This second film of the Godwink series that ran on Hallmark TV is a wonderful Christmas movie. Except for the season and the fact of a young couple meeting, this film doesn't resemble the standard holiday season TV movies of the past three decades. It's refreshing to see an original film that's outside the usual formulaic holiday romance mold.
"A Godwink Christmas: Meant for Love" is a deep story of real love centered around family. The main couple, Alice Marina and Jack Toda, aren't single parents recovering from divorces. They have had past relationships, but neither of them are looking for a mate at the time. Alice is busy running the family clothing store and Jack has just received a promotion in the sales department of a medical supply company. He will be moving back to Minneapolis from the Wisconsin town where he has lived with his uncle the past few years since his parents were killed in an accident. He and his uncle are very close. Alice's dad died when she was young, but her mother remarried and she has a wonderful stepdad, uncle, brother and sister-in-law, and cousins and nephews. The parents of both emigrated to the U. S. from Italy as young adults.
Stories about immigrant parents were very common in the mid-20th century. Many people came from Europe through Ellis Island, New York, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Europeans were still emigrating through the end of the 20th century, though in much smaller numbers as the European countries became more settled after WW II and their economies picked up. So, the parents and uncles in this film who immigrated would have been around the 1970s. To their credit, the actors in this film don't try to imitate slight accents.
Unlike so many other holiday romance movies, in this one Jack and Alice bump into each other a couple of times, and hit it off right away. When they discover that they both have a wedding to go to the next day - the same wedding of a relative cousin on one side and close friend on the other, Alice rides with Jack for the six-hour drive from Minneapolis to the town in Iowa. For that long a drive in the neighboring state, the wedding was probably in Council Bluffs or Cedar Rapids. The two start to see one another frequently, and Alice's family are delighted. There are several twists and interesting subplots in this film, and through it all, the closeness and love of family are evident and felt by Alice and Jack. And, as Alice finds out, her elders knew and understood some things about her better than she did or would let on.
There is wonderful humor in this film, and some very heart-rending scenes as well. The cast all around seem real and give superb performances. It all comes across as so natural and real, that one can easily become emersed in the story. This is a good keeper and ranks with some of the great Christmas movies of the middle decades of the 20th century. It might become a classic to watch each year. Kudos to the producers for finding a real life story of depth, family and love. The ending had still photos of the real Jack and Alice with relatives. The credits say that this film was inspired by the series off books by Squire Rushnell and Louise DuArt..
The filming was all done in British Columbia, and the aerial and the Vancouver city and other photos subbed well for Minneapolis and the other locales in the film. This film is one worth watching each Christmas.
My favorite lines in the film are between Alice and her mom on the phone. Alice says, "Mom, seriously, stop breaking into my apartment." Olga replies, "I have a key, remember?"
