“Oh My Lord!”
~~Eloise (on the tippy top floor of The Plaza)
This is one of those Hallmarks that feels like it has to retcon what we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears in order to create a last minute drama that tears the couple apart so they can get them back together at the very very end. In this one it is the “You’ve Been Lying to Me the Whole Time!” scenario. I understand that this is the formula. And I really don’t mind it when there is a reason for the conflict and drama. Like if the guy or girl had really actually been actually lying to the other one the whole time. But in this case, there was no lying to be had. At All. Well Ok, maybe just a little bit very near the end, when he realizes for the first time that she thinks he is someone he is not. He doesn’t immediately correct her misapprehension. It would have been difficult. He is in a state of shock probably because he is thinking she was only pretending to love him because she thought he was a higher status person than he actually was. Depressed as well, probably. And it’s too bad, because otherwise this was a pretty good Hallmark.
By virtue of a great article she wrote about Hazel Holley, a famous children’s book author, Sabrina, our heroine, has been tapped to ghost write the memoirs of a great world famous art-broker. He, Grayson Westcott, was once Hazel Holley’s butler while she lived at the famous Grand Fairbanks Hotel in Manhattan while writing her books. This book series is about a little girl named Cordelia who lives at this same world renowned and very fancy hotel. If you are familiar with Kay Thompson’s children’s series about Eloise and The Plaza, you will recognize a lot of parallels with this movie. Right down to Sabrina staying in the “Cordelia Suite” and a huge oil painting portrait of “Cordelia” in a place of honor. So that was fun! Also staying at the same luxurious hotel, is Lord Braxton, who is vaguely part of the royal family of England, and his secretary, Ian, who also works for the family’s charity, “Read for the Stars”. They are there to exhibit the Braxton family’s jewelry collection to raise money for this charity which fosters reading skills for learning disabled children. After they have their meet-cute (she starts to eat his delicious-looking sandwich by mistake at the hotel bar), Ian and Sabrina form an instant connection, start doing stuff together (remarkably not ice skating at Rockefeller Center, however), and fall in love. Meanwhile Ian is trying to keep the immature and fun-loving Lord Spencer Braxton out of trouble, specifically keeping him from proposing marriage to the hotel jewelry clerk (who is doing post graduate work on the Victorian author, Elizabeth Gaskell. Kudos there, script writer!). Also meanwhile, Sabrina is interviewing Grayson Westcott for her book. He tells her the story of his love affair with an 18-year-old debutante while he was taking care of Hazel Holley. It ended sadly because she had to go to London to fulfill her dream and the dream of choice of seemingly all young Hallmark heroines: being a fashion designer. They keep in touch but when he finds out down the road that her family lost their money and her fashion designer dream is dead, he doesn’t go to her rescue. This was badly done on Grayson’s part and quite a plot hole. Especially since when she was rich he didn’t think he was good enough for her.
Now the crux of the matter, which everyone sees coming. Thanks to Sabrina’s daffy and obnoxious friend, Sabrina thinks that Ian is really Spencer the royal Lord, but he is just calling himself Ian to protect his privacy. The fact that Ian, she thinks, is royalty and very rich doesn’t seem to bother her too much at first *wink*, but she finally realizes that the romance cannot be because they live in two different worlds and two different countries. So inspired by Grayson’s frustrated romance, she writes him a letter breaking up with him. Please note that he never lies to her except when he finally realizes, near the end, that she has the wrong end of the stick and thinks he is a rich royal and not a lowly secretary. At that point he is shocked, discombobulated, and he doesn’t know how to tell her the truth. And then she breaks up with him before he can set her straight. All this while, Sabrina knows he has no idea that she thinks he is a Royal. Very early on, she comments to him that he didn’t tell her he was “with” the Braxtons. Not that he was Lord Braxton, but “with” the Braxtons. And later than that, when their romance is in full swing, she tells her flakey friend that Ian has no idea that she knows he is really royalty. In other words Ian thinks she thinks he is just a normal guy. Which he is. After a pow-wow with Grayson, she has a change of heart and decides to try to make their relationship work despite the challenge of him being a Royal and all. But when the truth is finally publicly revealed she stalks off accusing him of lying to her “the whole time.” and “Was any of this even real?!” The only unreal part was what was going on in her own head. You’d think she’d be happy. How could he be lying to her? He never claimed to be a Royal, and thought she knew that. Which she knew. My head is still spinning.
Other than that, I liked the movie. It was good to see Jessy Schram again after 2 Hallmark-free years. The male lead was good as was Adam Hurtig as the volatile Spencer Braxton. The production was very well mounted with the hotel and New York City background. And, small spoiler, I’ll never have a quarrel with three happy endings. But it lost a star due to the rewrite of established facts.
