow to determine whether the ski runs are safe. No kidding. His whole team is open-minded and on board, but when he stumbles into her class he rudely stands at the threshold disruptively chewing on a donut, and then leaves. Nevertheless, he is a good father to his motherless young teen daughter Samantha.  That, combined with his hunky hotness is enough for Heather to fall for him despite his disrespect for her life’s work. Especially when he emerges shirtless from the sauna looking like the top half of every action figure ever made and just as plastic. The daughter is played by Amelie Wolf, the daughter of the director. She is a Hallmark regular kid actor and she is fine. Unfortunately, Heather has a rival in red-haired Sonya, a shallow catty jealous massage therapist. She is so unprofessional that when she sees the sparks between Chris and Heather she tries to hurt Heather on the massage table. Sonya is the worst stereotype of a man-hungry desperate female (see paragraph 1) She even comes to his cabin at night to seduce him with his daughter practically in the same room. Amusingly, Samantha calls her on putting lipstick on before she goes to bed. Heather’s sister is similarly enamored by Chris’s hotness swooning and drooling all over him on her sister’s behalf because she needs a man to be happy. (Offensive stereotype #2.)

That takes care of the annoying characters. There were two plot points that were needlessly mishandled. The first was fairly minor. When Sonya shows up at a party where Chris and Heather are dancing, she is told off by his daughter in the one entertaining scene in the movie. She stops Sonya in her tracks. “My dad is with someone smart who chooses Chapstick over lip plumper. Now is not the best time.” Sonya retorts by telling her that she has some things to “talk over” with her dad which comes across as a veiled threat. I was sure curious!  But she leaves the party and the whole thing is just dropped. We never see her again. The more egregious one involves the suspense of whether the sister’s IVF, her last, has finally worked. [SPOILER ALERT] She finally gets up the nerve to take the pregnancy test while Heather is at the party. Tragically it is negative and she looks devastated. But the next morning, all is well and we have a scene where she and Chris’s daughter are yucking it up in a hot tub and jumping out to make snow angels in their bathing suits giggling uncontrollably. She doesn’t even tell her sister the I guess not so devastating news after all, and her sister doesn’t care enough to ask. Again, the whole thing is just left hanging never to be referred to again. Both loose ends could have been easily fixed with a quick edit or two. That they just left it is lazy and contemptuous of their viewers.

Despite her great relationship with his daughter and her attraction to Chris, Heather can not handle his disrespect and his refusal to even consider being open to using her technology as a tool. She pleads with him to trust her and hits him with argument after argument but nothing doing. She is strong and persistent but he won’t even explain himself.  To his surprise and disbelief (!), she walks out on him. This guy. It is only when her method saves his life, the lives of his team, and an injured skier that he admits he was wrong and apologizes.  That’s what it takes. But not before he checks with a male colleague who went to Heather’s training sessions first. What a prize.

The music was annoying and weird. The only other plus besides the scenery and Samantha’s takedown of Red Sonya was that Heather only brought 2 coats. You would have to be a Hallmark regular to understand how ground-breaking this is.

Rating: 3.5 out of 10.

Small Town Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

Oldie but Goodie

**Spoilers**

I reached back in time this season to re-watch a 2018 Christmas movie that I really enjoyed but didn’t review. This stars my favorite leading man, Kristoffer Polaha, and Ashley Newbrough, not a favorite but very good. I have no problems with her.

Ashley plays a successful author who is booked to do some events in the small town on which she based her best-selling book. A few years ago she was great friends with a co-worker who used to regale her with stories set in his hometown. On the verge of becoming romantically involved, he ghosted her, leaving her alone in a restaurant waiting for him to show up for their first real date. She called and texted over and over but he never replied and has never been in touch. She is nervous about visiting his home town and she has a right to be because not only is he living there but he owns the quirky local bookstore and is the liaison organizing the promotional events for her new book.

He is thrilled to see her again, basically acting like nothing happened and he did nothing wrong. He is now the guardian of his niece, the adorable Bailey Skodje. It turns out that on the night of their date he received word that his sister and her husband were killed in an auto accident. Now that is pretty awful and tragic, but it still is no excuse for his behavior of disappearing off the face of the earth without a word. But Ashley is forgiving considering the circumstances and they proceed to fall back in love.

