Noël, Romance et Coïncidences

The producers of this film came up with enough variety and different aspects for a Christmas romance to lift it above the stigma of a formulaic holiday film. The two constant ingredients are there, of course - romance and the Christmas season. But this film avoids the frequent castings of so many modern films of the broken family - a single mom or dad with a child. There are many such families today, so unless a film has something different it just becomes that same story with different people. And, so many modern stories with young adults have one who has been divorced. Many of these seasonal films also have some type of a love triangle - where a new guy comes into the picture and takes a girl away from her boyfriend or fiancé.

Well, "A Godwink Christmas" has a different take on some of those aspects, which makes is somewhat unusual and more interesting. It has a love triangle, of sorts. But here the girl goes off on a visit and meets the second guy. She has just been engaged, but her fiancé is a changed guy from the nice, caring, attentive guy she met and liked for almost two years. Now, he's a self-absorbed workaholic attorney, who ekes out a little time here and there for his girl, Paula Mayer. So, when Paula gets an invite for a weekend visit to her Aunt Jane who lives In Nantucket, off the coast of mainland Massachusetts, she goes.

Aunt Jane lost her husband three years earlier and misses him dearly. She moved away from St. Louis with him many years before. So, Paula leaves St. Louis for a weekend with her aunt, at the start of the Christmas season. But Jane has just finished writing a book and when Paula arrives, she has a call from her publisher to meet with him that day. So, she sends Paula off, handing her the tickets she had bought, for them to visit Martha's Vineyard. It's a short hop flight away, also off the mainland coast. Aunt Jane picked it because it has antique shops and does up the Christmas holidays in old-fashioned traditions. She had planned that because Paula is nuts about antiques. She's actually an expert and works for an antique clearing house as an examiner to determine authentic items from fakes or copies. But her work is not so much for any monetary gain as it is for the history and family connections that go with so many old items.

Paula's interests are tolerated by her boyfriend, Daniel O'Brian. But he had caught her off guard when he proposed to her in a restaurant at dinner with his parents and sister, Jenn, and she said "Yes," hesitatingly. They had been dating for two years, but, as she says later, they hadn't talked about a lot of things. And Daniel had changed from the person she met, and was all consumed now with his legal work. His parents and sister like Paula a great deal, and Jenn is a friend who confides in her and asks for advice.

So, on Martha's vineyard, Paula repeatedly bumps into or comes across Gery Conover. Aunt Jane tells here later that these are Godwinks. Aunt Jane says, "Sometimes, God does not speak to us in a voice that we can hear. Sometimes, God winks." Gery has been a resident for three years and has just finished remodeling the inn he bought - Charlotte's Inn, after moving from Philadelphia. His wife lasted a little over a year but couldn't stand the small town living and divorced him for the big city last January. But Gery has made many friends on the island and has helped with some civic projects, especially a youth center. Well, the conclusion of this film - like all made as Christmas romances, is obvious to everyone. But how it gets to that point is the rest of this film that is more interesting and quite good. That takes a viewing to see it all.

A big plus for this film is the role of Paula as played by Kimberley Sustad. Her conflict and struggle regarding her relationships seems much more realistic than such are usually portrayed. The place of antiques in this film provides some interesting aspects. Aunt Jane, played superbly by Kathie Lee Gifford, adds a nice touch of family and missing a husband of many years and Paula's mother - her sister, who just died a couple years ago. Some of the supporting cast add a nice touch - Ryan McDonald as the Martha's Vineyard taxi driver, Buddy Bambrick, and Dolores Drake as Gery's cook at the inn, Dorothy Keller.

Most of these holiday films have settings that are scenic or particularly attractive for the Christmas season. When they include more than the usual scenery and location scenes, they score a notch higher. This film does superbly well showing scenes of St. Louis with the Gateway Arch, and then harbors on Paula's visit to Aunt Jane. I've traveled all of the 50 states of the U. S., much of it on vacations. While I've been to Cape Cod, I've not been to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard. But, I have been to Vancouver, British Columbia, and many other places in BC several times. So, the harbor and bay scenes filmed there aptly fill in and resemble the scenes one would see at Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

This is a fine film with a good plot that's quite believable as a romance and start of a love story. At the end, a still photo shows the Charlotte Inn of today, with the real Paula and Gery Conover, a little advanced in age but smiling and looking very happy.

I watch it from the beginning every time it comes on. I like the idea that there are no coincidences in the story, that it is based on real people who feel their meeting was meant to be. I also like how it deviates from the usual Hallmark plot device of the lead female character being one of those people who is bragging like "look how busy I am y'all." I don't like that in real life or in the movies. Just once I want to see a Hallmark movie about a slacker. This story has a woman going on vacation and shopping for antiques instead of being busy. The way she talks about antiques is interesting. I can't explain anything rational about why I like this so much. My husband makes fun of me for watching Hallmark all the time. I just enjoy the relentless positivity. I do admit I snicker a little every time they mention that the male lead owns a B&B called The Charlotte Inn because it sounds like "the charlatan."

You can say what you want about Hallmark Christmas movies, every movie they make has a positive story, romantic theme and a happy ending. Who wouldn't want a little of this over the holidays?

The idea sounded cute and it was nice to have an attempt at doing something different by Hallmark Christmas film (which do tend to be very formulaic in their stories) standards. Kimberly Sustad has often struck me as a very watchable actress and easy to be engaged by, though Kathie Lee Gifford is more take or leave elsewhere. Christmas is and always has been my favourite time of year and in my school years the only "looked forward to every year" period and have never had anything against Hallmark, even though their output is hit and miss.

As far as their films go, this one generally leans towards the hit side of the spectrum while in my view not quite being one. Personally don't think it is quite a great film, but as far as Hallmark Christmas films of 2018 and even overall go it fares reasonably favourably (don't think it is quite among the best though from personal opinion). There is a lot to like here and it is an above average film, but there are some things, that are quite major, that could have been done better.

Shall start with what was done well. It has an at least professional look to it, the scenery is very pretty with a cosy look to it and the photography is slick. The music is generally not as constant or as over-scored as Hallmark Christmas films can be, with some nice soundtrack choices throughout. The direction is assured enough. There are enough moments that made me smile and go "awww".

While the story for me was a flawed one, it had a sincere charm often and it did warm the heart enough. Paul Campbell looks more than comfortable here in his role and had charisma and likeability. In a role that is easy to overplay, Gifford manages to be beautifully understated while showing no signs of autopiloting. The film though belongs to Sustad, who is immensely endearing in the rootable lead role. Her chemistry with Campbell was a natural and sweet one. And yes the car is great.

Having said all of this, the film for me had its problems. Too much of the story felt contrived and unrealistic, other than the way of help in the film in determining what direction to take in life angle it is typical Hallmark plot-wise and it could have done with a lighter edge and more subtlety. Found everything to do with that angle too heavily emphasized on and too preachily executed, and what was it with those cheap, cheesy and very gimmicky sound effects and music cues.

No better news with much of the dialogue, which did sound awkward too many times and was heavy on the schmaltzy sentiment. The equivalent of having twelve sugars instead of two in your tea or something like that. While not disliking the characters, they could have done with more development.

Concluding, decent but not great. 6/10

I liked the main character's spunk and Kathie Lee was surprisingly good (I expected an over the top performance, but she was charmingly low key). A predictable ending but we all know that going in. This movie didn't rock my world or anything but I enjoyed it.