Hearts of Spring

If you can watch this movie without yelling, "Get over yourself!" to the leads then you are a better person than I am. Besides somewhat unlikable leads, I think the other pitfall of the movie is that it relegates many of the interactions between the leads to online exchanges. Does anyone enjoy a split screen of characters typing to each other?

Lisa Whelchel who has been mostly doing the Christian entertainment circuit since leaving The Facts Of Life in the 80s stars in this Hallmark Channel movie with her own daughter Clancy Cauble playing her own daughter in Hearts Of Spring. The resemblance is unmistakable and does add a note of realism to their scenes.

I wonder how many Hallmark viewers caught that this was a remake of The Shop Around The Corner with a reverse twist. In that Ernst Lubitsch classic co-workers James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan bicker constantly at the department store they work for. But are passionate correspondents by mail.

To update it to the 21st century, Whelchel is a florist who is a blogger who writes an Ann Landers like column on being a single parent. Her views are diametrically opposed by Dr. Michael Shanks who is also a single parent and replies to her with his own screen name. They get a running feud going and entertain her internet followers.

But when Whelchel and Shanks meet in real life it's the real deal for romance. Unlike in The Shop Around The Corner where it's the characters they create in their letters where Stewart and Sullavan fall for each other. Still if you are a fan of the Ernst Lubitsch classic you know where this is going.

Hearts Of Spring is a pleasant easy to take film, but I wonder how many watching this recognized the origin.

The leads are likable. Michael Shanks is great, as always, Lisa Whelchel does a good job, and the supporting cast is strong. The main problem is the writing which is sophomoric at best, with one dimensional characters, contrived conflicts, no chemistry between the leads, shallow parenting advice from both sides, and more trite clichés than I can count. I have seen many Hallmark movies, I understand the genre, and I am generally lenient in my criticism, but this is one of the worst, if not THE worst, that I have seen. I'll give it three stars only because the cast really tries, but they simply cannot rise above the insipid writing.

I haven't yet read the reviews, and seeing the overall rating of 5.9 compared to my 8, I imagine I'm outside the main stream of Hearts of Spring. I really enjoyed it.

The two main characters were great, I enjoyed their interaction with each other and I thought their chemistry was enjoyable. Their development with each other from beginning to end was strong.

I'm not real familiar with Lisa Whelchel but she stood out in this movie and I enjoyed her, I favorited her. Same with Michael Shanks. I will follow both of them.

Very nice movie.

I do not think that Lisa Whelchel was too old for this role and that he, Paul Shanks should be cast with someone waaaaay younger, I really don't agree with you.

Geesh, she was ONLY a 53 year old mother to a 18 year old daughter! AND I'll do the math for you: she was ONLY THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OLD when she had this fictional child!

LIKE WOW, GIVE ME A BREAK. Or moreover, give us women a break, unless you are a woman, and then shame on you.

BTW, If the subject of women aging is the only thing that you can put most of your focus on, it's gotta be a touchy subject for you, yourself.

Bye Felicia.