The Most Colorful Time of the Year

You know what to expect from this movie. But, the surprise is the knowledge you will take with you when the credits roll.

Being color blind for me, was just a "thing" that some people have. Now because of this movie, I am more aware of not only the condition, but of the related problems and trauma associated with it.

The lead actors - Chris Russell and Katrina Bowden - are fantastic and well cast. The cinematography used attempts to teach the audience with normal eyesight what being totally colorblind May mean. And the captions during the closing credits... offer contacts for those with this type of problem to get help if needed. This underscores the reality of the problem.

Although this is a message movie, I was pleasantly surprised by how good this movie is: from writers and director to the actors involved . And, I highly recommend it to any audience of any age to watch, learn, and enjoy.

Last year, and especially this year, Hallmark started to push the envelope as far as venturing out beyond its safe and standard bone-tired plots, and this one is no exception. A secretly color-blind teacher meets an ophthalmologist, the single mother of one of his students, who sees through his lifelong tricks and strategies to disguise his disability. She enters him into a clinical trial without his consent after he tells her he is not interested once his subterfuges have been discovered. Although most definitely unethical and an invasion of privacy I can almost give her a pass on this because he doesn't fully understand what he is missing in life. See, he is not only color-confused (red and green or blue and yellow being indistinguishable from each other,) but totally unable to see any color whatsoever. Also, it's stupid he is not interested. Why wouldn't he be interested? He's a science teacher. Just because nothing has worked before, trying on a pair of glasses is hardly a surgical procedure or taking an untested drug. But it was wrong of her, it must be said. The way the whole color-blindness thing is handled is lazy and irresponsible. His condition is very rare, while the other is a fairly common condition that indeed can be mitigated by special glasses of the sort that are provided by this clinical trial. Monochromia would be impossible scientifically to correct with glasses due to the cause of the condition. Maybe this could be partially excused by deeming this cure part of a "clinical trial" but it is as far-fetched and as far from being science-based as a pill to cure alcoholism would be. In other words, the idea was interesting but the execution and details lacked authenticity to put it kindly. It is another example of Hallmark seeming like they have contempt for their viewers by glossing over unrealistic plot points that actually could potentially be harmful, hurtful, and deceitful if taken seriously.

To make matters worse this movie is sponsored by a company that makes the aforementioned glasses that mitigate color confusion in some people with lots of emotional videos of people acting like they once were blind and now can see. So they're using the emotions that might be generated by this movie to burnish and exaggerate the benefits of their product that has nothing to do with the disability portrayed. Or maybe they were not aware of the nature of the color blindness depicted in this movie and got manipulated to buy ad space. Whatever, someone did wrong.

Once he finally tries on the glasses and his world is changed, there really isn't anywhere else to go with it, other than going around looking at colorful scenes. Featuring mostly red and green. At one point she takes him to a church where I thought they were going to look at stained glass windows. But she took him there to wrap presents. In his first hours of seeing color for the first time? Really?

So it falls back on the usual tropes once the color-blindness thing is out of the way leading to the inevitable big misunderstanding. In this case, an over-eager wanna-be girlfriend and a more psycho and controlling stalker ex-boyfriend whom both leads are too nice and patient with. The good doctor even agreeing to him inviting himself to her child's Christmas pageant. The ex-boyfriend bit could have actually been a lot more entertaining if he had gotten punched in the nose by our hero when he crudely twitted him about his pay as a middle-school teacher. However, instead, our hero chose to deliver a lecture that seemed to suggest that teachers did not need fair pay, cuz it's "a calling" and they don't care about the money. Very noble, but I know a few teachers that would disagree with that.

It's not a secret that I have a soft spot for Christopher Russell. But, he should stick with the Cary Grant or Clark Gable-type roles where charm and good looks are more important than range of emotion. When he put on those glasses and saw color for the first time a lot more was required as far as an emotional reaction. On the positive side, Katrina Bowden was very good as the caring but over-stepping doctor, and her daughter was also very good. CR was believable and endearing as a committed teacher who was definitely overqualified for his job. Best of all though was Joanna Douglas as Heidi, the lead's supportive sister. Hey Hallmark! Lock this girl in and promote her from supportive sister/friend to head girl. STAT!

7.0 stars.

I am surprised that Hallmark opted for an optometrist with the opportunity to operate her magic opting for open arms verses opportunistic opulence.

I think Michelle (Bowden) is extremely alluring, something about her style, and she has great potential, please showcase her in more movies. Ryan (Russell) is equally so, if not more. I kept thinking he starts off looking like Superman, then he gets these magical glasses that make him look like Clark Kent. Either way, you can't go wrong. Such a shame that the good looks and good acting was squandered on this half-priced quality of a movie.

Like I said, both leads are surprisingly easy on the eyes, and it's a shame that their visual appearances and performance skills are lost in the translation of such a dry and lifeless script. There is a strange lack of stimulating dialogue, and everything is in slow motion. The story just drags along as we are waiting for something really enlightening or at least exciting.

One illuminating moment is when he is defending his choice to become a teacher... very sincere and touching scene. And the ex boyfriend... do they get any more creepy? Hallmark sure knows how to make a person look ghoulish.

There is another great scene with Michelle's sister as she opens the flood gates for Ryan near the end. It is pure gratification for me and a rare way for Hallmark to reveal hidden feelings.

And the final scenes with the kiss (one of the best ones ever). I am so disappointed there were only about five brilliant moments interspersed throughout this sub-standard film.

The theme was great, the premise was great, but the writing was like a poopoo bag exploded and all of the contents hit the fan.

Some viewers may find this made for TV Christmas film a bit corny, and some may consider (the teacher named) Ryan Tanner's handicap an insult to people who may be legally blind. A lot of people may be color blind to different extremes and not consider themselves to be handicapped which Mr. Tanner and his girlfriend Optometrist, Michelle Stevens, was making a bigger deal about his handicap than I would have expected. Dr. Stevens suggesting that Mr. Tanner entertain the idea of joining a medical test group for his color blindness and him being stubborn and trying, when all it included was trying on a new pair of eyeglasses you may understand why I think they blew out of proportion his handicap. I believe the message the producers were genuinely attempting to convey to their audience was for people not to be afraid to accept assistance and/or suggestions that may significantly improve their health. Whether that handicap may be a severe disability or something less obtrusive such as being color blind.

Just an observation about this film and please not to be critical a Mrs. Shullivan and I quite enjoyed this film. I am glad they did not show Mr. Tanner behind the wheel of a car as he would not have been able to distinguish between a red light or a green traffic light.

I give the film a wishy washy 5 out of 10 IMDb rating as I can see how some people may enjoy the romantic undertone and then others may be insulted with Mr. Tanner overcoming his color blindness by simply putting on a new pair of glasses. Duhhhh.

The type of color blindness in this film, where the person cannot see ANY colors, is called monochromacy. It's extremely rare, and no special glasses are going to allow the person to see color. They MAY allow for greater separation of shades. This type of medical misinformation could only give false hope to people who've suffered from that condition since birth.

So I docked stars for that.

My wife otherwise liked the movie more than I did, as she got into his resistance to admit the condition or seek help for it. Parts of the movie were quite emotional, those mostly having to do with his prospects for treatment and then the (false) results of getting the "special glasses".

The romance part, however, was pretty standard, with the misinterpretations of past or friendly relationships. It's not worth a rewatch for me since I didn't buy into the optometry, and not worth a rewatch for my wife because even though it moved her, most of the suspense involved when and why he'd admit his condition and agree to be examined, and that's no mystery on subsequent viewings.