The Hired Heart

You can find lots of play-by-play reviews of this made-for-tv movie. You don't need another. Basically, this is a sweet Hallmark Channel style movie. Albeit, an after-hours/late-night, adult Hallmark movie. Still, it is a nice, sweet, hero-tale which shouldn't make the teeth ache. And has a few good smile causing scenes.

I love this movie because of the story it tells. Many define it as a romantic comedy which it is probably for the first halfth, but i believe it's a drama about loss and love. The main characters are extraorodinarily charming, because they are so generous but unperfect, making mistakes trying to obtain a better life. There's a part - the bull riding part - i don't understand so much, although i can see its metaphorical worth and, just as the main character Garnet Hadley, I don't really watch. The cast is wonderful.

You should have seen this script before the director messed it up. It was originally under option at 20th Century Fox for a feature film. The director had no sense of humor and was completely oblivious to small town western life and it still turned out pretty good. Grahm Green's part as "Keith" was hysterical and much larger in the script. Most of his part got edited out by the director and that was after he agreed to do the part for much less money than he usually gets. If David Lestor, the original producer scheduled would have filmed the work, it would have been 1997's "Sleepless in Seattle". As it was, it did the best numbers Lifetime had seen for an original movie to that point. It could have been so much more with another director!

Relationships as depicted in cinema are so "perfect". Well, reality is different, very different. The plot of this movie forces us to stretch our imagination. But stretch it we do, as we watch the characters "bang up" against each other. The unlikely relationship strokes our curiosity and keeps us tuned in. This is not a classic. But it is a very enjoyable low budget Romance-Comedy that is very typical of LMN. I have seen it three times and still enjoy it. That it telling.

This is one of my favorite movies with Brett Cullen, especially when he stands his ground with Barry Corbin & Penelope Ann Miller, who I also like watching. My favorite see is when Brett rides the same BULL that killed Penelope's husband to prove a point about dying and surviving. I am glad to see this available on DVD. Meanwhile, this is a must have for those into romance movies and so forth.