Lynda Boyd

A Royal Montana Christmas

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Dude!

It’s not often that I have nothing to say. The title says it all. But it’s the Saturday premiere of the first movie in Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas. So. The overscheduled and stressed out Princess Victoria of Zelarnia escapes to a Montana dude ranch where she went as a child with her late father for a little R and R and falls for Huntley, the son of the owners. Besides having no free time in Zelarnia she is discouraged from being herself or straying outside the lines in any way, shape, or form while doing her princessly duties. After Christmas she will be taking over for her mother the queen full time. Luckily her mother is supportive and Victoria doesn’t really so much as “escape” but is allowed to go to Montana as long as she takes her head scheduler and assistant, Gabriel along with her and is back by December 19th for the official lighting of the third Advent candle. Also she has a nice sister, who is much more suited for her duties than Victoria is, to fill in. Gabriel is from New York City, and he will help Victoria navigate the strange ranch customs of America. In the one amusing line, Gabriel protests that the only ranch he is “acquainted with is ranch dressing.”

And that is pretty much that. No one recognizes her at all, so there is no cloak and dagger hiding her identity or escaping from the paparazzi going on. The fact that she is a royal princess doesn’t really play into the story at all. No culture shock, no nothing. She might as well be another Hallmark American stressed out business woman on vacation. Except for the German (?) accent. Even citified prissy Gabriel is a good sport about all they have to go through. For some strange reason, Victoria and Gabriel, paying guests mind you, are given nasty chores on their first day including mucking out the stalls (“Charlie made a big ole mess last night.” snicker snicker. Charlie being a horse.) There is some mystery about why they no longer have the annual Christmas dance which Victoria remembers so fondly.  But with the help of Huntley’s gorgeous high school friend, Shelby, she enthusiastically and competently revives it to raise money for the volunteer fire department. Shelby is nice and even though she and Huntley were the homecoming Queen and King there is no romance there at all. Drama and misunderstandings averted. Huntley’s deal is that he used to be a baseball player and even made it to the pros. But he blew out his rotator cuff during his first spring training, letting down his community who cheered him on at the last Christmas Dance that they held many years ago.  Next year’s dance was canceled because his parents were too busy seeing to his recovery. Ever since, instead of helping his parents run the ranch full time he has been assistant coaching unhappily in the minor leagues there in the hinterlands of Billings Montana and struggling with some kind of complex for letting down his community. The community doesn’t care, bro. They are too busy with their own lives.

When the Christmas dance is scheduled the day after Victoria is supposed to leave she just calls up her mom and gets an extension. No problemo. Meanwhile Huntley and Victoria have fallen in love while doing ranch activities under the big sky of Montana. At one point things get serious (they almost kiss) and she tells him she is a real princess. No problemo. Even though he is now going to help run the ranch full time, and her destiny is in Zelarnia, they are going to work it out and be together “as a team”, “whatever that looks like.” Holy matrimony is not mentioned. Sure enough, she goes back to Zelarnia to light the last Advent candle, and comes back seemingly the next day (going by what I know about Advent Candles) on Christmas to live the dream in Montana with her mother and sister in tow. They fit right in and little sis happily agrees to take over Victoria’s princess duties for ever after they get back home.

This one was not an auspicious start to Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas 2025 version. Fiona Gubelman and Warren Christie were well cast, had good chemistry and did the best they could with a really boring script. Warren looks excellent in a Cowboy hat and the kisses were solid.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

The Real West

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A Ranchy Romance

I’m afraid I am somewhat of an outlier on this one. Kimberley Sustad, with her acting and authenticity was a queen, as usual. The script was a good take on 2007’s Steve Carell dramedy-romance Dan, In Real Life with the leading roles reversed. Some funny lines were made funnier by Kimberly Sustad’s comic timing, as always. And when emotions and angst are called for she is always more than equal to that as well. The plot had some good elements, both amusing and poignant. Rebecca’s ( Kimberley Sustad) relationship and banter with her two sons and her mother were well drawn mostly due to the acting of all concerned. But unfortunately, I just couldn’t get over the way the romance part was handled, the behavior of Rebecca’s flaky free-spirit younger sister Cassidy, and how the college issue with her 17-year-old son was resolved.

