Lyndsy Fonseca

Single on the 25th

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Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving

This was but a simple love story set in Chicago with no gimmicks or even much of a secondary plot line to distract us from the romance. Everything was focused on the character development and the growing connection between the two leads. And it was lovely. Lyndsy Fonseca, Hallmark Christmas movie veteran, usually seen only during the Holidays (once in January), was charming and charismatic as always. I am not sure this would have worked without her talented presence. She was paired with Daniel Lissing and he was good. I would say the time we spend with them in the movie was pretty much equally divided between the two.

Christmas-loving Nell Duke is looking forward to her family visiting her in the city during Christmas and she has taken the whole week off from her successful career to show them a good time with a host of curated activities. So refreshing not to have our heroine dealing with career woes or trying to convince an awful boss that she deserves the big promotion! Unfortunately her family has to all drop out due to unexpected family emergencies and Nell decides to go home with her good friend and cancel all of the reservations. Unfortunately some are non-refundable. She is discussing the situation with her friend when she runs into her apartment building neighbor with whom she has a cordial but rather awkward relationship. He helps her carry in her Christmas tree, and later, she locks herself out of her apartment, knocks on his door for help, and they get to talking. He convinces her to stay in Chicago during the holidays and embrace her singleness, taking part in all of her planned activities all by herself. He is kind of a loner at work, not seeming to have a lot in common with his obnoxious office buddy. When he is roped into planning the important office Christmas party, he has to cancel his own planned skiing trip and stay in Chicago himself. Nell and Cooper get to know each other and they start doing some of the activities together. Cooper, who prides himself on his independence, coaches Nell on how to be successfully single while living in a world seemingly made up of happy couples and babies.  Nell, who is experienced at planning parties, helps Cooper make his office party for clients extra special to impress his bosses. They slowly become good friends and start to fall for each other while Cooper’s family welcomes her into some of their traditional events. Cooper learns that going it alone is sometimes not as fun as being part of a couple and he can show his true self, a goodhearted guy and a bit of a nerd, and still not be an outcast in the corporate world full of yuppies.

The romance is developed slowly and steadily and is well founded. They open up to each other, learn about each other, and when they resolve that dreaded last minute misunderstanding and get together at the end, it is because of choice, not need. 

One of the highlights was seeing Cooper’s obnoxious office buddy learn from Cooper’s example and quit being such a phony. Bro Hug! The movie was well paced with lots going on despite the slow steadiness of the romance development. I loved the messages this movie conveyed, the Christmas in the city atmosphere, and seeing both leads have real character arcs and backstories. There was nothing “wrong” with either of them, but they brought out the best in each other and learned to be happier people together. I loved that it seemed to be aimed at a younger than usual demographic. Of course there were a few of the usual tropes, but they were not crutches for a weak plot. And it was nice to see Lyndsy Fonseca star in a movie that didn’t rely on paranormal activity.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Holiday Crashers

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Lying Liars from Lieville. But No Judgement.

**Spoilers**

Lifelong BFFs, Toni and Bri, work together in an invitation and card shop. Bri is the wild fun loving madcap one-always up for a lark but kind of aimless. Toni graduated at the top of her class from “Haltword”, a top Ivy League law school wink wink, but had a panic attack while taking the bar so is not a lawyer. She is working at the shop while trying to figure out her path forward. She is the daughter of one of those lawyers who promote themselves with those nerve-jangling TV ads and paste their faces on billboards and buses. She loves her Dad very much but she has always been embarrassed by his brand of ambulance-chasing injury lawyering and the way he drums up business. It’s not that she doesn’t love the law, but is afraid ending up like her father. He, of course, wants her to partner with him, but she is reluctant because in sophisticated circles he is somewhat of a joke.  So, in her mid-twenties, she is “taking a pause” and trying to figure it all out.

While delivering boxes of party invitations to a wealthy matron during another party she is throwing, Bri gets the the idea of pretending to be a guest for a laugh and drags Toni into the adventure against her better judgement. They both have a great time (Toni may have her feet on the ground but that doesn’t mean she is a stick in the mud). Toni meets Justin, an attractive guest and there is instant attraction between them. One thing leads to another, and the girls, taking advantage of their access to extra invitations, start going to all of the best parties in town while creating new exciting fake identities for themselves for each party. Like a Formula One Race Car Driver, Crash Test Dummy Manufacturer, and Olympic Skier. All harmless fun, you understand. In their adventures, Bri falls for a humble parking valet she keeps meeting, and Toni continues to run into Justin who is the corporate head of a corporation that acquires other corporations. Justin, played by the elegant Chris McNally, is just…Wow…in this movie. At one party she meets Latisha, one of Justin’s employees who was a fellow classmate of hers from “Haltword”. Latisha tells her boss what a great lawyer Toni is (based on what a great student she knew her to be).  He invites her on a Christmas retreat as a consultant after she advises him not to get involved in buying a company that her Dad will soon be filing a class action suit against. Toni tries to refuse but is powerless in the face of Latisha who almost gives birth on the portico. Also Bri, the human dynamo, adds her two cents, and Toni is powerless to refuse.

