Greg Rogers

The Stars Between Us

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Not in the Stars

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Despite being led by a favorite Hallmark actress, Sarah Drew, and her charming and attractive costar Matt Long, this one did not meet expectations. It’s hard to create an engaging romance when, after an initial sweet and sparky meeting in the first 10 minutes of the movie, the main couple don’t even see each other until less than 15 minutes left to go.  I’ve only seen this done successfully one time, in The Santa Summit. And this one filled the time in between the two encounters with about a bazillion near misses, each one more annoying than the last. I thought the Hallmark last minute bust up due to a stupid misunderstanding (patent pending) was bad. Well, I’m here to tell you, it’s even worse when the couple don’t even meet up again until the very end of the movie.

Kim, an astronomy hobbyist, has a chance encounter with Malcolm, a PhD candidate in astronomy, while on a hill top in Carbondale Illinois for a viewing event of a total eclipse of the sun. Does Carbondale Illinois even have hills? I’ll put a pin in that one to research later.* It is an immediate and undeniable connection, even though Kim is engaged to be married. They part when Kim’s habitually late fiancé finally shows up. 7 years go by. Kim is a divorced single mother living with her Mom. She works behind the scenes at a TV station in Chicago, Illinois, waiting for a chance to cover the news in front of the camera. She actually blew her first chance by freezing with nerves on live TV while covering a big fire. This has earned her the nickname “Freezer Burn.” So a second chance does not seem too likely, until an experienced reporter is exposed to pink-eye so cannot cover the upcoming eclipse which will occur, once again, in Carbondale. For one place to experience this twice in only 7 years is extremely rare but possible. (In case you were wondering.) Malcolm is now a professor of astronomy at a junior college in Arizona, but is, of course, back in Carbondale, because, you know, it’s a total eclipse and he is an astronomer. He has written a book about eclipses and their effect on culture through the ages and he hopes to meet his idol and former professor to help him get it published. Because as you may have heard, it’s “publish or perish” for academics. The professor, Dr. Stanley Longford, is kind of a rock star in the field, kind of like the late Carl Sagan was, may he rest in peace. Kim and Malcolm have never forgotten each other. They bring each other up when they have personal conversations about chance encounters, instant connections, and lost soulmates. In fact, it is even hinted that Kim’s memories of Malcolm may even have partially contributed to the demise of her marriage. And it is Kim who inspired Malcolm to be a teacher. Yet it never occurs to either of them that this second rare event might again attract the other to be in the same town they met.

Kim, her friend and camera-person Claire, and their incompetent producer, Reed, do their TV spots for the station (Kim and Reed both incompetently). Malcolm and his fellow professor and friend, Travis,  set up for the eclipse and try to find Dr. Longford. Claire and Travis meet and fall in love just like Malcolm and Kim did many moons ago. Pun not intended. The young producer who only got the job because he is the brother-in-law of the station head, screws up over and over until Kim finally loses her temper and unloads on him. They end up having a heart to heart, and getting a lot off their respective chests which causes them to, thankfully, become competent at their jobs. Reed even snags an interview with Malcolm’s famous astronomer for Kim which will go national and make or break her career. He does this right out from under a bad guy from another TV station who is a chauvinist pig and really dastardly (Hallmark mainstay, Ben Wilkinson). Yay Reed.

Through all of this Kim and Malcolm keep missing each other in the usual ways. One turns their head when the other walks by. The other sees a photo of him with their friends but the head is cut off. These almost-encounters happen a lot and as I mentioned, are very frustrating and annoying. But it really got to be remote throwing time when they actually meet and have a conversation during an eclipse party but because it is a masquerade and they are wearing teeny tiny Lone Ranger type masks they don’t even recognize each other! Despite Kim having long red hair just as she did 7 years ago! At this point I through my hands up in disgust and would have thrown my remote if I could’ve reached it. But I did yell.