Rebecca is a university professor and widow with a teenage son and a 9-year-old who is told by her family that she needs to get a life and start dating again. Meanwhile, they are set to join her mother and sister at a dude ranch for a family vacation. When they get there, she learns that her sister has arranged the whole thing to follow a guy she has gotten serious about and thinks might be “The One”. She met him in upstate New York but he works there in Colorado as the horse guy for the ranch. She wants her sister to meet him and give him her Seal of Approval before she takes it any further because she isn’t a good judge of character like her sister is. Also, her mother hopes to set Rebecca up with a childhood friend who has grown up to be a real hunk. To add to the fun,  her 17-year-old son has invited his girlfriend along without her permission or knowledge until the young lady shows up with her luggage the morning of their departure. I’m not even going to go there because it turned out to be a very minor ripple in a sea of trouble.

Rebecca has yet to meet Jake, her sister’s boyfriend, when she goes into town to buy a cowboy hat. She meets a ruggedly handsome cowboy-looking dude there whom she takes to be the store clerk. The immediate electricity between the two just crackles. He flirts with her very seductively including getting all up in her space. This was not harmless fun and jokey flirting, but in earnest. He pretends he is the store clerk and proceeds to help her find the perfect hat because the hat should reflect the inner self. Whatever. The Sorting Hat routine continues as he places 3 hats on her head to choose from, looks deep into her eyes, and spouts off lines such as “Tried and true… When others grow weary, you grow stronger…Tough and tender…and strong enough to ride the land but gentle enough to warm the hearts of anyone lucky enough to know you.” Ick. Now I couldn’t tell if Lucas Bryant was kidding with his performance of a laconic, growly-voiced cowboy type, but I am up to here with every actor who plays a cowboy trying to channel Sam Elliot, kidding or not.  One of the funnier lines was Rebecca’s reaction to his hat-fitting methodology. “Oh. It’s a hat AND a horoscope.” But she is smitten, and buys all 3 of the hats after which she goes out for a 3-hour coffee break with him and they exchange numbers. Later, back at the ranch, her sister’s boyfriend shows up and she introduces him to her family. Guess who. Now I didn’t blame Rebecca at all. She was shocked, disturbed, and embarrassed. But I didn’t like how Lucas Bryant’s part in this was glossed over and ignored. He actively pursued her while still in an at least semi-serious relationship with another woman who turned out to be her sister. And he didn’t seem to care or have any sense of regret or chagrin over his behavior. He was very passive about the whole thing like her sister’s feelings had nothing to do with him. Either he had no empathy which I hope was not the case (because there is a word for someone who has no empathy) or he just didn’t show any. He was pretty inscrutable. He doesn’t break up with the sister until the movie is almost over and after the two boys had grown attached to him and he and Rebecca were hot and heavy emotionally.

Speaking of the sister, she  stupidly and obliviously persisted in throwing Rebecca and Jake alone together so Rebecca could get to know him. It was so bad, I thought that she was trying to match-make between the two having decided he was not for her after all. If only. That would have been fine and kind of funny. But no, when she finally figures out the two are well on their way to being seriously involved, she gets all mad at her sister! When she did nothing but throw them together at every opportunity! Why didn’t Rebecca tell her the truth about him putting the moves on her behind her back and their mutual attraction when her one job was to alert her sister to any red flags she sussed out? No clue.

I don’t want to pile on about this movie because there were so many great things about it. I will only briefly mention the third thing that didn’t sit right with me. What was with Rebecca giving her son her blessing to follow his girlfriend of 4 months to an out-of-town and lesser university rather than stay at home to go to a better school? And one to which he presumably would not have had to pay tuition since she was a professor there? That seemed way too irresponsible and indulgent to me.