So just harmless party crashing and fantasy identities has just turned serious. Toni can get into serious trouble with the bar association for practicing law without a license even though she is just consulting and will refuse to be paid. It will also harm Justin and his company’s credibility. As Justin and Toni continue to fall for each other, Toni learns that due to a troubled childhood with his father and a past romantic betrayal, Justin cannot tolerate liars. Always on the verge of confessing the truth to Justin but never quite finding the courage, she finds herself in an increasingly impossible situation.

Despite all of the deception and lying, this was still enjoyable. The script had some funny jokes; especially the pop-culture references sprinkled throughout. Lyndsy Fonseca, who played Toni, has established a good track record with me, and newcomer Daniella Monet as Bri was a lot of fun. Because of their acting I just made the decision not to be judgey about their characters’ behavior.  Besides, a most beloved rom-com, While You Were Sleeping was based on Sandra Bullock’s big lie, and who ever had a problem with Sandra Bullock’s Lucy? Certainly not me.

 As all of the fake identities start to catch up with the two friends, it results in some pretty good comedy as well as tension. Olympic Skier, Huh? And Doula? The romance between Vinny the valet and Bri was sweet. It turns out Bri is not the only one who can conjure up a fake identity. Bri finding the ideal career path at last was an engaging sub plot, and her backstory did a lot to justify her more questionable actions. I love the way Toni came to terms with her Dad’s ways. The best scene in the movie is when she hears some of the party goers make fun of him and his commercials and she stalks over and rips them a new one, revealing her true identity in the process. This was a breakthrough for her and the point where she finally starts finding her way forward careerwise.  I also liked that Justin held Toni accountable for her lies when the truth finally came out. She was truly remorseful and apologetic, but he rightly had none of it, and they didn’t meet again for another year. She had passed the bar and had gone into partnership with her Dad, even starring in one of his crazy TV spots. I loved that. Good for her. When Justin sees her on TV, his heart melts and a happy ending is not far behind. Not that her saving him and his firm “two billion dollars” with her inside information played a factor in his forgiveness. Not at all.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

The Magic of Lemon Drops

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The Roads Not Taken

**Spoilers**

Seems like there has been a lot of fantasy stories on Hallmark lately and this was another one. I was a little suspicious and the title did not set me at ease. But I really enjoyed it. It was well constructed with likable characters and sharp dialogue.  Lyndsy Fonseca and Ian Harding, the female and male leads were wonderful. In fact the whole cast and the characters they played were top-notch.  When Lyndsy does a Hallmark odds are (so far) that it will probably have a fantasy element. She has been nothing but appealing and likable. Stephanie Sly as The Best Friend, and Mariam Bernstein as The Eccentric Aunt were stand-outs. Ian Harding brought a real Paul Campbell vibe to his role which is about the highest compliment I can give him.  Honestly this role could have been written for Paul Campbell, one of my and many others’ favorite Hallmark regulars. Ian Harding played the love interest in Ghosts of Christmas Always. Enough said.

Lolly works with her father at their little restaurant, The Eatery. She is tired, sad, and frustrated. Her dreams of having her own fun and elegant restaurant in New York complete with love and her own family have almost faded away. John B. Lowe plays her father who  embodies my most disliked Hallmark type: A business owner who will sacrifice everything to save the business except take advice and make the changes needed to give his business a chance to survive. Not an auspicious start. To add to Lolly’s discontent, her ex-boyfriend is back in town. He is a successful doctor because he left her and their small town to pursue his own dream. He is a happily divorced and professionally satisfied single father now, and Lolly is full of regrets over their bad break-up which was her fault. When she voices her frustrations and doubts about how she can get her life back on track to her Aunt Gert, Aunt Gert, who is a truly wonderful character, ends up giving her 4 magic lemon drops.  If she eats one before she goes to sleep, her dream that night will be one whole day living a life she yearns for. When she wakes the next morning, she will remember the “dream,” which will help her choose the best path.  She gets 3 chances. The 4th drop, if she takes it, will allow her to pick one of the 3 lives she dreamed of, and her memories going forward will only be of that one life.

The first life she wants to experience is her professional and creative dream of her own restaurant in NYC. When she wakes up the next morning she reflects on the fact that despite having her Michelin-starred fantasy restaurant, her life was still full of creative frustration and financial troubles. She still had no love life, and in addition she was on the outs with her sister and her father. She is more confused and frustrated than ever, so the next night she wishes her wise and loving mother was still alive to support and advise her. That happens and it is wonderful but it also comes with unlooked for and unwelcome consequences. The last lemon drop is to peek into what her life would be like if she and Rory had not broken up, but are happily married with their own family. And it was lovely. But….