The secondary plot is that of a property developer that Ashley has gotten friendly with wanting to “revitalize” the town. Sounds good, but when he wants all of the shop owners to sell their stores to him for obscene amounts of money, Kris gets suspicious.  He refuses to sell until he learns that the whole deal is kaput unless the developer can buy all the businesses including his. So in the name of helping his friends and colleagues who need the money, he agrees reluctantly to sell.  Imagine the shock when they find out, thanks to Ashley, that instead of revitalizing the town, he wants to demolish it and put up a big resort! What is a lying sneaky snake! And he seemed so nice! What is refreshing about this, is that the money men like the little town just the way it is. And his petard is hoisted. The rich investors are even going to invest in the town as is while keeping its charming picturesque feel. Towards the end, Ashley finds out that Kris actually wrote her a letter explaining what happened in his life, but he sent it to their old workplace and by that time she had already quit so she never got it. So he had been wondering why she never replied to him. Still no excuse for no phone call or quick text reply, but whatever. The mystery of his behavior which had been an ongoing puzzle is finally solved.

Kristoffer Polaha is such a charmer in this. He is full of energy and his acting was nuanced, low-key, and natural as always. He adds thoughtful touches to his delivery. For example towards the end when he was very turned off by Brad and his slick behavior, he started saying his name like he was saying “Yuck”. Bra-a-d (grimace, cringe-but subtle!) He plays such a sweet guy in this that it made it very funny somehow. I also liked that though he disliked and was jealous of Brad, he just studiously ignored him rather than acting all pouty and hostile. His chemistry with Ashley Newbrough was terrific. Although, in my view, it’s Kristoffer Polaha so he probably would have chemistry with a bag of doorknobs. ( No offense intended to Ashley N.) This one is 4 years old, but it will play again at least one more time before Christmas is over. I highly recommend you check it out if you have the time.

November 28, 2022

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Christmas for Keeps

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Keeping it Real

This was a top-tier Hallmark presentation on par with the best of this year’s Christmas chronicles. And there have been some great ones in 2021. It was almost like a real movie in that it wasn’t just a string of set pieces held together by clichés. 5 high school friends, 3 still local, get together to honor their recently deceased drama teacher who had an impact on all of their lives. We follow the five friends’ stories as they each deal with their individual challenges while thinking back on their teacher’s past advice. The flashbacks to their high school drama class were superfluous and the teacher’s wisdom was nothing but platitudes but I was very engaged by three of the individual journeys and fairly interested in the other two.

Avery is the one who pushes the four friends to reconnect while patiently and persistently battling their indifference or excuses. She is teaching psychology at the University of Michigan but wants to open her own practice there. Her mother is very overbearing and controlling, but Avery lives her own life in spite of that. She is not a wimp, but she wants her mother to stop. Her mother wants her to keep teaching and move back closer to their Virginia town. She is dead set against Avery opening her own practice. To that end, she actually sends Avery’s resume to the U of V behind her back which results in an awkward convo with the head of HR. Avery is furious and stands up to her mother, who still doesn’t get it (she is actually proud of herself). Her behavior threatens to lead to permanent estrangement. The wise father intervenes and reminds his wife how she was treated by her own mother, who insisted on “her way or the highway” and how that made her feel. She finally gets it. Don’t ask me why he didn’t speak to his wife 10 years ago. She apologizes to her daughter. ” I guess I learned that love was control and I am learning now that you can’t have both love and control. You have to pick one, and I choose love.” It was a great scene.

Avery is in love with Ben, who is struggling in his business and his personal life. He has pushed away all of his friends and his brother. He has a lot of rage, and we don’t find out what the source of that rage is that makes him act like a petulant toddler throughout most of the movie. When we finally do, it is underwhelming. I didn’t like or sympathize with him at all.

The other story I loved is about the two childhood sweethearts who married each other. The wife is trying to complete her hospital residency so she can take over her father’s medical practice. While she is doing that, her very wonderful husband is a stay-at-home Dad to their two kids and takes care of the house (which is quite the MacMansion considering the family’s lack of income.) She is busy busy busy, but also has a lot of guilt that, understandably, the children are closer to their Dad than her. This was a very adult, realistic story. The Dad loves to bake and when he is encouraged to start a business by the 5th friend, Mia, he is a little reluctant, but is kind of excited too, and goes along with it. His wife finds out and gets angry that he didn’t consult her first and everyone knows but her. “We are leading separate lives”. However, they love each other, the marriage is solid, and she has been making an effort to get away from the hospital to reconnect with her old schoolmates. And her husband. She turns around very quickly which may or may not have something to do with her taking care of the kids by herself for 4 hours. She also probably realizes that without her husband, she would be in a major pickle. Her apology speech to her treasure of a husband was really something.

Mia is a struggling actress who unbeknownst to her friends, is not making it in the big city. Her story was not as interesting and it is tidily resolved at the end. It was one story too many. There was one aspect to her story that was a bit disturbing if I interpreted what was going on correctly.

Most of the characters, even the secondary ones, were not cardboard cutouts. They were layered with both strengths and weaknesses. The movie was well structured with everyone having their beginning, middle, and end. It was a real winner with nice acting from all and great direction and writing.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

December 20, 2021