Complete credited cast: | |||
Julie Berman | ... | Emily James | |
Andrew W. Walker | ... | Spencer Patterson (as Andrew Walker) | |
Linda Kash | ... | Hildy Perdy | |
Ana Golja | ... | Nikki Lee | |
Gail O'Grady | ... | Mia Lee | |
Neil Crone | ... | Dave Shelton | |
Ipsita Paul | ... | Lindsay Tuttle | |
Laura Miyata | ... | Cate Dunlow | |
Kate Drummond | ... | Leslie Adams | |
Jim Watson | ... | Mark Flynn | |
Nneka Elliott | ... | Announcer (as Nneka Elliot) |
Emily James showed great promise as a figure skater, but has not been in the public eye in eight years, then when she stopped skating competitively without a public statement as to why. Now, she lives in Lakeville, Michigan, where she grew up, works as a waitress at Hildy's Gourmet Café owned by her deceased mother's best friend Hildy Perdy who has always been a second mother to her, and teaches group skating to children. Emily's decision to quit competitive skating was not because she lost her love for the activity, as demonstrated by the fact that she is at the rink every every morning before it opens, skating for her own pleasure, and by she always willing to help Dave Shelton, the rink/skate shop manager, with skating parties. One of her former child pupils, Nikki Lee, is where Emily was eight years ago: the face of figure skating future. A young man, Spencer Patterson, has just been hired as Nikki's new coach, he who is to take her to a gold medal at the upcoming regionals. If ... Written by Huggo
I expected this to be romantic, but it was more a movie about encouragement, positivity, and that attaining your goals should be enjoyable. Andrew Walker plays Spencer, who I loved in the Hallmark movie A Dream for Christmas. Spencer, a figure skating coach, is hired to coach a young, talented, figure skater named Nikki. Nikki's mother is one of those pushy, demanding, moms whose only goal is to see her daughter win. When Spencer arrives in town, he heads to the local coffee shop where he meets Emily. Emily is a part-time waitress at the coffee shop and also teaches figure skating at the local rink. More than that, Emily was a talented skater who dropped out of the Midwest Trials eight years ago. Spencer immediately knows who she is and convinces her to start training for the trials again and offers to coach her.
There is an attraction between Spencer and Emily, but I don't think there was any real chemistry that came through on camera. I was hoping for a little more romance. Other subplots were interesting, but one, in particular, was left open. I felt the ending left me feeling cut off. Overall it was a pleasant movie but not as touching as some of the other Hallmark movies.