Princess Davis

An Unexpected Valentine

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If You Find a Ring on Valentine’s Day, You Know What to Do

**Spoilers**

With Robert Buckley as the lead guy, how can you go wrong? It would be very difficult, although certainly doable in the hands of our friends at Hallmark. (No offence! Love you!) Luckily, his rapport with with the ever reliable Lacey Chabert was almost a given. She always makes the most of her established romantic comedy credentials when she really clicks with her costar. This one lived up to the funny and charming previews we were favored with last week. Although a bit marred by some improbable departures from what the realities of traffic and parking availability are in New York City and some other things, the fast-paced quest-type romance really hit the target.

After catching a ride share from work and after everyone but she is dropped off, Lacey finds a diamond ring which must be an engagement ring. Since Finn (Robert Buckley) tells her he cleans his cab every night, it must belong to one of his fares from today. Despite a less than satisfactory dating history, Lacey is a romantic at heart with empathy to spare and prevails on the more cynical Finn to go back and help her find the owner, who, since it is Valentine’s Day, was surely planning to propose with the ring tonight. In addition to that urgent circumstance, Lacey has an important presentation for her designer chocolate campaign at 9 PM that night, and Finn has a gallery showing of his photographic art that he must attend as well. What follows is a slow-burn development of their relationship as they look for the owner of the ring in between completing Finn’s Valentine deliveries.

Their adventures with the people they meet along the way were just mildly entertaining, but the romantic chemistry and banter between the two leads overrode the more boring parts. While supposedly on more than one urgent deadline they spend an inordinate amount of time with coffee breaks, dancing at a club and on the street, making pizza, and volunteering to temporarily man a food truck. And who immediately pulls their car over the second the check engine light goes on? As the day and night wore on, I began to get anxious over Lacey and Finn’s disregard for their professional commitments and it was distracting. Important people (Lacey’s corporate clients and Finn’s “art-snob”, as he so rudely calls them, potential customers) were waiting for them to show up. Not to mention their put-upon colleagues who have to deal with the awkward absences of the stars of their shows. It became quite uncomfortable for me. I must say, Finn, in particular, was very blasé about the people who can make or break his career as a photographic artist. Especially for a guy who has to supplement his income driving a ride-share/delivery van. Anyway, near the end, they finally find the nervous groom-to-be, who somehow had not noticed that the ring-box was not in his jacket pocket, and deliver the engagement ring he didn’t even know was missing just in time. It was one of several funny scenes. Lacey manages to make a credible appearance at her affair and Finn favors the art gallery with his presence. Briefly and not very graciously. For such a nice guy, he was a bit of a diva. What was up with that?

This was a Hallmark set entirely in New York City (though filmed in Canada, of course) and was a fairly fresh approach for Hallmark. We did have the interrupted kiss near the end which was particularly frustrating since Lacey backed off for no. Reason. Whatsoever. Girl! I really looked forward to this one and despite the weaknesses in the plot, it did not disappoint. Great chemistry between appealing and good actors count for a lot. It was fun and romantic.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Our Holiday Story

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The Question

**Spoilers**

Nikki DeLoach is such a good actress. At times I have really been struck by her talents. Sometimes her roles don’t give her a lot of opportunity to really shine, but she always does a great job with what she is given. Although a festival plays a huge role in this one, the plot is something really different. Well, not really, but the framing of the core story is. A young woman, Joanna, is meeting her boyfriend, Chris, in her hometown to meet her parents, Dave and Nell, for the first time. Unfortunately her train is delayed and she sends the nervous young man into the fray alone. Before he rings the doorbell, she warns him under no circumstances to ask them…a-a-a-nd her phone dies. They welcome him with the proverbial open arms and her parents are frequent Hallmark flyers Nikki DeLoach and Warren Christie! We learn that Nikki (Nell) is Joanna’s stepmother and has been married to her father (Dave) for 10 years. They appear to be in their  early 40s, Dave having been a very young father when Joanna was born. Struggling for a topic of conversation, Chris asks how the two met. Very pleased at his interest, Dave tells him, “Actually it’s a pretty funny story…” And we flash back to 10 years ago. Yes, for once we  get to hear the blissfully happy parents’ love story instead of focusing on the young couple.