After Kim and Reed carelessly lose the professor (because they allow him to wander off to the bathroom unsupervised 15 minutes before they are about to go live nationwide), Reed substitutes Malcolm to do the interview with Kim. Phew. They finally come face to face live on TV. Where they both commence to behave very unprofessionally by mooning and flirting with each other very cheesily instead of talking educationally about the eclipse. Needless to say, this is a big hit with the viewers. However, If I were a prospective employer of a fulltime TV reporter, her unprofessional display would not inspire me with a lot of confidence. But since Malcolm lives in Arizona and Kim lives in Chicago, maybe she will be the one to move and put her ambition to be a TV reporter on hold. First though, Kim needs to tell Malcolm about her 5-year-old daughter after they stop kissing.

I’m still giving this one 5 stars due to the acting and general appeal of all of the main cast members.

*It does. It’s actually famous for its hills in the second flattest state in the U.S.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Christmas With the Singhs

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Meet the Parents 2.0

Of course at the conclusion of this movie about the marriage of two young people almost derailed by their two competing cultures everything ends in happiness, peace, acceptance, and compromise. But is that really what it’s about? To my mind, it is more about a young modern Indian-American woman who has struggled to please her demanding and overprotective father all of her life, who finally stands up for herself thanks to her love for her Irish-American fiance and her desire not to lose her family while marrying her man.

Asha and Jake become reacquainted when he has to go to the emergency room where she is working as a Nurse Practitioner during the Christmas holidays. They had gone to high school together where Asha was the scholarly math whiz and Jake was a popular English major, homecoming king, and top athlete. He is currently a successful sports journalist. It is pretty much love at first sight in the emergency room, cue courtship and dating montage, which ends in a marriage proposal almost a year later at Christmas time. They are a sweet and likable couple played by Ben Hollingsworth and talented and beautiful Anuja Joshi as Asha. They are both excellent with great chemistry.

Now engaged, they are going back to their hometown to Meet The Parents. Trouble is foreshadowed by Asha’s  alarmed reaction to finding out that Jake did not receive Asha’s traditional father’s permission to ask for her hand in marriage. Yes, how could he not have known to do that, how could they not have met the parents before since they grew up in the same town, etc. But details details-I didn’t care. Also foreshadowing trouble with dear old Dad is Asha’s story that, pushed to be a M.D. all of her life, she had to pretend to fail the MCAT’s in order to keep the peace and pursue her real dream of Nursing. So we learn that, although bullied by her controlling  (but loving!) father, she is strong and has found a way to live her own life. Throughout the movie, Asha struggles with wanting to stand up to her father Samuel’s behavior despite her respect for his struggles and sacrifice. Anuja Joshi’s deft performance ensures we empathise with and understand her dilemma instead of being frustrated by her inability to put her foot down. When she introduces Jake to her otherwise warm and welcoming family, her father does not disappoint in the trouble and strife department. I will just summarize every micro and macro (mostly macro) aggression by just saying that he is rude and obnoxious to poor Jake at every opportunity.

When Asha is introduced to Jake’s divorced parents, there are challenges but nothing compared to what  Asha’s father inflicts on Jake and indirectly, Asha. The big conflict is about wearing or not wearing shoes in the family home. Both Jake Sr. and Molly are sometimes awkward, only a bit demanding, but always well-meaning. Our couple’s situation is surprisingly layered. Despite all of the stress, there is a lot of family warmth and humor in this movie. Jake’s Mom and Dad are a little quirky and very free and easy, while the Singhs are a large close family but immersed in tradition and structure. We learn, thanks to Jake’s father’s uncomfortable probing that the couple are not on the same page regarding having children. He is worried about that and doesn’t want them to make the same mistakes he and Molly made. It turns out that Jake’s mom is a former rival of Asha’s father in the town’s house decorating contest. He has won the prize many years in a row but only after Molly effectively abdicated her throne after her divorce from Jake’s Dad. She is now  the queen of the local Christmas Pageant instead. We see that there might be some social divide between the two as, when they meet some of their former school mates, they express surprise that the High School big shot and the under-the-radar Nerd are engaged. There is a financial gap between the two families as well, with the suburban Singhs apparently much wealthier than the more urban O’Briens.

 The Singh’s devout Christianity is an important part of this story. Their religion is unusual for Indians and has brought challenges both in India and in the immigrant community. Asha’s mother was raised Hindu but fell in love with her husband’s faith and converted. When Asha and Jake are late to church and the father’s traditional reading of the Christmas story his anger brings all of the tension and misunderstandings between the two families to a head. Samuel, his Christian spirit left by the wayside, verbally attacks Jake and his family. Jake stands up to Asha’s dad (finally) to defend his family, and Asha runs off to do some thinking. It is quite a scene, but nothing compared to what follows. I’ll just say that repentance and forgiveness are front and center, and Asha really steps up to the plate.

