A Toast to Hallmarkent
2016, d. Letia Clouston - Tubi
The Draw: Nothing will get me more excited about watching a Hallmarkie than having it star someone from the many DC/CW/Arrowverse shows. In this case, it stars Jes Macallan (Ava from DC's Legends of Tomorrow) but also co-stars April Bowlby (Rita Farr from Doom Patrol) playing sisters.
HERstory: Carrie (Macallan) has been working the past seven years in the shadow of her father (James Eckhouse) in the family food supply business, a large, privately held corporation that she's poised and primed to take over. Her dad thinks she's ready and so does she. She's found a struggling winery that she sees the opportunity to expand the business into alcohol, and sets up a meeting only to find the owners of the winery have only sent their lawyer, Dylan Courtney (Coby Ryan McLaughlin). Dylan calls the offer predatory and Carrie tries to hardball him. It doesn't work and the intense meeting is short-lived.
The meeting didn't go well in part because Carrie is on edge after finding out that the "family business" won't be the family business much longer. Her sister Katie (Bowlby) just got engaged to Ethan and she learned that their grandmother, a staunch and reserved traditionalist, had willed the company to the husband of the first granddaughter to get married. Everyone seems to think that regardless of what happens, that the company will be transferred to Carrie, but then Ethan says "let's not be too hasty". We don't know Ethan's motivations yet.
Carrie, somewhat apoplectic about this whole backwards-assed situation starts scheming to try and find some rube to marry before her sister's Christmas wedding. Dating sites go horribly awry, so she settles on her old high school friend Paul (Ryan Caltagirone) who she had lost touch with. They get reacquainted and it's amusing to see Carrie, a hard-nosed, practical woman, try to be cutesy and lovey with Paul, and not only is it not a good look for her, but Paul hardly seems to notice the effort.
The other factor is, it turns out, Dylan is Ethan's best man, so he keeps showing up at events, and has various other reasons (like coordinating best man/bridesmaids things) to keep reaching out to Carrie beyond the winery deal. She's so standoffish with him, and it's clear he's fascinated by her, you know it's only a matter of time before she starts taking a liking to him.
When Katie lets Carrie know that she and Ethan have new ideas for the direction of the company, Carrie puts her plan into high gear, and gets her BFF/Assistant to book a fancy dinner, a jet to Vegas, a reservation at the 24 hour chapel and a room at the Bellagio. Her proposal to Paul is as clumsy as you might expect, and as you also might expect, Paul is gay. Everyone knew it (or at least suspected), except Carrie. She gets drunk and drunk calls Dylan, who picks her up and escorts her home.
Eventually Carrie and Katie have it out and Katie asks her what she really wants, and Carrie doesn't know, at all. Until she does.
A switch filps and Carrie is all love and sunshine at Katie's wedding. She tells her sister she's resigning, and later we learn from Dylan that she's been accepted as the new CEO of the struggling winery she was trying to take over. Her and Dylan dance, and they kiss and it's a bright new future ahead.
The Formulae:One of the Hallmarkie staples is a Christmas or Christmas Eve deadline. Usually it's the background story to the female lead who has left the big city for the perfect small town, and realizing their big corporate job is sucking the life out of them, but also still nailing the assignment. Here though, it's almost a race against time. Katie is getting married on Christmas, and the only way Carrie can be assured the company is to beat her to the pulpit. Also, there's a cookie baking sequence up at Dylan's cabin where he's holding the bachelor/ette party.
Unformulae: This is what happens when a Hallmarkie scriptwriter is allowed to be unfiltered, they actually craft a story that features a complicated lead, with a wild scenario and manages to eke out some real comedy and drama out of it all. Also, LGBT representation, not just Paul's late outing (so obvious though) but also Ethan and Dylan's lesbian friends who pop in for some expert comic relief a couple of times. Also, while in recent years Hallmarkies let their protagonists drink alcohol, we rarely, if ever, see them get completely blotto like we see Carrie get here. Macallan is an excellent drunk performer. I also like that the lead character here is completely oblivious to the fact that she's having a romance up until the last couple scenes. She's so career-focussed that thinking about boys is still basically about her career. Also, the film takes place over quite a few months, which is atypical. Usually Hallmarkies take place in December so they can cram as much Christmas into frame as possible.
True Calling? Yeah, it works. It's actually quite a good hook for a title. It really makes you ask "why, why marry by Christmas?"
The Rewind: Carrie's drunk dialing Dylan is a highlight of the movie and worth a rewatch, particularly how it involves the bartender.
The Regulars: Surprisingly no regulars except Casie Tabanou and Ali Spuck, the writers who write a lot of Hallmarkies.
How does it Hallmark? Despite not really playing into the conventions, it also doesn't break too far afield from what a Hallmarkie is, but it's still really really good. Certainly better than average. Both funny and charming, with great performances from pretty much all players. Macallan and Bowlby are so believable as sisters, and with two veteran TV performers as their parents, it's a real quality family unit on screen. Loughlin is not your typical Hallmark hunk, but his genuine nice guy act starts really paying dividends. Loughlin convincingly portrays Dylan being enamoured by Carrie even as she continually dismisses him.
How does it movie? For the limited budget this Marvista production had, they largely get good mileage out of it. At times the set decoration, hair or wardrobe doesn't quite meet the demands of the scene, so no, it's not big screen quality, but still, very enjoyable.
How Does It Snow? No snow. I don't know where it's supposed to be set, but they didn't even pretend to have snow. It was a dry, white-less Christmas.
I am afraid to watch Tubi Hallmarkies.....
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