Fairfield Road

Jesse Metcalfe stars in Fairfield Road and revives the Frank Capra idea of the small town idealistic hero. Jimmy Stewart never did a better job with Bedford Falls than Jesse does in saving a small Massachusetts coastal town in this made for TV film.

Things really go out from under Metcalfe as the film opens. He leaves his job working on the campaign of Maria Ricossa the Mayor of Boston and then a prospective job working for a US Senator blows up in his face. Adding insult to injury his engagement to his fiancé Natalie Brown also goes South when he finds her cheating on him.

With wedding ring in hand he goes off to where they were going to spend their honeymoon, a small New England Cape Cod village at Derek McGrath's small inn. He's persuaded to stay both by the charm of the place and the bookstore owner Natalie Linska.

Since politics is his bag, Metcalfe gets intrigued also by the current election for town supervisor. McGrath is a candidate, but he's a heavy underdog against Brandon Firla, one alpha male type developer who wants to build a strip mall there. The whole character of the town would be changed if that came to pass. And Firla is also a truly hateful being.

Metcalfe's speech to the town at their meeting where they personally choose their supervisor is right out of Frank Capra. But that's something that never goes out of style. Need I tell you the result.

Fairfield Road was a truly pleasant viewing experience. Jesse Metcalfe brought some of this same idealism into playing Christopher Ewing in the unfortunately canceled Dallas. I hope he does more roles of this type.

Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart would be proud.

I found this Hallmark romance to be quite charming, and I recommend it for anyone who likes an understated love story.

Noah McManus (Jesse Metcalfe) is a young man whose life goes off track when his job and his engagement both disintegrate on the same day. He travels to a small town on Cape Cod and checks into the cozy B&B where he was to have stayed with his fiancée. There, he becomes involved in the politics of the town and the lives of its residents.

The acting of the two leads, McManus and Natalie Lisinska, feels genuine and appealing. Their relationship grows organically out of their interactions. And the film's incidental music greatly contributes to the tone of the story.

Like many Hallmark stories, it champions small-town virtues and the value of personal interactions. The people who inhabit the coastal town feel like part of a hospitable landscape.

I don't care what anyone says this is a very good movie and me and the wife loved it, even though it did have a few flaws. Still well worth watching. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 3/2/2021

I'd only seen Jesse Metcalfe in Desperate Housewives which didn't really flex his acting muscles, so I was a little wary of watching a film with him in the lead role. I was pleasantly surprised, he's a cracking actor and really rather wasted in lesser roles. He has bags of screen presence in this little film which is visually stunning in terms of scenery, certainly a great advert for the area. Someone already drew comparisons with the Capra-esque ideals of little man against the big corporation and this definitely has the charm and heart of a much older film. A sweet supporting cast of quirky characters make this a nice cosy watch for a Sunday afternoon.

How can you make a movie, claiming to take place in Cape Cod, when clearly it was shot elsewhere? Only one character actually has a New England Accent! The movie is likable and so are the characters in it, but a little more attention to detail and continuity, would have gone a long way. If you're looking for a movie that involves Cape Cod, this is not it.