Manoj Sood is wonderful as Samuel, the head of the Singh family. I hated his attitudes and his behavior, but somehow couldn’t quite hate him. Okay, I did strongly dislike him. But he manages to convey warmth and love beneath his harshness to his beloved daughter’s fiance. At the end, his remorse and pain at his own behavior was touching and authentic. The actor’s range was truly on display. The whole cast was great, but the detailed multilayered script, packed with many subtle and revealing details, drama, humor, and warmth was the star. And the romance and mature relationship between the two lovers were pretty great as well.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

To All a Good Night

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Don’t Look Now, but There’s an Elephant in the Room

No one does cheesy like Hallmark and they brought out the big guns with a cute but naughty dog, soldiers, and letters from the dead. But thanks to the acting talents of the deservedly universally admired Kimberley Sustad, it all worked out to be a very enjoyable movie with a minimum of cringe. This despite the fact that Kimberley’s character Ceci is unfortunately in the most annoying profession for a Hallmark lead, a freelance photographer. She was more than ably supported by Hallmark regulars Karen Kruper and a favorite of mine, Leanne Lapp. Kudos also to Hallmark newcomers Mark Ghanime and the  appealing Luisa d’Oliveira as our heroine’s supportive and funny best friend. Thanks to the  smart and often amusing script the movie never descended into the sappy melodrama I kept dreading was just around the corner. And all of the characters, even the secondary ones, were well rounded with hints of interesting back stories.

Ceci  is trying to recover from her beloved father’s recent death while dealing with a new stepmother whom he married right before he died. Vivian is a strong personality (we find out why later) and Ceci is standoffish with her. Her suspicion is understandable, as we learn her father surprisingly left his brand new wife half of everything, including a piece of parkland that Ceci had always thought of as her own legacy. Every Christmas Ceci and her father raised money for worthy causes by having the townspeople decorate the Christmas trees on this land for a donation. The event is called “To all a Good Night” but she is canceling it this year because of her grief.  

Enter our hero, Sam, a combat veteran, who though well on the road to recovery, has gone through an emotional and physical ringer. He is working for his father a wealthy and high-powered property developer, but really isn’t happy there. Leanne Lapp plays his supportive cousin who is very much suited to take over the business from her aging uncle. Sam gets a letter with only an ink stamp of an elephant for the return address, and the next thing we know, he is on his motorcycle racing towards Harmony Bay, Ceci’s home town. He wipes out on a trail in the woods and is rescued anonymously by Ceci, whose only identifier is her elephant pendant given to her by her father which she never takes off. Except now that she wants to keep her identity secret from him. I forget why? Eventually, she finds out he is a property developer and the trail he was on leads only to her piece of land. What is he up to? Is her stepmother planning to sell her share? Refreshingly, these characters actually communicate with each other in a timely manner. While we wonder and wait in some suspense, conflicts don’t go on past all logic and understanding.

There are many threads that come together, tears shed, and secrets revealed along the way to the satisfying conclusion. I don’t need to tell you that by the end, Ceci not only gains a future husband  but a surrogate mother in Vivian. The “To all a Good Night” event goes on and her land is her own to be developed as she wishes. Although there was hardly a Hallmark trope left by the wayside, this movie was elevated by the acting and well-written characters. The pathos was kept palatable by the humor and lightheartedness that was worked into the script. Almost an 8.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

The Wedding Veil

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Lacey and Lace

This was pretty entertaining and I’m looking forward to the next 2 installments of the trilogy starring Autumn Reeser and Alison Sweeney. This first one featured Lacey Chabert with Kevin McGarry playing the love interest.