Believe it or not this was a good movie with good acting from all concerned except I didn’t know what Lucas Bryant was trying to do. Probably the direction he got. Besides Kimberley Sustad, Lynda Boyd as the mother made an impact despite her few lines and small part. The side plot of Rebecca’s youngest son being obsessed with ghosts was amusing and quirky until we found out what was behind his interest, and then it was poignant. Azriel Dalman as the youngest son was wonderful as always. He is a regular Hallmark actor.

I didn’t see this movie until 3 days after the premiere for reasons I won’t go into but I wanted to love it going by the many glowing reviews and positive feedback. I just couldn’t get past the way the main characters were written. I was disappointed. Oh and by the way, the next time a Hallmark actor says “It’s complicated.” I won’t be responsible for my actions.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

The More Love Grows

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D-I-V-O-R-C-E

Rachel Boston has a particular acting style. Animated? Energetic? Bright-eyed and bushy tailed? Hard to describe in one word. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

My problem with this one was the short shrift the dissolution of a 20-year marriage with a child is given. The husband just leaves with no warning or discussion. And it’s not like there were serious issues in the marriage. No cheating or emotional/physical abuse, addiction issues, mental health issues, etc. And no counseling. Even though her new man was a better guy than old husband, and she was better off without old husband, it bothered me. His lack of effort at the beginning, and her lack of effort at the end when he came crawling back.

One thing I loved about this one was when Rachel Boston’s friends were on the fence about their support for her when he took off, she just dropped them. “You are not my friends.” Good for her.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Christmas on Cherry Lane

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Pass the Advil, Please.

Ohhhh my head!  This one made my brain hurt.  I love ensembles, and movies with multiple stories that tie together in some way are favorites of mine, so I was really looking forward to this one. It did not get off to an auspicious start. We are introduced to 3 different sets of people and their stories. Right off the bat, I hated either the people or what was happening with them. The first featured Erin Cahill and John Brotherton as Lizzie and John, a happy couple expecting their first baby. These two are not my favorite actors, although it may be because of the parts in which I have seen them in the past more than anything personal against their talent. Actually, I was kind of looking forward to having this one change my attitude towards them as Ms. Cahill is a Hallmark mainstay, and John Brotherton looks to become one. And they were fine in this. The two are looking forward to enjoying a quiet Christmas together nesting in their brand-new house and waiting for their baby, when Hell descends upon them in the form of her mother and father. They barge in uninvited and unwelcome announcing they are intruding staying for the holidays. And they have the gall to have invited more members of the family to overflow our couple’s modest little home. And the gall continues. The mother and father start insulting their housekeeping (they haven’t even unpacked the moving boxes yet), implying they are incompetent at everything, and needling John about his job, which is owning a struggling gas station/body shop, unlike Lizzie’s brothers who make a lot of money as professionals. The father even reminds them that he had to help them buy their house. So strike one. I was filled with rage.

In the second story, we meet Regina (a radiant Catherine Bell), who is expecting her two adult children for Christmas Eve dinner. She plans to tell them that she is engaged to be married to her boyfriend Nelson (James Denton), selling their childhood home, retiring, and moving to Florida. The kids do not take it well. At All. They worshipped their late father and love their old home. In fact, they (especially the son) act like petulant brats about it. The son informs his mother that he does not approve of her plans. Regina responds that it is none of his business, they are her and Nelson’s decisions, and he can get on board or….Not. Yay for Regina. Loved it. The son storms out in a self-pitying huff and takes off for a friend’s house. Strike two. So far, all I am getting out of this movie is rage and disgust.

