Patti Murin

Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story

/ Rebekahrox / 5 Comments
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For Bills and/or Buffalo Fans Only

Yeah. I didn’t like the first Holiday Touchdown about the Kansas City Chiefs either. From what I remember of that one though (I didn’t review it) this was marginally better. The two leads, Holland Roden and Matthew Daddario, were fresh faces and new to Hallmark. Or so I thought. It turns out the actress has actually been in several Hallmark productions and in the one I saw her in, I characterized her as “fine” and very pretty. So she was OK but didn’t exactly blow me away. And that is how I would describe the male lead in this one. He has a good resume and his sister Alexandra is very well known, but I found the two actors’ partnership pretty stiff in this one.

Gabe and Morgan have been besties their whole lives but Gabe has been secretly in love with her all that time while Morgan is clueless about his feelings and her own. Even though everyone they know is aware and complete strangers immediately see that he is head over heels smitten with her. This was a kind of cute running joke. Besides being clueless she is also the nicest doctor in the world. She organizes the decorating committee and comes in on her day off to give a pep talk to a little girl who has to have a shot but who is afraid of needles. Gabe is Vice President of Building the New Bills’ Stadium. Gabe is next door neighbors with Morgan’s very large and very confusing family (Tracy Pollan, who plays Morgan’s mother looks like her sister, for one thing.) Patty Murin, who I like, plays her real sister. Also in there is Uncle Tommy, played by Joe Pantoliano and Steve Shirripa is in there somewhere as well. If there were any jokes about the Bills’ fanbase being called “The Bills Mafia” and the two actors who both starred in The Sopranos, I missed them. Luckily the plot is as simple and straightforward as the family and neighbor situation is hard to unravel. Needless to say the whole kit and kaboodle are all rabid Bills fans.

Morgan and Gabe discover that Uncle Tommy has been getting mysterious small Christmas gifts for over 50 years ever since he returned from “Nam.”  He has no idea who sends them but he has sentimentally kept them all. The same person who sends the gifts is the same person who kept his widowed mother and two(?) sisters afloat with anonymous cash and groceries after he, the wage earner, was drafted. The potential couple decides that they will go on a quest to find the gift giver as a Christmas present to him. So, with Buffalo as the background, they go around following the clues, hitting many famous Buffalo institutions and sights, meeting many past and present Buffalo Bills, and showcasing much Buffalo Bills merch in the process. 

Somewhere in the middle of all of this Morgan finds out that Uncle Tommy has remained unmarried his whole life because he has been carrying a torch for “Mia” a girl who moved away from town while he was overseas. He made a half hearted attempt to find her but was unsuccessful. It must have been really half hearted because her (spoiler alert) sister still lives at their original address, as we find out. So Morgan and Gabe switch from trying to find the gift giver and anonymous benefactor to trying to find Mia. Luckily for the secondary love story (spoiler alert) they turn out to be the same person! Also unmarried, (not even an ex or dead husband!) she has always been in love with Uncle Tommy from afar, but was too afraid to contact him for fear he wouldn’t love her back. Hold up. Just think about that for a minute. For over 50 years she couldn’t even manage an “accidental” “fancy running into you” and see what happens? She calls it “self protection”, I call it lack of gumption. They both stayed single but “It wasn’t meant to be.” My eyes rolled so hard one of my optic nerves is still not back to normal. Second chance romances after decades have past are a common trope in books and movies. But there is always a good reason for it: A giant misunderstanding, one thought the other was dead, marriage of one or the other, etc. But a simple lack of agency? I can’t even. Inspired by Mia’s craptacular feebleness and her resulting blighted life, Gabe finally confesses his love for Morgan. Morgan doesn’t exactly know where to put this information, but (spoiler alert) don’t worry she figures it out by the end of the movie. Both love stories are resolved on the turf of Highmark Stadium. One during half time (don’t ask) and one at a pick up game with real life Bills’ players. I was a little baffled and disappointed as to why, after seeking the family benefactor/lost love the whole movie the big reveal to Uncle Tommy happened off-camera. Strange. This actually could have been a pretty decent movie. At least it kept my interest until it collapsed at the end.