Three friends are in San Francisco for their yearly get-together. They are out antiquing and Lacey spies a beautiful vintage wedding veil. The owner tells them that the veil comes with magical powers. Whoever owns the veil will meet their true love while it is in their possession. The girls decide to all buy it together, and Lacey will take it home. She soon meets Kevin McGarry and they have an instant connection. Coincidentally they both live in Boston where they plan to continue to see each other. While at the airport, Kevin sees the wedding veil with Lacey and overhears her having a conversation about planning a wedding that he assumes is hers. (It’s not.) He immediately gives her the brush and leaves. Lacey is confused and disgusted.

They keep meeting up while in Boston because Lacey is an assistant curator of a museum and he is the rich philanthropist who is hosting a gala to raise money for the museum. What follows is a quite amusing series of encounters between the two where Lacey seems very open to a relationship while Kevin thinks she is about to get married. He acts very attracted to her and then keeps backing off, confusing and angering poor Lacey to no end. Meanwhile, he can’t understand why such a seemingly nice woman is acting like a cheat and a tease. It’s Cute. The truth finally comes out after an hour and 15 minutes. The subplot is also interesting. Lacey discovers a dirty and faded 19th-century portrait of a bride wearing a very familiar-looking veil in the Museum’s basement and finds out it is a lost masterpiece. She wants it to be the centerpiece of the gala but it has to be restored in record time. So there is a lot of running around and intrigue over that.

Lacey’s wardrobe choices in this were very odd. She wears a lot of flowery floating low cut off-the-shoulder dresses one of which, I swear, looked like a filmy nightgown. You could see right through much of it. They would have been OK for a formal garden party but not for shopping, at work, or rooting around filthy basements. I’m also not sure I liked the pairing with Kevin McGarry although they were fine individually. The chemistry between the 3 queens of Hallmarkland was off the charts, however.

After Lacey and Kevin tie the knot, Autumn Reeser will be taking the veil to Italy with her to have it researched to see if it’s the same veil in the portrait. The suspense is killing me.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

January 10, 2022

A Dickens of a Holiday

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With the Two Lead Actors, It Should Have Been Better

I love Kristoffer Polaha. He is one of my Top 3 Hallmark actors. I have never seen him in a role where he did not elevate the material with his appealing attractive self. And I like Brooke D’Orsay in almost every role I’ve seen her in. There was one I didn’t like her in but we won’t talk about that. She always brings a natural sweetness and heart to her performances. I was looking forward to seeing them together and they did not disappoint.

The story wasn’t much. It wasn’t bad. But it did kind of drag in the middle only providing a stage for the two actors’ acting talents. Jake is a Hollywood action star who wants a sensitive dramatic role in a new film based on his late mother’s favorite book. No one wants him for the part because they don’t think he can do it, including his agent. He agrees to go home to his hometown to play Scrooge to prove he can play a complicated dramatic part. And partly because he had an unrequited high school crush on the director, Cassie. It starts out very intriguing and funny because he is spoiled and pampered and he is terrible in the part. His playing the role of Ebenezer Scrooge like he was John Wick was pretty funny, and I wish they had made more of this. Unfortunately, Cassie, as the director, gets him on track way too quickly. I was looking forward to the character development, but he changes into a good guy way too fast for it to be an entertaining journey. This also takes the interest out of a side plot, which is his estrangement from his brother. One heart to heart and all is well.

The crisis comes when, thanks to his loyal and talented assistant, he is about to be offered the dream role but to get it, he has to go to a party thrown by a bigwig. Surprise surprise-On the same night as the big performance. Will he revert to his old self and chuck the play in favor of his big break? None of how this is played out made a lot of sense. At one point Brooke D’Orsay gets ready to step into the part of Scrooge in full glamor girl make-up with lipstick, eyeshadow, and her flowing golden locks tumbling from her nightcap. That would have been another fail for the Hallmark make-up department but it would have been pretty funny watching Scrooge in drag.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

December 12, 2021

Eat, Drink, and Be Married

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Why? What? Huh?

Billie is consulting with an engaged couple, Jess and Max, about their wedding. Jess is being a bit of a control freak in her strive for perfection, and Max could care less. She even has a diagram of the exact dimensions of the flower vases she wants. Right away I’m on Team Max. After the meeting, they decide (rightly) to take a break. When Max’s brother hears about it, he storms into Billie’s place guns a blazing (figuratively). He blames Billie for the breakup because she was the last person the couple talked to. Meanwhile, Billie learns that the beloved old building that her family had had her business in is being sold after being in her family for 3 generations. This begs the first question. How could her beloved building be sold? Don’t they own it? If not, why not? Did they forget to? Anyway, Charlie enlists Billie to save the wedding, and in return, he will save the building because he’s in real estate. And his Uncle’s company is the one that is going to tear down the building and put up a parking lot (literally). Everything goes as expected from there, including Charlie being unsuccessful in handling his end of the bargain. By the end of this, I was left with more than several nagging questions.

