For a regular, devoted Hallmark viewer, Saturday night original movies are often looked forward to as new, exciting, innovative romantic offerings. Unfortunately, this film was not one of those. The storyline was familiar..successful young female star returns home..(one of Hallmark's very over-used scenarios)..because her father has had an accident and cannot run his business..She encounters an old lost love, and the rest of the film leads the viewer to finding out how the young woman resolves her old, unfinished romance, saves her father's business (in this case a Texas farm), and manages to find a way to stay "home" rather than return to her successful life in another city.
The formula often works..but is becoming over-used in order to fit into the Hallmark niche.
A large deterrent in this film was the poor acting. The hero's contrived Texas accent was so broad that many of his lines were blurred and incomprehensible. The father's stiff acting was never convincing or genuine. He sounded as if he was reading his lines from a poster board. It felt sad to see and aging Robbie Benson brought back in such an unsympathetic role. The young leading actress did her best with such poor material..using smiling as a form of acting.
Interestingly one of the most impressive performances in this film was offered by David Lewis, a very familiar Hallmark star..usually seen as the second male lead, the rejected suitor, the innocent loser. In this film, he gets a chance to appear strong, decisive, and mature as a business tycoon with firm decisions and a serious demeanor. What a refreshing delight! For this viewer, he carried the film, being cast beside the shallow performances of the three main leads.
This is pleasant diversion for a rainy evening, but it is surely not worthy of a Saturday night prime time Hallmark presentation.