The rest of the movie goes back and forth between the past and the present. 10 years ago, Dave is trying to resurrect a traditional Christmas festival started by his grandfather. His 16-year-old daughter is his much needed assistant as we see Dave is a little disorganized. In the present, several delays prevent Joanna from joining her parents and Chris, mainly so the older couples story can be told in stages while we get to know both couples. Nell and Dave are strangers who meet on a train, both traveling to same town, and form an instant connection. Unfortunately they are parted before they exchange names. They are both really bummed. But happily, they meet by chance in town again, and finally get the first names down but circumstances prevent any more information being exchanged. And so it goes with the two almost strangers meeting and parting again and falling for each other more and more before they find out they actually are each other’s worst  enemy “in real life”. Eleanor (Nell) is the town’s new comptroller who, trying to keep the town’s budget under control, has been a big roadblock to David Ammer’s (Dave’s) beloved Christmas Festival.  David, though they have never met, sees Eleanor as a sad and lonely Grinch who gets “pleasure out of sucking the joy out of life.” And to Eleanor, David  is the scatterbrained disorganized flake who only cares about the festival with no heed to the town budget or other practical matters.

Besides the engaging story of Dave and Nell falling in love while hating each other’s alternate identities, there was a lot to like in this one. I loved that Dave and Chloe, Joanna’s Mom, were still good friends despite their divorce. Early on, she tells him he doesn’t need someone free and easy, like himself, but more organized and focused to keep him on track. In the present, we see that Nell and Chloe (played by the always welcome Lisa Durupt) have become good friends as well. I liked the little touches of linking the past and present with the train, a favorite fruitcake, and Ugly Sweaters. We see that the opposites attract connection has worked out for Nell and Dave, as it apparently didn’t for Chloe and Dave.  We see Nell becoming less buttoned down and more adventurous, and Dave becoming more focused and goal oriented.  The romance between the young couple was OK but a little boring. When Dave learned the truth about Nell, he was way harsh to her which seemed very much out of character but certainly added some drama and tension. Warren Christie and Nikki Deloach were a perfect match for their roles. I don’t think this would have worked with Nikki’s frequent co-star, Andrew Walker. The movie ended on a humorous note with Chris’s parents asking Nell and Dave the forbidden question, with the couple more than happy to comply and relive their romance once again. All in all, this was warm and cozy Christmas romance, with just enough humor, drama, and emotion to make it a something special.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Holiday Road

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Road Trip!!

I tend to like ensemble pieces, and I loved this one. To me it was the ultimate road movie with lots of interesting characters, intriguing stories, good humor, and touching, satisfying conclusions to the individual stories. And it even had a pretty nice romance in there. We meet nine diverse people at the Portland airport on their way to Denver for Christmas. The flight is canceled and, organized by the female part of the future romantic duo, (we’ve already gotten the meet cute out of the way) come together and prevail on the other half of the future couple to share his 15-passenger van to Denver. Because there is a problem on the interstate, they decide to go the back roads, and adventures, mishaps, and many opportunities for Christmas cheer abound.

At first, none of the passengers are particularly likable, some less so than others. But as we learn their stories and get to know them we start to care for and root for them to have their happy endings. Their pasts and the reasons they are going to Denver are revealed gradually. Just enough clues and information are eked out to intrigue us and heighten our curiosity about them before we hear their whole stories. This is done via a young social media influencer who is one of the sometimes merry, sometimes not merry, band and who is filming the journey for her 100,000+ TikTok followers. They call themselves “the Van Clan” and as time goes by, their journey starts to go viral. None of the nine are shortchanged and their stories flow smoothly and naturally. The writer and director were on their toes with this one.

I won’t synopsize the group’s stories, but tell you just a bit about them. The two who are destined to become a couple are a risk-averse dating app developer and the ring leader of the group, an adrenalin junkie and travel/adventure writer. She is caught searching frantically through her knapsack for medication that is not there. We have a mother and son at odds who are traveling to Denver to meet his birth mother. There is a grouchy old guy with a sack of cash who is going to visit his daughter, as is a down-on-her-luck young woman who is a talented singer. A Chinese couple who barely speak English with an estranged son in England are traveling to visit her sister she has not seen in many years. And getting them to open up about themselves is the young vlogger who has a journey of her own.