In the third story, we meet Zian and Michael, a gay couple who are hosting a Christmas Eve dinner party for 12 guests, are waiting to be approved as foster parents, and whose kitchen, where Michael, a chef, is cooking the fancy dinner, is still not finished and a wreck. The contractor who is doing the remodel does not inspire confidence (“How badly do you need your oven?”) and is too busy chatting and doing anything else except working on the cabinets, appliances, and countertops. The turkey has to be in by 5pm and it is not looking good. In the midst of the chaos, the couple learns that they have been approved for their first foster child and the little girl will be arriving that very evening. Strike 3. I was angry at the contractor and full of tension over the turkey deadline and the nice couple having to redecorate the little girl’s room, buy her some presents, and prepare for a 15-person dinner party in a matter of hours. And Jonathan Bennett, who plays Michael, gets on my last nerve sometimes.

In fact, these 3 stories take place in the same house, but approximately 25 years apart, in 1973, 1999, and 2023. We learn this about 20 minutes in, in a blink and you might miss them fade-in/fade-out pictures of the house through the years. I knew something of the sort was going on, but I didn’t fully grasp all of the implications until way over halfway through the movie. For some reason, I thought we were only looking at 1973 and 50 years later, and was very confused.  I didn’t get right away that they were all in the same house, but around 25 years apart. Were they members of the same family? Yes? No? Are their ages right though? No. Is this like This is Us? Not Really, but Kinda. I knew that the 3 couples were somehow connected but trying to figure it all out took second place to my anger and disgust with Lizzie’s parents, Regina’s son, and the contractor for the gay couple.

There were some things that I kept seeing that were in all 3 stories besides the house. A helpful neighbor, Daisy, a car, which sometimes looked brand new, and sometimes looked like a beater, and a Christmas ornament. In the end, all of the stories were resolved satisfactorily (if a little too patly) and tears even came to my eyes…even though I wasn’t quite sure why! I understood most of the connections but there were still so many loose ends and links between the 3 families I didn’t comprehend that I had to go through and replay the movie a second time. Thank heavens for fast forward. I’m the type of person that has to understand and fully grasp what is going on. I can’t stand aspects of a story slipping through my fingers. After the second go-round and with the help of Twitter (Ok, Ok, “X”) and Reddit things were clarified considerably. And I also learned that I was not the only one who was tearing their hair out. Once I got all the ins and outs of the timeline and between the characters, I have to say that this was, indeed, a very clever, well-plotted, and touching story with a great message. I even cried a little at the end again, and this time I knew why. But though I loved the ambitiousness, points off for being so worrisome and confusing. That is something I don’t need in a Hallmark movie. More clarity early on would not have been hard to provide. Call me. And we never find out who Linda and Emily are. Do we?

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Make Me a Match

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Bollymark

When I found out that Hallmark was doing the Indian thing as their latest foray into including diversity in their romances, I was all in and very much looking forward to seeing what Hallmark was going to do with it. My second reaction was “What took them so long?!” I have seen and loved many Indian films and not just Bollywood-type. Cutting to the chase, it was very good. It included Indian culture and traditions without heavy-handed stereotypes. Not to mention the food. The romance was fairly standard, but it also leaned into some deeper and more complex emotional issues as well that each lead had to overcome. I’m all for fewer festivals, small towns, and monkeyshines and more for the internal stuff.

Vivi works for a dating app firm, and, always aspiring for love and a happy marriage herself due to her unhappy parents (more on that later), she is front and center in the app’s promotional material. She is in a happy relationship with “the one” whom she met using the dating app, DataMate. When her boyfriend breaks up with her though, she learns that her employer’s success rate for matches that last long term is only 20%. She decides she wants to increase the percentage of matches that end in marriage by incorporating the more serious methods of an Indian matchmaker, Raina, who is getting some media attention due to her long-term success rate. Raina and her handsome son agree. They want to grow their plateauing business by extending their methods to non-Indian men and women. So Vivi is persuaded to be the guinea pig to see if the partnership will work and it all will be watched over by the handsome son, “Boom.” Yes. Bet that’s the first time we have had a Hallmark leading man with such an explosive name! She is matched with 3 possibilities that don’t work out for one reason or another. But meanwhile, Vivi and Boom (short for Bumar, I think) are getting closer.