In between the nightly dreams of the alternate lives, We spend the days with Lolly as she starts a little side-hustle business of gourmet frozen fruit and herb pops (‘Lolly-Pops”) which gets off to a promising start. She mends her relationship with Rory and starts to see her Aunt Gert, her sister, her father, and even her late mother with new eyes. All these multi-layered stories weaving in and out of each other and each playing out in logical conflicting consequences yet with recurring themes in common could have been a hot mess. Just like that sentence. But it was done seamlessly. And I was not confused.  I was impressed with the detail incorporated into each dream life and its setting along with her “real” life interspersed in the daytime. Everything kept moving forward at a perfect pace and was tied together beautifully to the littlest detail. They even managed to incorporate a cute dog.

There was drama and surprises. Lessons are learned. And they are good ones. Life is a series of trade-offs both sweet and sour. Find your joy and happiness in what you chose. Best of all, the romance was compelling, fully developed, and mature without the usual silly Hallmark tropes. Gosh, I think I’ll have to give this one an almost 10.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

Where Are You, Christmas?

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It’s Not Always Black and White

This movie is based on a good premise and cleverly executed with a nice Christmas message that unfortunately kind of didn’t quite live up to my high expectations. Lyndsy Fonseca is splendid as our heroine, Addy. I’ve been a fan since 2021’s Next Stop, Christmas. Addy lives and works in Chicago and has not been home for Christmas in 6 years. She works in the Christmas industry year-round and at Christmas, she takes off for the Maldives. The last thing cynical and overworked Addy wants is to be surrounded by her Christmassy family in her Christmassy town at Christmas time. She has agreed to finally come home because her brother called with the news that he is going to propose to his girlfriend on Christmas Eve and he wants her to be there. (Why??? Is that a thing???) Anyway, she agrees. When she gets home, everything is fine with her family on the surface, but she senses that something is a little off. They seem distant,  especially her father. He is constantly making little digs at his daughter and her past absences at Christmas time, if not in body, as usual, then, this Christmas, in spirit. Her mother gives her a list of Christmas errands to run around town. Everyone is super jolly and happy to see her. All Addy wants to do is decompress by herself in her room. She looks at the Christmas app on her phone and wishes there was no Christmas.  She apparently has never seen a Hallmark Christmas movie before because if she had she never would have done that.  Making a Christmas wish can be very dangerous in a Hallmark movie.

Driving around, she has a car wreck and hits her head. When she wakes up, everything is in black and white and her wish has been granted. Hunter, the owner of the auto repair shop rescues her. No one knows what she means by the term “Christmas.”  All the Christmas decorations are gone. All the Cookies and Charity events are gone. Christmas has been wiped out, as well as all of the color in the town and from its citizens. In an amusing meta moment, her Mom mentions “the New Year’s movie marathon”: “Every year they make like a hundred New Year’s movies and they start airing them in June!” Addy, at the end of her rope, declares, “New Year’s movies are NOT a thing! Christmas movies are a thing!!” She runs around town freaked out and trying to figure out what is going on and why. Everyone is really cold and grouchy. It turns out that no one remembers Christmas until they can remember a happy Christmas memory. Hunter is the first to remember when Lyndsey returns his “Pop’s” Military service ring that fell off in her wrecked car. He regains his color and they are now a team determined to get everyone back to remembering Christmas and turn from black and white back to living color. Michael Rady, a favorite of mine, plays Hunter, a veteran of Afghanistan who seems to be suffering from a mild case of PTSD. The promising romance between him and Addy was not engaging to me. Maybe because he was so sad all of the time.  Or maybe because there was too much other more urgent stuff going on. Eventually, starting with a few people and multiplying slowly and surely, the town starts to remember happy Christmas moments and Christmas is well on the way to coming back. At last, there are only two holdouts: Addy and her father.