Besides the football players there were some cute cameos (Andrew Walker as a bartender, and Hunter King and the ubiquitous Tyler Hynes the stars of last years tribute to the Chiefs). And Santa Claus was the same one as in last year’s Holiday Touchdown. Also Luke Russert, son of the late beloved journalist extraordinaire and Bills fan, Tim “Go Bills!” Russert (sniffle). Despite a stellar season, The Chiefs lost the Super Bowl last year and The Bills have been unexpectedly struggling a bit so far this year. I wonder what team Hallmark will settle on for next year’s Holiday Touchdown movie. The line is not forming.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Mystic Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

A Welcome Change of Pace

This movie had a lot of words, and they came fast and furious! I was like, “Whoa there, slow down!” for the first 15 minutes or so until I got used to the rhythm. After the first 5, I turned the captions on but that didn’t help because I can’t read that fast. It is packed with banter, exposition, quirky characters, plots, subplots, running jokes, nods to the old movie “Mystic Pizza,” you name it. It was a real change of pace for Hallmark, no pun intended.

Dr. Juniper Jones is a Marine Biologist who is somewhat of a rolling stone despite her important career. She is on her way to Norway to view the Northern Lights when she gets a call from her best friend, who needs her help with a rescued seal. Juniper agrees to come to Mystic Connecticut for a bit to lead the project to get the poor Peppermint back to his natural habitat. The day after Christmas she is headed to South Africa on another seal mission. Also in Mystic is her friend Candice’s younger brother Sawyer with whom June made a strong romantic connection 10 years prior. It is awkward and embarrassing because Juniper poured out her heart to him in an email and he never answered back. We quickly learn that Sawyer claims it was the other way around. He did answer her, but she ghosted him. It’s a mystery, indeed.

The main characters, Juniper and Sawyer, have many lessons to learn and lots of work to do on themselves before we can get to the happy ending. Why is June (June?/Opposite of December?/Juniper?/Christmas tree?-Is that a gag?) so averse to settling down in one place and connecting with people? Why is Sawyer so all-fired determined to help everyone in the town do everything instead of traveling the world and having adventures like June? Before these two can get together, they have to communicate first and their communication skills are one of several things that they need to fix. The turning point comes after a text message misunderstanding that encapsulates their problems in a nutshell. Juniper has to break a date that Sawyer has gone all out for, but doesn’t explain that it’s because Peppermint the seal is deathly ill. Instead of calling him, she texts him (keeping these light again!) Sawyer replies with a thumbs-up emoji instead of finding out what is going on. They are both hurt and angry. They are having words in a crowded auditorium when a very minor but still well-written character, Ken, overhears their conversation and sticks his nose in. Sawyer thought he was being “low key”. He thought he told her not to worry, everything is all good. Ken explains to him that there is a difference between being low-key and passive-aggressive. June is all like “Yeah!”. When June says she texted him and didn’t explain about Peppermint because she didn’t want to make excuses, Ken turns on her and says there is a fine line between making excuses and giving an explanation. This gives them both food for thought and results in them finally being honest with each other and really laying things on the table. June realizes that she won’t settle down because she is afraid of becoming attached to people and having them disappoint and hurt her. Sawyer realizes that he puts everyone else’s needs over his own because he is trying to earn their love and friendship instead of realizing that it would be given freely because he is who he is. The fact that their epiphany is because of Ken, very much a side character whose business their relationship is not, is typical of this movie. Things just come out of nowhere and it is full of unexpected delights that just don’t quit. And through it all, we have the ongoing mystery of that dang email that so changed Juniper and Sawyer’s lives.

All of the characters, from wise and dry-witted Candice, her shy reader of a daughter who is a “late bloomer”,  to the 3 over-eager interns at the aquarium to Sawyer’s ambitious assistant at his pizza restaurant all have great lines, contribute to the story, and have their own character arcs. There are so many details that amuse and surprise. Sawyer’s terrible handwriting, an intern who doesn’t like sweets who is in love with a baker, Candace’s love of murder mysteries that she always figures out (turns out there’s a reason for that), and on and on. The actors handle the challenging non-stop script with aplomb. Everyone was on top of their game in this one, but I particularly loved Jesse Schram as Juniper, Patty Murin as Candace, Delaney Quinn as her daughter Louisa, and Eric Freeman as Peter, one of the interns. Chandler Massey was kind of adorable as Sawyer. Gee, that’s just about everybody.

