Round and Round

It's the holiday season and things are starting badly for Rachel (Vic Michaelis). Her boyfriend Adam cancels on her family gathering with an airport cold. Zach (Bryan Greenberg) bumps into her at the train station and she loses all her sufganiyot. Unbeknownst to her, her grandmother had invited acquaintance Zach to the gathering for her. Her parents are selling their house. When she starts to spin the dreidel, the drapes catches on fire. She wakes up next morning to find the day is starting again. Hanukkah is Groundhogging.

Grandma is right. The meet-cute is good. It's interesting that Hallmark is dipping into Hanukkah. With a gazillion Christmas movies, they can afford to do one or two non-Christmas celebrations. I probably have seen Vic Michaelis in some TV episodes, but I don't remember her. Bryan Greenberg exudes nice guy energy. They make for a nice coupling. They're nice without the movie star heat. They are low-key funny when they do the fast cross-talking banter. It works for Hallmark. This is better than most Hallmark Christmas movies.

Hallmark has stepped up their game this year. While the network has added more Jewish programming to its holiday slate in recent years, most of it has followed the same rubric of all the other films, only with far too many on-the-nose Jewish references (Delis! Bagels! Brisket! Nosey moms! Oy vey!).

Round and Round is a delightful surprise. The synopsis will immediately make you think it's just Hanukah Groundhog Day, and while there's an element of it, the film is meta enough (and aware of the Bill Murray classic's existence) to forge its own path, sometimes in unexpected ways.

The chemistry of the cast was quite good, and I found many of the jokes and sequences surprisingly postmodern for Hallmark and much smarter than one would expect.

Jewish or not, you'll get a kick out of Round and Round, which has just enough originality despite its time loop premise and a handful of Hallmark staples to feel fresh and inviting. Or better said, you'll enjoy it not for the predictable warm blanket of a Hallmark film you might expect, but because it's actually a smart little, well-written movie.

This movie was sharp, well-written and fun, with lots of really smart twists, turns and comments by the characters. I am going to have to watch again just to catch all the great little references sprinkled throughout. The script-writing at a much higher level than the usual Hallmark fare and the filming also seemed to be much higher quality. The cast was well-chosen. I loved the chemistry between the two main characters and the side characters were great, especially the two older ladies and the sci fi friends. Honestly, I am a huge Hallmark watcher and this is one of best movies they've made, definitely in the top 10. More like this, Hallmark -- please!!!

This Hallmark holiday romance acknowledges that it is a variation on the film "Groundhog Day", then plots its own course through some twists and turns to a different take on the time loop story.

It all starts on the seventh day of Hanukkah, when Rachel (Vic Michaelis) encounters some difficulties, but makes it to the family celebration, where the drapes catch on fire.

After this complication, Rachel awakes the next day only to find that it is still the seventh day. Nevertheless, she sets about her daily activities---again with some difficulties---while aware of the similarities and differences from her yesterday. She confides in Zach (Bryan Greenberg), a new acquaintance who seems to be a part of the overall scheme of the day. Together they try to find any cause for the phenomenon or any way out of it. They bring others into their quest, which resets every morning.

The diverse cast includes some strong performances, like Paula Shaw who plays Rachel's grandmother Rosie with a strong presence.

The plot is part sci-fi, part mystery, part romance, and part comedy. And each part gets its due. The leads are strong. The story starts slowly, but that is necessary to set up the details of Rachel's day; soon enough the narrative gets going and the pace is enjoyable.

Each year Hallmark gives us a Hanukkah movie. For the last several years they have been a bit dry and focused on teaching the rest of the world what Jewish traditions are. Well forget all that. Round and round is a delightfully fun holiday movie that just so happens to feature a story that involves Hanukkah. Rachel gets stuck in a time loop and keeps repeating the same day over and over again. Through her loops she learns things about herself, meets a guy (often), and has a bit of caper-style fun along the way. This was a great movie that surprised me. I'd love to see Hallmark replay this one throughout the season. It's a keeper.