One of the reasons the matches are not working out for Vivi (besides the growing mutual attraction and rapport with Boom) is that Raina incorporates family into her process. “Marriage isn’t just about two people, It affects the whole family.” Unfortunately, Vivi’s mom and dad are unhappy and always very unpleasant and fighting. This is why Vivi, who was always trying unsuccessfully to keep her Mom and Dad from quarreling as a child, relies more on analytics and tests (What 5 things would you take with you to the Moon?), not trusting chemistry and feelings. Raina’s methods are much wiser as she bases her matches on talking about important things like finances, philosophies, and children. She also has the dates being watched over by objective “spies” to see how things are really going. Not relying on the couple’s often skewed perceptions. I gotta say, I thought this was brilliant. Vivi is having some success with one guy (despite the fact that by now she is in love with Boom and vice versa). But it’s all ruined when, despite Vivi finally hooking Mom and Dad up with a marriage counselor, they wisely decide to get a divorce. Vivi regresses to her old ways, and the perfect guy, Tristan, breaks up with her. On the way to Boom and Vivi’s happy and beautiful Indian Wedding at the end, there are a lot of challenges to overcome, many of them on Boom’s part, who has some Dead Daddy issues and keeps it impersonal and standoffish with Vivi despite realizing that she is his perfect match. Very nice romantic tension there, by the way. There was a lot packed into this one, and it was well-written and well-organized thanks to montages and time jumps.

Rekha Sharma as Raina was lovely, amusing, and wise. Another another stand out was Sean Yves Lessard as Vivi’s obnoxious boss who only cares about revenue, not happy endings for his customers.  When Vivi is told that DataMate will not continue to partner with Raina the matchmaker because there were too many permanent and successful matches and less “repeat business”,  she quits. Personally, I wouldn’t have lasted 2 days working for that guy. OMG.

It all ends with two great kisses and a traditional Indian wedding with a dose of Bollywood 1 year later. I can’t wait to see what else Hallmark has up their diversity sleeve. Bring it on. More India, I hope.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

The Wedding Veil Inspiration

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Terror in the Art Department

I liked most of this one. The script was smart and the plot was multilayered without being all over the place. All of the actors did a nice job.  Emma’s (Autumn Reeser) slowness to realize her professional life needed a reset got on my last nerve, but mostly it was very enjoyable, buoyed considerably by the charm of the secondary romance. The movie picks up a few months after the ending of  Lacey Chabert part II, A.K.A. The Wedding Veil Expectations. Paolo and Emma are living in Chicago with Emma pursuing her career goal of being the director of the Art History Department at the University.  Paolo is in the midst of opening the new Chicago location of his family’s lace business.


While her rigid taskmaster of a boss is preparing Emma to take her place as department head, Paolo is called back to Italy to deal with his father’s health crisis. Meanwhile, a cousin, Matteo, has left his home in Miami to live in Chicago and take over the day-to-day running of the new store. During the grand opening Matteo meets Lily, Emma’s assistant, and due to an almost accident, they both touch The Veil together and their fate is sealed. Carlo Marks as Matteo, and Kacey Rohl as Lily are both charming and appealing with Lily, in particular, having a quirky and well-rounded personality with a nice sense of humor. And a terrible haircut.

The main event, however, is the trouble Emma is having at work which is causing some hiccups in her and Paolo’s personal life and worrying her two best friends. The more she is groomed by her boss to take over the long-dreamed-of position, the more unhappy she becomes. Her very bossy boss insists she give up her teaching assignments, work longer hours (leaving less time with Paolo,) go to bureaucratic meetings, and stop posting her popular educational art videos. Emma complies unhappily with each new restriction. It is obvious to the viewer and everyone else except her that the post that has always been her professional goal is not a good match for her. When will the light dawn? When her tyrannical boss advises Autumn that she must give up her stylish wardrobe because it doesn’t reflect the image she must project, I thought that that surely must be the last straw. I mean, why would an ART professor have a wardrobe like a trial lawyer? But sure enough, she shows up at work the next day in a black “who died?” suit getting the side-eye from all of her friends and colleagues. At this point, I was getting remote-throwing level frustrated with her not putting her foot down. Adding to the pressure, are Paolo’s increasing obligations in Italy. Long-distance relationships don’t work for Emma, and she is in a quandary.