She makes a living how though? Takes old after-wedding detritus and gives it to charity? I must have missed something? I guess she’s also a wedding planner? Are weddings the only event that has leftover flowers, decorations, and food? (Might have a problem with the health department there, though) and what charity needs flowers? I’m sure this was addressed, but I missed it, I guess.

What was with that long cheesy speech Charlie made to Billie after she gave him the boot encouraging her to let her true self shine through because she is such a spectacular person and has no reason to be so closed off, insecure, and damaged. Huh? As far as I could see she was a cheerful, confident, successful, very together woman. I was very confused. Was he trying to gaslight her into thinking his “lying and deceit” was her fault?

Why didn’t Charlie help Billie with her presentation to the committee-who-decides-what-buildings-to-protect-from-mean-developers after sending an email giving her the advice to apply for protection? He wasn’t doing anything else after quitting his job. Why not pitch in with a helping hand and get back on her good side?

Why should the committee save her warehouse despite the fact all were in agreement that the place held no historical value due to burning down in 1910? Even Billie? Because Billie loved it and lots of nice things happened there. Sounds like an investigation is in order especially since Jess was on the committee and didn’t recuse herself.

Why did Billie wear a prom/bridesmaid floor-length formal to Jess’s dressy-casual daytime wedding? Oooof.

Lastly, Jocelyn Hudon, who played Billie, was cute but was robotic in her line delivery and it caused me to lose focus and interest. I might have even dozed off for a minute. Maybe this is why I didn’t catch all of the subtleties in the plot. I was curious and looked up her resume and sure enough, this is strike two for her, from me. She needs to do better, as do the writers who wrote this thing.

Rating: 3 out of 10.

Cranberry Christmas

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Hallmark Christmas Movie for Grown-Ups

This is a mature and well-acted offering that explores what it takes to have a happy marriage despite the challenges. Nikki DeLoach and Ben Ayers were fantastic and have wonderful chemistry. They play a separated couple, who have to pretend to have a solid marriage because they are publicizing their small-town festival which will promote their family business for a TV show. It was like they were really married and falling back in love. They were a perfect match. Nikki is so sincere in her delivery, you really believe that everything that comes out of her mouth is from her heart. The whole cast was great, except for Grandma who was a little teensy bit over the top. Sorry Grandma. The script was excellent with humor, heart, and a few tender moments. And it managed to avoid most of the Hallmark set pieces. Even the big misunderstanding near the end was handled with maturity and aplomb. The challenges to the happy ending were complex and real. No phony silliness at all. A breath of fresh air.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

December 7, 2020

A Valentine’s Match

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Plot: Boo! Actors: Yay!

**Spoilers (?)**

The plot wasn’t anything much. It follows the usual formula: 1) Successful career-woman with useless boyfriend gets fired and goes back to small hometown to recharge. 2) Meets old boyfriend she has been avoiding for 10 years due to misunderstanding. 3) 2 interfering mothers, sensible father. 3) A festival is saved after the 2 exes are forced to work together. 4) they fall in love again only to have another blow-up which sends the heroine back to the big city with terrible boyfriend. 5) They come to their senses and reunite for a happy ending. Not to mention: 6) Black actors relegated to the best friend zone. So why does this get high marks from me? The Acting and Appeal and Chemistry of Bethany Joy Lenz and Luke McFarlane. Luke has long been a favorite of mine and they both breathe life and humor into unremarkable lines that in less talented actors’ hands would result in a snooze-worthy cookie-cutter romance. The 2 love scenes were emotional and steamy, especially the slow dance near the end. Their break-up was tense and sad, and in between, they were funny both together and apart. The end scene was cheesy in the extreme but at least it didn’t end with the smooch, and some loose ends were tied up.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

February 3, 2020