 There were so many good things about this movie.  The performances were great, especially by Lyndsy Fonseca and Jim O’Heir, Jerry (or Garry ???) of Parks and Recreation who plays her father.   Lyndsy makes her character likable and funny, as we empathize with her frustration both with Christmas and the lack of it. We admire her determination to bring Christmas back. She even made her quick turn from hating Christmas to missing it believable. Addy could well have been too unsympathetic, especially at the beginning. O’Heir takes her father from mild hurt and petulance over Addy’s absence to hostility and even rage as he sees everyone in town remembering Christmas and regaining their joy except him. As the movie goes on, the people who are still in black and white and still don’t get the whole Christmas thing, get more and more hostile and frustrated with being left behind. It was good writing and thought-provoking. The special effects were on point in the tiniest detail. There would be a town scene almost all in black and white but with a few touches of red and green indicating change. There was good balance between comedy and drama, but the emotion wasn’t there for me. I didn’t like the way the romance part was overshadowed (Maybe I like Michael Rady too much?) I think that it’s the type of movie that will definitely improve upon re-watching though.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

North to Home

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Finding Your True North

This is another high-quality offering by Hallmark and was shown on Hallmark Murders and Mysteries. They seem to be using this branch of their network to show productions that go a little deeper and are a little more complex than a romantic comedy. They are more about family relationships, drama, overcoming problems, and learning life lessons. There is a bit of a romance included but it’s hardly the main attraction.

The movie starts off with three sisters and their relationship. The two oldest live in the same city, not in Alaska, and are at odds because the oldest, Hannah, is so wrapped up in her career that she has no time to spare for the younger and her two daughters. She is married happily, and also happily, they do not have any children. The younger, Beth, is a happily married stay-at-home Mom, who is getting tired of that role and feels unfulfilled. She is being tempted to go back to her successful career. The younger sister, Posy, lives in Alaska with the parents. She yearns for travel and adventure but feels obligated to take over their parents’ café upon their imminent retirement. They are all about to meet up in Alaska to celebrate their mother’s 60th birthday which is also the 25th anniversary of a mysterious bad happening.

As the movie goes on, surprising aspects of the girls’ relationship and their family are revealed. All is not as we were first led to believe. The career-oriented Hannah learns she is pregnant (not terminally ill-Yay!). What will be the fallout with Adam her husband? Beth’s husband finds out she is secretly testing the waters of going back to her successful career and feels betrayed. Posey is falling in love with a mountain climber and travel writer which falls in with her dreams of travel as opposed to running her parents’ café.

The lesson of the story is “”sometimes you find your calling but sometimes you’re calling finds you” and each of the sisters in turn learns this is true for them. In the process, a tragedy is explored, a mother is released from a 25-year-long guilt trip, and a young man finds closure. And revelations lead to understanding and new paths forward.

The actors were well cast, and their parts well-acted, especially Kimberley Sustad as the middle sister and overprotective mother, Beth. At one point she is accused of “Catastrophizing everything!” I also loved Matthew James Dowden who played Adam, Hannah’s husband. He usually plays sketchy characters, but he was wonderful as an unqualified good guy in this. The one fly in the ointment was the casting of Luke, Posey’s love interest. His looks, demeanor, and speech cried vacant surfer dude, not educated sophisticated world traveler and author. It was laughable. Where was Ali Liebert, the director? Everything else was so good.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

January 13, 2022

Next Stop, Christmas

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The Time Travel Express

**Spoilers**

This was a fairly straightforward time travel story elevated by the appealing cast and good acting. Even the bad boyfriend had his charms. I love seeing all of the fresh faces. Angie (Lyndsy Fonseca, who was excellent) is a busy surgeon in NYC who takes her family for granted. She does not want to go home for Christmas since her parents’ divorce and her sister’s struggles with adoption. Too stressful and depressing. She remembers the last good family Christmas she enjoyed 10 years ago when her parents were still together and she turned down a marriage proposal from a now-famous sportscaster. On her way back to her apartment to spend a stress-free solitary holiday, she is diverted by Christopher Lloyd and finds herself on a magical train back home to that Christmas of 10 years ago. While there, she sees opportunities to redirect the course of her and her family’s lives: save her parents’ marriage, accept her ex-boyfriend’s marriage proposal, and help her sister. She also reconnects with her childhood friend who has been in love with her his whole life.

The cast was fantastic. Come on, Lea Thompson (her mother) and Christopher Lloyd (the Train Conductor) in a time travel movie? Sign me up. There are many nods to Back to the Future, but it does not distract from this story. Her parents unraveling marriage and her sister’s fertility troubles were engrossing and realistically done. Her ex-boyfriend, though adorable, was not a match for her. No harm, no foul, no drama. Her childhood buddy was appealing, looked like Justin Timberlake, and was obviously her destiny. Obvious to everyone but her. Talk about dense.

Loved seeing Erika Slezak looking her age, but great, with her smiling eyes. When I saw this the first time, I had a problem with some aspects of the time travel thing. the usual paradox-type things. But I saw it a second time, and I see that everything worked out with no worries. Because of her going back to that one Christmas with her 10 years later knowledge, she lived a whole different life. I won’t explain further, but she was with Ben the whole time, her other unsatisfactory life was just erased. The one weak point was the character of Chloe, who was super annoying and totally unnecessary. All in all, this was thoroughly enjoyable and engaging.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

November 8, 2021