This movie was fun to watch. Harold the angel was especially engaging, probably more so than Dave, the actual love interest. Given that the actor who plays Harold is roughly the same age as the actor who plays Dave, you almost wonder if Corrine might have considered Harold a potential prospect at some point.
I'm kind of a sucker for movies like this that have a fantasy element like angels. It was fun to see Harold encouraging Corrine and Dave to give each other a chance. The relationship between Corrine and Dave seemed pretty genuine. There could have been a bit more chemistry, but all in all, I thought they had nice interactions with each other. I found her relationship with the other guy Tim a little unbelievable. Not sure why she was still interested in him. He wasn't that good looking, or that smooth a talker. Maybe it was her lack of self confidence that kept her going back to him.
I think the whole angel dynamic with Harold could have been handled a little better. He seemed way too pushy about trying to meddle in Dave and Corrine's love lives, even though he barely knew them. There needed to be some establishment of a friendship between them before he did this. Also, I think that the fact that he was Corrine's grandfather should have been more of a surprise that should have been saved till close to the end, and it should have been a surprise even for Harold. It became obvious way too early in the story for it to have much dramatic impact.
Also, the whole backstory of Harold/Henry wasn't the best. He bemoaned time and time again how he had lost the love of his life, but he hadn't personally done anything to lose her. All he did was serve his country faithfully in war, send home romantic music regularly to his wife, and end up getting killed in action through no fault of his own. Why should he have been punished by not being able to be with his wife for 70 years? And why did he have to fulfill this one mission to get Dave and Corrine together (and by Christmas, no less) in order to redeem himself? Why exactly then? Why not a few years earlier, as Dave and Corrine had been friends since childhood?
A much better plot line might have been that Harold/Henry had done something wrong to estrange himself from his wife before tragically dying, and that was the thing he had to atone for. Even better, maybe it could have been that Harold/Henry was with his sweetheart long enough for her to get pregnant with Corrine's mom, but he failed to do what was necessary to keep her and she ended up marrying someone else, leading to his regret and earnest hope that Dave wouldn't make the same mistake. It also would have been more compelling if Corrine was actually going to get married to the slimeball Tim after years of ignoring Dave, creating an urgent situation that Harold needed to come down to help rectify before it was too late. Maybe Hallmark should consider hiring me as a consultant for their scripts next time, ha ha.
A couple of other nitpicks. The actor who plays Harold was in his 40's and looked like maybe he was closer to 50, but as Corrine's grandfather who served in WWII, he would have been a much younger man. Not sure how well the part would have been played by a younger actor, but it could have been interesting if he had been a young 20-year-old, wise beyond his apparent years. Also, I hated the cover picture on the DVD. Both the main actors looked much worse than they did in the actual movie. Can't Hallmark at least take a decent photo for its DVD cover?
Hope it doesn't sound like I didn't like this movie, because I did. I do think that with a few tweaks to the script, it could have been lots better, but I did enjoy it. Definitely one of the better Hallmark offerings.
I'm kind of a sucker for movies like this that have a fantasy element like angels. It was fun to see Harold encouraging Corrine and Dave to give each other a chance. The relationship between Corrine and Dave seemed pretty genuine. There could have been a bit more chemistry, but all in all, I thought they had nice interactions with each other. I found her relationship with the other guy Tim a little unbelievable. Not sure why she was still interested in him. He wasn't that good looking, or that smooth a talker. Maybe it was her lack of self confidence that kept her going back to him.
I think the whole angel dynamic with Harold could have been handled a little better. He seemed way too pushy about trying to meddle in Dave and Corrine's love lives, even though he barely knew them. There needed to be some establishment of a friendship between them before he did this. Also, I think that the fact that he was Corrine's grandfather should have been more of a surprise that should have been saved till close to the end, and it should have been a surprise even for Harold. It became obvious way too early in the story for it to have much dramatic impact.
Also, the whole backstory of Harold/Henry wasn't the best. He bemoaned time and time again how he had lost the love of his life, but he hadn't personally done anything to lose her. All he did was serve his country faithfully in war, send home romantic music regularly to his wife, and end up getting killed in action through no fault of his own. Why should he have been punished by not being able to be with his wife for 70 years? And why did he have to fulfill this one mission to get Dave and Corrine together (and by Christmas, no less) in order to redeem himself? Why exactly then? Why not a few years earlier, as Dave and Corrine had been friends since childhood?
A much better plot line might have been that Harold/Henry had done something wrong to estrange himself from his wife before tragically dying, and that was the thing he had to atone for. Even better, maybe it could have been that Harold/Henry was with his sweetheart long enough for her to get pregnant with Corrine's mom, but he failed to do what was necessary to keep her and she ended up marrying someone else, leading to his regret and earnest hope that Dave wouldn't make the same mistake. It also would have been more compelling if Corrine was actually going to get married to the slimeball Tim after years of ignoring Dave, creating an urgent situation that Harold needed to come down to help rectify before it was too late. Maybe Hallmark should consider hiring me as a consultant for their scripts next time, ha ha.
A couple of other nitpicks. The actor who plays Harold was in his 40's and looked like maybe he was closer to 50, but as Corrine's grandfather who served in WWII, he would have been a much younger man. Not sure how well the part would have been played by a younger actor, but it could have been interesting if he had been a young 20-year-old, wise beyond his apparent years. Also, I hated the cover picture on the DVD. Both the main actors looked much worse than they did in the actual movie. Can't Hallmark at least take a decent photo for its DVD cover?
Hope it doesn't sound like I didn't like this movie, because I did. I do think that with a few tweaks to the script, it could have been lots better, but I did enjoy it. Definitely one of the better Hallmark offerings.