All is resolved finally with an unanticipated (by me, anyway) twist, that puts a new light on Emma’s struggles and bumped my rating up a star. I liked that Paolo was loving, clear-eyed, and patient throughout all of the drama, but was not a doormat.  I liked the lesson Emma learned at the end about building a happy life with your husband and working towards professional goals. But I wish she had learned it without being driven by force to the end of her rope.

Next week we have the last entry in this second trilogy. I am a little worried about that one because according to the previews it has Autumn and Lacey horning in on Alison Sweeney and Victor Webster’s delayed honeymoon. All I can say is that the reason for this intrusion better be good.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Cut, Color, Murder

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Dye, Die, Don’t Bother

I don’t have a bad word to say about the actors in this new Hallmark mystery series. Gonzalo and McPartlin were just fine, and they had a good rapport. But boy oh boy was it dumb. This is a new entry in Hallmark’s spunky female amateur detective line. They usually run their own “womanly” business so they can take off whenever one of their acquaintances or customers gets murdered in order to catch the killer. We have flower shops, bookstores, antique stores, and bakeries. We also have matchmakers(!?), wedding photographers, crossword puzzle editors, and podcast hosts. Strangely, in two of my favorites, Aurora Teagarden and Mystery 101, the spunky female amateur detectives actually have mainstream professions. With the arrival of Cut, Color, Murder, we now have a beauty shop owner. What took them so long?

In this one, Julie is taking her talents to the world of beauty pageants in which her younger sister is a participant and she is doing hair. The bitchy showrunner gets murdered and there are plenty of suspects because she was evil to absolutely everyone. Julie is the widow of a policeman who was killed in the line of duty (or was it an unsolved cold-blooded murder?). So she has ties to the police department primarily through the chief of police who she has wrapped around her little finger. Enter new guy, Ryan McPartlin, a handsome hotshot detective with whom she butts heads because he is a professional. After Julie meets an anonymous text messager alone in a spooky abandoned house at night because he/she has info about her husband, it was remote throwing time. Except I had to find it first because I had already thrown it after all the laws she broke and chain of evidence procedures ignored in the meantime.  She is rescued from certain death by Ryan and let’s just say this show leaves no cliche unincluded.

We know this is a series because after the mystery is solved we have a bit of a cliffhanger while Julie is having a pow-wow with her dead husband at the cemetery because she has decided to move on (is that something you just decide to do?) and wants to give him a heads up ( I guess?). We know that there is going to be an over-arching mystery of her trying to solve her husband’s murder and getting into all kinds of trouble. Not a spoiler, because I’m not psychic, but I predict that the murderer of her husband turns out to be the indulgent good-guy/father-figure/police chief in an unknown number of episodes hence.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

February 9, 2022

Christmas in Tahoe

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Shattered Dreams

**spoilers**

Laura Osnes works in her father’s resort hotel and is basically in charge. However, her dream is to manage a big entertainment venue in the entertainment capital of the world: Las Vegas. If she can successfully book her father’s Christmas show, the job is hers. After her star act cancels on her, the movie consists of her going around with her ex-boyfriend trying to book replacement acts. Her ex is the head guitarist in a successful rock band who fired her as their manager when they started to hit it big. That is why he is her ex. The problem is that the actor who plays the famous rock star is too young and skinny looking for Laura, who has a mature look about her. He looks more like a junior accountant than a rock star.

