T&K's XMas (2021) Advent Calendar: Day 6 - Christmas Sail

2021, Stacey Brodie, Stacey N Harding (2nd unit directing of a ton of TV) -- Amazon

Interesting. After Kent watched it, I downloaded it in the usual Hallmark available format (only 720p) only to find out it was available on Amazon. I had assumed it was a 2020 movie as Amazon is not wont to grab first run movies, but apparently its a new one.

The Draw:

Well, duh. Katee Sackhoff. Starbuck. Vic Moretti. Bo-Katan. Dahl. Pink Ranger. Yeah, I am bit of a fan of Katee Sackhoff. But also, because I love her attitude in doing the movie, in that she has affection for the Hallmarkie and worked with her husband to get this one made!

She is ❤️🎉🎄 Because she’s been a fan of them for years and she created, executive produced, and made the movie with her husband…who wrote it. Pretty cool if you ask me…or her 😂👍🏻

— Katee Sackhoff (@kateesackhoff) November 6, 2021

HERstory:

Liz Darling (Sackhoff, Longmire) [OMG, whadda name] is a... hotel interior designer? Hotel manager? Not clear, but she makes the hotel lobby all Xmas-y and it's a good paying job, so she's more than just a hired decorator. Anywayz, apparently her house caught fire and she & her daughter are living in the hotel while awaiting the insurance money. She could be going for Xmas to the PST of Portside, but there is long running tension between her and dad. That is, until her dad (Terry O'Quinn, Emergence) is injured in an Xmas tree attack. Things are dire so she has to go home.

Things were not dire.

It's barely a sprain and he is not entirely happy to see her, nor be fussed over. But neighbour/friend thought it a good excuse to get Dad Darling together with his daughter and granddaughter. At the port side dock (apparently, there is not even a one-road-into-town) she is picked up by childhood best friend Luke (Patrick Sabongui, The Flash), who she immediately insults, calling him "healthy" in that awkward code for "dude, you got faaaaat." Kind of surprised. Hallmarkie Beau's are usually fit, square jawed hunks. Luke's more a movie-version-average-schlub, dad-bod kind of lead. I approve.

Kent said he didn't see any sparks. Neither did I, but I got the impression he viewed her as the one who got away, while she seemed uncomfortable, almost as if something unspoken had happened between the two, that she was too embarrassed to have ever addressed. 

Back in the Darling residence, Liz and Dad Darling are making us downright uncomfortable. Hallmarkies always have some sort of tension in the plot, but these are two seasoned actors, and they sell the tension between father and daughter, which all hinges on Mom Darling's death years ago, and how Dad just shut down afterwards, even cancelling Xmas. No Xmas in the Darling house, though I am glad he doesn't begrudge his grand daughter decorating things here and there.

And then there is the foreclosure. Dad didn't do a good job of managing money after Mom died, and finally things have caught up with him. Liz isn't happy, but willing to dump her entire insurance settlement into helping darling Dad. If only it comes in, in time. Hint: It doesn't. Sooooo, how about that annual Xmas Boat Parade? It gives $25k to  the winner with the best decorated boat, and the Darlings have a boat going to waste down at the dock.

But Liz needs help as the boat is in shambles! There is a tarp! There is random nautical memorabilia scattered across the tarp! It's a mess! It will take the combined efforts of two adults and one precocious child to clean up and decorate! Liz guilts Luke into happening, and considering he lives next door in his own boat (which, honestly looks more run down than the Darling yacht) then he has no excuse. Yup, Luke is a boat living, no wife, no Xmas Ball loser. Not sure they are selling him very well, but he does have a Mom that he dotes on, especially since he had to come home to take care of her, after Dad died. Dead parents all around.

So, the best part is not the rekindling of a non-existing romantic chemistry between the two, despite mutual admissions of high school crushes, but the rekindling of familial connections as Dad Darling gets to spend time with grand daughter (not darling). He really likes his grand daughter's energy, even as she hoists Xmas Market tomfoolery upon him. And he begins to acquiesce to the idea of allowing more Xmas into his house. Terry O'Quinn really does sell the grieving husband; again better calibre of actors than usual. 

Eventually there is the Xmas Ball which Liz wears a stunning blue (not red) dress to. Is Blue Dress the new Red Dress? They dance, they kiss, the unconvincingly admit to wuving each other forever and ever. But Liz points out the adult realities of the situation; they live in different worlds and have no reason to put more pressure on that. 

Eventually we actually get the Boat Parade, which just sounds... wrong in my head. Parades are a land thing? Dunno, but Luke adds the final touches to Liz's stunning decorations, by running a slide projector of Mary Darling on the grotty sail, which brings everyone to tears, including the judges. Everyone loved Mary and she had been the heart of this boat procession. Liz wins! Dad's house is saved! Luke admits, that despite complications, they should at least try. It's like a public proposal where Liz would look like a jerk for not saying she will give it a shot. They give it a shot.

The Formulae:

This one is not as quite formulaic, despite being pure Hallmarkie. But there is a PST, a sea side town or island tourist village, which seems to draw a lot of traffic for their Xmas Market and Xmas Boat Parade. Dead Parents abound, and a successful business woman coming back to her small town PST, to bump into an old flame friend, who she may or may not have romantic connections. There are Xmas Markets, Xmas tree hunts (avoiding the carnivorous ones) and even an Xmas Ball. But almost everything plays second fiddle to the Boat Parade, wherein Liz can save Xmas (actually her father's house) by winning. Which should assuage Dad Darling's dislike of Xmas.

Unformulae:

The big one is that at the end, there is no actual agreement that lives will be uprooted and Liz will leave her big city job to come back to her home PST. It's more a "yeah, let's give it a shot" which I rather like more. Less pressure. Luke himself is somewhat less that trope-ish, but even Hallmark switches out the stereotype hunks once in a while. No red dress :(

True Calling? 

Well, it is at Christmas and there is a sail, attached to a boat upon which they ... sail ? So, yesh.

The Rewind: 

Christmas Tree attack !! Christmas tree ATTACK !! That thing just seems to have a mind of its own. Maybe its a Z grade Amazon Prime movie Where Trees Attack. Also, and not exactly a rewind, more a FastForward, but when we are first introduced to Liz, Katee Sackhoff puts on these oversized, pained looking Super Smiles and are far too out of character for... any of her characters? Luckily they get tamed down as the movie movies onward.

The Regulars: 

Tosca Baggoo, who played Luke's mom, has been in a few Hallmarkies. As has Lossen Chambers, who plays the neighbour that Dad Darling may be boning, to quote Kent. Sabongui has been in a few but he was always supporting cast -- this is his first lead role, as Luke. And of course, a few more of the background characters are there what they usually do in Hallmarkies, being best friends or helpful coworkers.

How does it Hallmark ?

You know, despite being a labour of love on the behalf of Sackhoff and hubbie, I feel it might have been striving to be "more" than a Hallmarkie, instead of just embracing the tropes and going for it. But they gave it a shot, as Luke and Liz will do.

How does it movie? 

Despite some actual uncomfortable interactions between Sackhoff and O'Quinn, very little of this movie was up to quality of a Real Movie. Not to say that Hallmarkies are not "real movies" its just ... they aren't? There is an entire (non-existent) podcast episode where Kent and I discuss whether Hallmarkies should even try to be true, proper romcoms / romantic light hearted dramas, when that is not the point at all.