Of all of the really excellent swing-for-the-fences Hallmarks I have seen and admired so far this season, this one, which was a bit under the radar with only 2 known but not high-profile Hallmark actors, is my favorite so far. It had both humor and heart and, Bonus!, there was never a dull or nonsensical moment. Well, there was one, actually, but that’s OK. I probably missed the explanation. And I don’t care. Something to watch for on my next viewing, because I will be watching this one again.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

The Gift of Peace

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There is Hope

Although at the end of this movie, there is hope and expectation that the two leads, Brennan Eliot and Nikki Deloach will have a future together, this is not a romance. There is not even a kiss at the end. Good call. It is about how grieving people start healing and find a path forward out of darkness. When we first see Nikki she is struggling in her artist studio. She is very sad and has lost love for her art and inspiration. It has been two years since her beloved husband and creative partner died and she is still struggling. The story is told partially in flashbacks and we learn that she and her husband were committed Christians. When her good friend and manager reminds her of her annual Christmas art exhibition that she skipped last year due to her grief she knows she has to produce this year. She is finally persuaded to go to a grief support group at her old church. But as soon as they bow their heads in prayer, she gets up and leaves. Nikki Deloach was fantastic in this. You can feel her every emotion with every twitch, blink, gesture, and look. She finally tries again and her journey begins in earnest. Brennan Eliot as the kind-hearted leader of the group who is not as together as he seems is also excellent. All of the members’ stories are told and well integrated into the central plot in a very balanced and smooth way. They are all very involving, if not as heartbreaking as Nikki’s. We wonder why Brennan, who has also lost someone, does not open up and share along with the others.

We know from the flashbacks about her and her late husband’s strong Christian faith and mutual love. When she finally shares her story with the group, we learn her husband died from a brain tumor. While he was in the hospital, she was strong. It is she who comforts the others. When she tells the doctors that she knows he will be OK because she has been praying for him along with her whole community, it is heartbreaking. You can hear the calm confidence in her voice, but see the slight worry and panic in her eyes. When her husband dies, despite her prayers, she loses her faith and is full of rage.

I won’t detail her path back to believing in God and prayer, but it seemed very authentic. I will say that it involves sharing and helping others. This could be called a Christian movie, but though unapologetic, it is not heavy-handed. Unlike the Candace Cameron Bure movie on GAF (which I couldn’t resist checking out.) I didn’t feel like I was being sold to or taught at. It just seemed like this is the personal story of one woman’s grief and how her love of painting and her faith was restored. Take from it what you will.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

A Bridesmaid in Love

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“The Big Misunderstanding”

**Spoilers**

I really like Tori Anderson and her pretty smiley eyes. She’s been in at least two other Hallmarks I’ve seen, and she was the primary reason why those movies were at least watchable. In one, she was the only bright spot, and in the other, she was an important ingredient in a production that worked in several ways. In this one, everything was going along fine, until towards the end when we came to “big conflict” time.

Let me back up. Tori plays a freelance writer whose specialty is tips and advice for brides and weddings. She is kind of like a wedding planner, but she actually is a “professional bridesmaid” who solves problems or possible disasters that crop up and adds great ideas to make good weddings even better. She does this for brides in exchange for a healthy contribution to a worthy charity. Then she writes about it. When her childhood friend whose brother Matt was also once one of her best friends, is planning her wedding, Tori steps up. She has recently broken up with her loser boyfriend of 1 year, and Matt is her love interest. I really liked Matt. He was very attractive in a guy-next-door kind of way and was super sweet, like Tori. They were perfect for each other and were soon well on the way to googly eyes and true love, with Tori saving her friend’s wedding from disaster right and left. Venue, caterer, dress, you name it and Tori saves it.

Everything was burbling along fine, with a few side plots in addition to the wedding adventures. Her veterinarian ex starts to pop up as well, which added to the anticipation and suspense. We see that he is regretting his assholery, and we are seeing that Tori (along with the viewer) is wondering what the heck she saw in him in the first place. I mean, when he shows up at her Dad’s coffee shop on his way to the “Hamster Rehabilitation Conference” and her eyes start to dart around looking for escape, we know she has moved on. But he is clueless and he makes time in his busy busy Kitty and Puppy schedule to trap her alone so he can propose marriage.

And this is where the movie takes a turn for the worse. Nice Matt sees him getting down on one knee and, despite their burgeoning love, good times, soulful gazes, and intimate conversations, he turns his back and leaves the premises without bothering to see the outcome. Because of course if a guy gets down on one knee, there is only one conclusion one can make, right? The girl has to say yes. No. There are two possible outcomes, Matt. “Yes, I will marry you,” or “Thanks, but no thanks.” To make his insulting conclusion jump much worse, he acts like a total jerk to her for the last 20 minutes of the movie. He gives her the cold shoulder and is very rude. Tori is confused and heartbroken, and I was irate. It was a very very bad example of “The Big Misunderstanding”. The utter stupidity ruined a pretty decent movie.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

March 11, 2022

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