Romance d'hiver

Hearts of Winter is a lovely, appealing movie based on a very emotional theme. A widower and his teenage daughter have lost a beloved wife and mother, and seem to have established a new life for themselves in the comfort of their warm and familiar home. For some reason, the teenage daughter enters a contest to have their home considered for a makeover by a TV home decorator. Her application is accepted and their home is chosen to be redecorated. This, understandably, stuns the father, who resist any changes to his familiar surroundings. And here is where the movie goes a bit too far in ignoring the emotional underlying issues for his resistance. The designer, played by the always lovely Jill Wagner, forges ahead with her plans to rid the home of its familiar objects, bring in new items, and essentially, change everything from what it had been. Sadly, the writers completely bypass the father's resistance to this project..overlooking the emotions he must be feeling at having all his reminders of his wife's existence carried away and replaced. Not enough dialogue, attention and respect is given, at all, to this aspect of what must be going on for him. This issue is finally articulated somewhere in the last third of the film. In the meantime, a relationship is seemingly growing between the father and the decorator, but not in a way that takes into account his grieving and his loss. The designer, played by Jill Wagner, does a great deal too much giggling to fill lapses in dialogue..Also, she appears a bit pregnant..Could that be? Usually she appears as a tall, statuesque attractive woman..But, here, there seems to be a great deal of scarves, coats, pocketbook cover-up activity going on..The father, Victor Webster, is always reliable as a romantic, appealing leading man, but is given a weaker image in this film. .until he is fairly allowed to mention the loss of his wife and everything she loved about her house. The movie is carried, very clearly, by the teenage daughter, Lauren McNamara, whose acting skills far outweigh those of the adult leads. She has developed into a truly skilled actress, and even shows some impressive ice-skating skills in one brief scene. This is a really fine young actress. The designer's assistant is played with great dignity and maturity by Rukiya Bernard, who by this time, should be given leading roles in Hallmark movies..She is an elegant, nuanced actress with not enough presence in her secondary roles. The movie rests on a valid theme of death of a spouse, loss, grieving...However, its development of that theme is superficial and not explored nearly enough to merit more stars.. Emotions run high in films about widowhood, single parenting, and life changes. This script did not take full enough advantage of all the deeper possibilities the situation offered. The eventual romantic ending seemed contrived and superificial.

I am giving this 6 stars mostly because I thought Jill Wagner and Victor Webster were so wonderfully in sync as costars. (Jill Wagner is one of my very favorites! )

They had a fun, flirty spark that made it completely watchable.

I also absolutely loved Rukiya Bernard in this! She added so much more funnier my opinion that this movie really needed. I would definitely like to see more movies with these actors.

I found the writing of this to be rather slow. But it did have just the right touch of sweetness and romance.

The story and the writing is weak, although the interior decorating and shopping bits were mildly diverting. However thanks to the talented cast and the easy chemistry among all the actors, this one earns an 8 from me. Jill Wagner is a very good actress and she and Victor Webster make a great well-matched couple. Victor's character Grant started out whiny and ungrateful, but he got over it fairly quickly. Lauren McNamara who played Grant's daughter was also top-notch and has been in several other Hallmark movies. She gets the plot rolling buy winning a free house makeover from Bethany an up and coming Interior Designer. Brendan Zub has impressed me in other productions, but was under-used as Jill's sensible and supportive brother. I would like to see him as the lead again in further Hallmark movies. Last and certainly not least is the cute and charismatic Rukiya Bernard, Jill's friend and partner, who brightens every production she is in. Alas, still in the best friend role and not as the lead. Come on Hallmark! Give her a role worthy of her before she gets away. One thing I really liked about this romance is that it didn't end with the deal-sealing smooch, like they all do, but went on to add a little postscript by having the cast wrap things up back at the redecorated home.

Jill Wagner and Victor Webster are always solid and I can't fault either of them for "something is missing", as said by another reviewer with whom I agree. Maybe it was that Wagner was trying too hard. Rukiya Bernard and Lauren McNamara were possibly even better in their roles than the leads. Both of these two should have a great future in this genre.

The story follows common themes and I thought the first few scenes were rough - the way Bethany comes in with guns blazing made me cringe a little. The trigger to the only conflict does get foreshadowed, and it works. My biggest complaint would be Grant's abrupt 180 early on which really didn't make that much sense. It made much more sense for him to remain reluctant. I also agree with the reviewer who talked about the reasons Grant was overwhelmed. That these factors seemed to suddenly go into hiding in the middle of the movie goes along with what I just said about his 180 toward Bethany. Perhaps the director or writers thought doing it this way would intensify the impact for when Grant's pent up feelings about the past being pushed aside comes out. In a way it does intensify that aspect, but it just doesn't feel right how much those feelings suddenly but temporarily disappeared.

I liked how they did "mom's prayers". Otherwise there are no other religious themes.

Familiar and talented actors forced to deliver some of the worst dialogue written. The female lead keeps repeating what the men say, first with her brother, then with the male lead. Plot is fine if a little dull. Story premise could have been better in more skilled pens. I like Hallmark movies. I like romance. I don't ask for perfection but the dialogue is awkward in every scene. Written in crayon. Squirm-worthy.