"What is the answer to life?"
Hello everyone!
It's always the January movies, I've found.
Generally speaking, I usually manage to avoid, or mostly avoid, Hallmark movies that actually make me cringe or look up at the sky while asking for patience. Over the years of watching them I've kind of developed a bit of a skill at weeding out exactly what would tick me off.
It doesn't always work out that way.
I was super excited for the movie in tonight's blog post because I love the leading actor and think he should be featured in more things, plus the movies he's done before are pretty good. The lead actress is also one of those I have no trouble seeing different takes on.
But something about this particular movie did NOT actually click.
Snowkissed, here we go.
Snowkissed is part of the New Year, New Movies! programming Hallmark pulled out for 2021, but I'm starting to think that it really depends on the writers how the movie turns out, and only a few of them are actually engaged enough to make an engaging movie in return.
This one was NOT it.
Jen Lilley and Chris McNally definitely drew the short stick being cast as Kate and Noah, respectively (also, wasn't Lilley Kate in other Hallmark adaptations before? Are there really no other names to choose from?) because while Chris did manage to make his character somewhat likeable throughout even if he was a bit of a bumbler, Jen ... did not.
But I digress.
This movie starts with Kate in Manhattan where she has her same rituals every single morning, lunch, and dinner time, she's a writer who seems to generally nail the pitches that need to be given to the bosses so she can get her stories out there, and she's obsessed with this one book which apparently explains the secret of life.
So when her boss tells her they've secured an interview with the author, she's over the moon. It's the most exciting moment of her life!
Except, she has to travel to Canada to interview him, which is where this movie screeches to a grinding halt.
For some reason that's never actually identified, Kate doesn't do travel. She doesn't even leave Manhattan, and while I commend her for having lots of playground to dance around with, even I know Manhattan is just one part of New York City and there's more to it than that. Within the first fifteen minutes of the movie she has an inexplicable anxiety attack because she has to go on a fully organized and catered trip, stay at a lovely B&B, interview the author she adores, then come back.
Her best friend, Jayne, a photographer who'll tag along, convinces her this is a normal thing people do (or used to do at least since most of us don't have the luxury nowadays) and off they go to Canada where we run into McNally's character at the airport in a typical mix-up.
He's there to pick them up, but the first encounter is definitely not the best yet. He does redeem himself by taking the girls to lunch and introducing them to his business partner, Simon, with whom he owns the B&B they'll be staying at.
The only catch happens when the author suddenly decides to cancel the interview, which prompts Noah to reveal he actually knows the guy - they used to be neighbours - so he sets up an alternate date instead, and the guys then decide to entertain the girls in the days leading up to it with some breathtaking Canadian scenery.
See the B&B isn't doing too good at the moment and so the guys will get Noah a tourist guide certification to augment their income, because otherwise ... they might have to sell.
Trouble is, he's very stiff and unnatural in these presentations even though he's otherwise very approachable, so Kate ends up coaching him through and the girls are the first audience for the impromptu tour, just giving helpful tips and tricks.
Also, Jayne is full-on flirting with Simon who doesn't quite get it until it's spelled out for him, but his character has an endearing trait where he needs some time to process everything, so he grand gesture definitely freaks him out, but eventually he makes one of his own and the two smooth any ruffled feathers and end up in a lovely relationship.
Meanwhile, Kate gets a shocker when finally meeting the author, who tells her his entire theory is wrong. Previously based on acceptance, it states that if you accept your circumstances then you'll be happy, or something of the sort. I kinda thought it meant acceptance from others, or of yourself, not life, but anyway, he goes on to explain love and spreading his wings helped him a hell of a lot more, which is naturally a complete opposite of Kate's entire philosophy.
This shakes her to the core and she ends up writing a much more personable article to send in to her boss, who loves it, and this secures her staffing position, so without saying anything about how she might be feeling, she returns to New York, but after having travelled (if only a little) it doesn't seem as exciting or welcoming anymore, and she misses Noah.
Noah misses her too, and in what both of them consider grand gestures, they're prepared to drop it all and go to the other. Kate beats him to the punch but he explains he was headed to the airport to go see her anyway, and as she can work remotely and the B&B has now taken off, along with the tourist guide business, they can all live happily ever after.
The end!
I'll admit, I skimmed through this movie. Kate was so unlikable it was difficult to work through any of her scenes because she acted as if Canada was a rock in the middle of nowhere. Gasp, they have coffee stands? And pavement???
I'm not kidding you, she literally came across as this person who only sees Manhattan as an acceptable place to live and the rest of the world is still in huts in the Stone Age, and it was off-putting within the first ten minutes. We also never actually get a good explanation for why she doesn't travel, so it just comes across as whiny and impossible. Noah was okay, but the chemistry between them fell kind of flat as I have no idea what would be attractive about the neurotic picture the writers painted of Kate.
Jayne and Simon were much more likable as the secondary pair, and it looks like everyone online agrees they should have been the leads instead.
And as I've been burned by January movies before, it looks like January in Hallmark is just not for me.
xx
*images and video not mine
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