If there is anything to criticize about the movie, it is the very denseness and fast pace of the script which is bursting at the seams. It keeps things a little too light, bordering on glib. The rat-a-tat-tat dialogue is certainly entertaining, but perhaps better suited to a 30-minute sit-com rather than a whole movie. On the bright side, it’s a movie that will only get better with repeated viewings. It is extremely well-constructed and organized. No lazy writing here. And I loved the way the World Traveler V. Homebody relationship dilemma was resolved. And everyone in the movie loves to read. Always a quality dear to my heart.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

In Merry Measure

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

Right in Tune

The previews of this one were funny and charming and I was so glad the movie lived up to them. I really liked the glimpses of the lead actress, whom I didn’t recognize. It turns out that Patty Murin has been in a few Hallmarks before, but usually plays the not-as-glamorous best friend role. She was adorable in this and her comic timing was tops.  It also starred Brendan Penny, a Hallmark go-to guy, whom I like, as the love interest. They had a great rapport and bounced off of each other naturally with their acting of the often fast-paced dialogue.

Darcy is a former pop star whose popularity has faded and now sings in small intimate venues. When she loses her agent, she goes home to Dayton Ohio for Christmas and ends up coaching a high-school singing team with her high-school rival, Adam (Brendan Perry). How this all comes to be is a very good story. Her widowed sister’s daughter tries out for an opening on the championship choral team and totally blows it because of her lack of confidence. In fact, the coach didn’t even let her finish the audition! Really mean and insensitive. This pisses Darcy off so much, that she gets all of the rejects together to form a competing team. They start out to be awful (and hilarious), but Darcy’s coaching style gives them confidence, and they quickly are just as good as their rivals, if not better. The #1 team recognizes their talent and the kids propose to the two bickering antagonistic coaches that they join forces and form a new group to compete in the county(?) competition. The two frenemies are now co-coaches.

Brendan Penny plays an interesting character. At first, he really is quite an arrogant jerk. He is also whiny and self-pitying. And then he has a dorky nerdy thing going on as well. Not exactly leading man material, but the banter and snarkiness between the two coaches is witty and funny. Thankfully, he learns from Darcy’s more positive and affirming approach with the kids. When he admits his harsh and insensitive methods with the kids were wrong and apologizes, things warm up considerably between the two. They become friends, but it’s not until he shows up at Darcy’s doorstep without his nerdy glasses and a bit of a makeover, that Darcy starts to fall for him. It’s a cliche, but it’s one I love.

After a lot of work and many disappointments, Darcy finally gets a chance at a contract with a big record label. Predictably, she has to choose between meeting the bigwigs and being with the team on their big night. I’m not sure what old Hallmark would have done, but with new Hallmark, she goes to New York with the blessings of everyone to meet the VIPs without a second thought. She gets the contract, but instead of schmoozing the night away, which the powerbrokers want her to do, she risks offending them and tells them she has to go back to Dayton to be with her team. Good for her, and they respected her for it.

Besides the excellent acting, funny dialogue, and good message, this movie featured a really great Christmas song selection and some equally great singing. There was actually an original song, written by our songwriter heroine that was actually really good! Now that Bill Abbott has left, I’m glad Hallmark has moved away from trying to pretend Christmas is not a Christian Holiday and embraced a few Christmas Carols that are actually about the birth of Jesus. Last year, a movie “la-la-la-ed” their way through Joy to the World to avoid referring to the deity. That was a low point. Now Mr. “Christmas is a secular holiday” Abbott has found his inner Christian and left for GAF, far away from all of the scary gay people. But I digress. It all ended with a series of flashback scenes from the movie we just watched. I guess they needed some filler, but it was creative and something different.

Rating: 9 out of 10.