The other problem is that to me, it seems as if her Dad knows something is up and tries to emotionally blackmail her into staying with him. He goes around looking concerned and puts her on blast making a speech about how proud he is of her and how he doesn’t know how he could get along without her blah blah blah. Unfortunately, he succeeds in his plan. She ends up giving up her dream to stay home and try to make her Dad’s hotel an entertainment destination. Also, she gives it up for her man, who is going to stay there in Tahoe and write instead of performing on tour. Which is his dream. So literally everyone gets their dream except poor Laura! Merry Christmas! Even her co-worker buddy and aspiring singer becomes the opening act for the rock band.

What is it with actors who think they can sing in Hallmark movies lately? Or was it that God-awful song? Hard to tell. How ironic that Laura Osnes, who actually can sing, doesn’t. Couldn’t they even have given her a verse of Jingle Bells or something?

Rating: 5 out of 10.

December 3, 2021

An Unexpected Christmas

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Unexpectedly Overwrought

**Spoilers**

Jamie and Emily have broken up their long-term relationship. Jamie has headed home for Christmas in small-town Fulton, Illinois. Coincidentally, Emily is also heading there for work. They arrive at the terminal at the same time and Jamie’s family, who love Emily and haven’t been told of the break-up, are thrilled that Jamie has brought Emily home to spend Christmas. Emily needs a place to stay and Neither wants to ruin the family’s Christmas so they continue the deception that they are still together.

There were some good things and not-so-good things with this one.

The Good:
Bethany Joy Lenz and Tyler Hynes’s performances and their chemistry together. Bethany was very funny in the comedy parts and very touching in the emotional parts. Tyler Hynes’s performance made an essentially weak and troubling character tolerable.

The script had some unusual aspects and was witty.

The banter between Jamie and Emily was good.

Tyler’s new hairstyle.

The cameo walk-through blink and you might miss it of Bethany’s frequent co-star, Andrew Walker.

I like the scope big families provide in Hallmarks and this one had one.

The Bad:
That big family? They were so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o energetic, loud, and overbearing that it became exhausting.

Jamie’s character. He dumped Emily because she was more successful than him and he didn’t want to hold her back. OK. However, his self-esteem problem was rooted in his need to be perfect in everything and vice versa. Even though we are told that his Grandfather also was a perfectionist, he grew up in a happy, stable, and supportive family. This debilitating complex did not seem to be founded on much. It also causes him to be afraid of being honest with his family about his break-up and why. BTW he never does get the backbone to be forthright about it. He is caught out. And he’s a liar. And not for any reason one could justify. He lied for cowardly reasons or to save himself: To his family, his boss, and to Emily.

Jamie’s struggles with writing the governor’s speech. He was unable to write a word. His paralysis (again, it had to be perfect)was like a big depressing specter over the whole movie. He spent the whole movie goofing off to avoid getting back to the typewriter and fulfill his commitment so many people were counting on.

The plot was all over the place. The Christmas play his sister directed was needless and was a distraction. Bethany’s project came to nothing. The lightening-bolt like lesson of the newlyweds’ rocks in the fountain was not used in the governor’s speech, or Emily’s theme for her project (what it was is unclear) the speech itself was short and lame. All that angst over THAT?

Some of the happenings were too silly. The Christmas play and the scene in the restaurant with the waiter. I don’t mind silly sometimes, but silliness is not comedy.

A lot of negatives were outweighed by the acting and appeal of the two leads, and strong production values. I did not approve of Jamie’s actions or inactions, but it did lend some depth and complexity to his character. I’m just not sure I want all those problems in a Hallmark hero.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

November 28, 2021

Snowcoming

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Good Casting

A good actress, Lindy Booth, and good casting saves this. I’m not a huge fan of Trevor Donovan, but he was right for this part of a star quarterback. He was tall and athletic at least. Lindy Booth is a talented actress. I liked her in this. I also enjoyed the casting of Joe Theisman as a sports agent and Ed Marinaro as Lindy’s dad and a retired coach.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

September 21, 2020