Angels and Ornaments

My wife asked, "Why do you like this movie but don't like movies about Santa?" There are two classes of formulaic Christmas movies produced by Hallmark. One class succeeds most of the time, given a good script and good actors. The other doesn't. To be successful, it must be believable if we can suspend our prejudices. When it comes to angels, etc., we all want to believe they exist. Even an agnostic like me, wishes this to be true. On the other hand, when it comes to fantasy Christmas involving Santa, we all know it isn't believable so we just ride with it because, after all, it is fantasy. With Angels and Ornaments, we have a wonderful script and a mesmerizing Sergio Di Zio (H). Coupled with Jessalyn Gilsig…well, the magic works. This is on par with The Christmas Card, one of the best Christmas movies made in recent years.

Corrine is a musician who works in a music store; her boss Dave is an old friend of hers, and is sweet on her but would never show it because she has never seen him as boyfriend material. However, Christmas is coming up and she is fresh off a break-up with Tim, who keeps calling her hoping for a second chance. We know a bit about Corrine's background: her grandfather, overseas during WWII, sent her grandmother songs instead of traditional letters. The last one she got was on a Christmas Eve before he was reported killed, and when she died, she gave the song to Corrine as a keepsake, which she treasures. Her favorite ornament, also from her grandmother, is of a group of carolers, and one night, when some carolers come to her door, she notices that the front-and-center singer, Harold, is wearing the same snowflake scarf that one of the ornament carolers is wearing. Wouldn't you know that, a couple days later, Harold winds up as a seasonal worker at the music store. This is when the movie takes a "Wonderful Life" twist: Harold is actually an angel who has been assigned to get Corrine and Dave together. If he succeeds, he'll win his wings. But Harold has his hands full since Dave is a little gun-shy because of his own failed romances, and just as it looks like Corrine is starting to see Dave in a romantic light, that rat bastard Tim comes back in the picture. Can Harold get everything straight before midnight on Christmas Eve?

I give this Hallmark holiday movie a few extra points for its somewhat original plot. Yes, it's stolen from It's a Wonderful Life but it does have a couple of nice variations, and in its plot point involving an old song written by a dead loved one, even borrows a bit from the climax of The Bishop's Wife. The mostly Canadian cast, none of whom I remember seeing before, is fine. I like that Dave (Graham Abbey) is a little rougher-looking than the usual shiny bland romantic leads, and Sergio Di Zio, as the angel, gives an almost eccentric performance that ends up working well. I had some problems with plot loopholes that I can't discuss here, but I recommend this as something just a little different from the Hallmark Christmas Factory.

Jessalyn Gilsig has just broken up with her boyfriend and has lost the audition for the solo at the community center where she volunteers. Little does she know that her boss is in love with her -- neither does he -- but thanks to her guardian angel, things are going to turn out just fine for them. However, that doesn't matter.

Many of these Hallmark TV romantic comedies succeed, when they do, because of the major actors in minor supporting roles. In this one, however, it is Sergio de Zio as the on-assignment angel, Harold, who makes this movie. With his old-fashioned, formal clothes, direct gaze and emphatic, nasal voice, he owns every scene he's in and makes his absence in others telling. Of course everything is shot to emphasize him, but that's more than okay, since he makes it worthwhile.

The rest of the story is competent and workaday, although the other actors are fine in their scenes. There are the usual details that make me wonder if the movie-makers have ever been in New York City, where they set this movie: the store has a big second story sign announcing it has been in business for 25 years; no New Yorker looks at those signs and do they change it every year? Everyone lives in huge apartments. However, it's still a fine movie.

This Christmas TV movie does not stink (most do, some really badly). It was a story that I'd never seen before, and the characters had a believability despite the fact that this was a fantasy. Of the characters' performances, Harold, the angel was great, showing really good intensity and real feeling (not your typical angelic performance). In a nice twist he, as an angel, wasn't some know-it-all. Dave, the store owner, was game, sincere, and believable -- but not a total standout performance -- I suspect that he was constrained by some of the dialog. However Corrine was the most typical Hallmark heroine -- ie., a weak characterization. As other folks indicated, stating this was based in New York was silly -- a two-story store and a front-door of Corrine's home with a large-ish front yard and tiny stoop are so not NYC. Maybe the authors were too constrained by story length to make it Providence RI, Buffalo NY, Harrisburg PA -- so they said New York to mean some generic big city with cold winters. I also hated the "one-year-later" scene. This seems like a prerequisite for these Hallmark Christmas movies. Haven't they ever heard of "and they lived happily ever after"?

Harold is out to get his wings, but first he must help a heartbroken woman see what is right in front of her. He must match her with her childhood friend before Christmas Day.

So the "angel" is Harold the "ornament" is a family heirloom that her grandfather gave to her grandmother when they met. As she places the ornament on her tree, ding-dong the woman's doorbell rings and she finds carolers dresses exactly like the ornament. Coincidence?

The movie that follows is delightfully funny and charming.

Worth a view.