2011, Terry Ingram (Deliver by Christmas) - Amazon
HERstory: For one of the few times, it really is HerStory. He is barely jn the movie. Xmas is barely in the movie. Its all about her, and her family, and her desire to bring the Christmas Lodge back into her life.
So, Mary Tobin (Erin Karpluk, Magical Christmas Shoes) is a contracting manager for some Pacific North West city/company. Her dad and brothers are contractors, but there is some tension there as they don't help him out as much as they should? Whatever, as that comment comes and goes and is never brought up again.
Mary likes to go walking in the rainforests near their home, and this weekend off, she has dragged along her Dick BF Kent (hah!) who is not all that into the Great Outdoors. I have no idea what time of year it is, but it is NOT anywhere near Xmas, but it is cool and rainy as the PNW always is. While the two are out hiking -- correction, Mary is hiking; Kent is just walking along behind her. BUT while they are out there they discover a little girl and her dog, the girl having twisted her ankle. Mary piggybacks her out of the ravine and takes her back to her dad's place.
The place turns out to be The Christmas Lodge, something from Mary's past, where the family use to go at Xmas Time when she was a kid. The Lodge ain't doing so good. Little Girl's Dad, Jack (Michael Shanks, Hearts of Spring), lost his mom & dad a few years ago and he has not been able to keep up on the repairs. I am not sure exactly how he does anything considering the place is run down and empty of any guests. He would have run out of money ages ago. Anywayz, he thanks Mary for helping his Little Girl and makes her a quick meal.
Mary returns home. Wait, did her and Kent actually do anything on their weekend off? I don't think so. I think she pretty much abandons him to run home and talk to Dying Grampa about The Christmas Lodge. Bed Ridden Grampa, who everyone is very very concerned about, and whom Mary refuses to acknowledge may be on his last days, loves to hear about the old place that he loved bringing his family to, and especially his late wife who still talks to Mary, when she is walking in the woods; oh, and God is part of these conversations.
ANYWAY, Mary decides she has to Fix Up the Christmas Lodge. Good thing she and her family are all builder type people. But even her dad says it's a money sink. But Mary says she can probably get Grant Money to pay for the repairs and upkeep, as long as her Dad is willing to pitch in and help. Its decided that Dad and The Boys (not the homicidal anti-superhero gang, but her brothers) will check out the place and do a quick inspection (quick = entire weekend) to see what can be saved, and what has to be rebuilt.
Oh, Kent breaks up with Mary. I guess he got tired of sitting in their hotel room and realized they are not meant for each other. He's not really a Dick BF afterall, as he's very right, and its not like Mary was actually paying attention to him. But Mary is heartbroken, primarily for being over 30 and not married.
Anywayz, weekend reno-spection montage !! Lots of poking things and measuring other things. Work work work. Mary's real good at nailing in nails that someone else has already nailed in 90% but apparently that makes her the "human nail gun". Pretty sure her family has been indulging her most of her life. Anywayz, reno is going to cost in the millions, which broke Jack does not have. No worries, says Mary, she will find the funding.
She doesn't find the funding. The city will give her barely half of it, and when she tries to do the impassioned, "this is not just an important place to save, its also very important to me!" they Board Chair shuts her down.
But bedridden Grampa says he will pay for it. Well, I am not sure he says that exactly, but he guilts his son into taking on the job, despite commenting it will take months and months, if they hope to re-open in time for Xmas (ahhhh, so the movie is taking place nowhere near Xmas) but I am not sure he actually had the money to pay for it. Either way, Dad is bulled into taking the job...
Back to build build build, work work work until... Grampa has a stroke! He's recovering but he now has limited mobility and Mary is worried he won't me mobile enough to come to The Christmas Lodge when they finish the renovations. But wait, wasn't he already bed ridden for most of the movie? Its not like he was already mobile.
Whatever... it was at this point that ... well, we turned it off.
The (Un)Formulae: None! None at all !! It doesn't even take place near Xmas! There is absolutely nothing Xmas abour it. There is barely anything even Hallmark Romance about the bloody movie. This is not a movie about two people meeting each other during the holidays and ending up together. This is a movie about a woman desperate to reclaim some time period in her family's life when she remembers it all being happy. When Gramma was alive. When Grampa was not bedridden. When she wasn't over 30 and not married.
True Calling? Yeah, its about a Christmas Lodge. But weirdly, I honestly thought it was going to be about HER Christmas Lodge, as in one that her family owned but had ended up neglecting.
The Rewind: Nope.
The Regulars: Erin Karpluk, I guess. And apparently Michael Shanks does a bunch. Don't really care enough to look beyond.
How does it Hallmark? Fuck no. Kent and I had a conversation about the chaste nature of Hallmarkies, and why they don't seem to be also Xian, even to the opposite direction of being VERY much about the Coca-Cola Santa version of Xmas with trees and lights and snow and presents and hot chocolate and all the trappings of the season. I cannot recall a single Hallmarkie where someone talked about "the real meaning of Christmas" and by that, referencing the celebration of the Birth Of Christ. But this one, oh this one was non-stop, relentless, hit you over the head with a Bible Xian.
I didn't even get to see whether the two actually got together as .... well, we turned it off !! For the first time in Hallmarkie binging, we turned a movie off.
How does it movie? Fuuuuck no.
How Does It Snow? Fuuuuuuuuck no. Well, maybe at the end when they eventually open the Christmas Lodge? I dunno, we didn't wait around.
But did they get the Christmas Lodge finished in time for Christmas or what?!? I'm am left in such suspense and lack of closure at this minbendingly original and not at all predictable story.
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