The 27-Hour Day

Hallmark is nothing if not a 1920/30s style movie studio machine. They have a formula that works and they STICK to it! They sign actors and writers that fit the machine to long-term contracts and they crank out the product the people want. The Hallmark Channel is one of the only TV channels left that actually makes money year after year. If you observe carefully, you'll notice that Hallmark has different teams of actors and writers/directors that could possibly be broken out into A, B and C teams - the "A-team" projects will get more of the actors that are the bigger "box office" draws and get larger production budgets. That takes us to the recent Hallmark movie, The 27-Hour Day, which is a fairly typical "A-Team" Hallmark. The movie stars one of the biggest male Hallmark stars right now, Andrew W. Walker, as well as newer female leads Autumn Reeser and beautiful, talented Rhiannon Fish (who has played the female lead in other Hallmarks such as Love on the Wings of Eagles) and Brenda Crichlow who's a Hollywood star as well as frequent Hallmark star.

SHE is a NYC workaholic who runs a time-saving blog for women. She's at spin class at 5am and still working at midnight. Her career is amazing but her personal life not so much. When an industry leader (Brenda Crichlow) with the power to propel her career even further tells her she needs work-life balance, she finally listens and books a week at a "no-devices allowed" lodge in Montana (shot in British Columbia). HE is a tall and chiseled western/ranch dude. He and his family run said resort. He loves animals (was going to be a vet) he takes life slow but also wants his resort to grow and succeed. Both need to find some life balance and maybe learn from each other. Watch for an "untypical" Hallmark kiss!

Is The 27-Hour Day a formulaic Hallmark? Of COURSE it is! The RomCom Guy says RELAX, Hallmarks need to be rated on their own quality scale. This one is above average. The wardrobe choices are very good (lots of nice tops for the ladies) the scenery is actually quite stunning, while the acting and writing is decent. I say record, serve wine and enjoy!

The premises aren't that unusual on the face of it, but they play out differently and have a fresh feel. Lauren is a workaholic and is forced to take time to slow down. Jack is trying to save the family business.

Autumn Reeser plays the workaholic a bit different than the usual. Maybe it is her combination of extreme competence combined somehow with klutziness. Andrew Walker plays someone who comes off a bit backward or maybe it's more innocent.

The two have definite chemistry and they spend plenty of screen time developing it.

There aren't many big highs or lows or surprises, but that didn't matter. I enjoyed the relationship.

The climax and ending didn't impress me. It lacked a real conflict. It seemed dragged out and included a speech that was a little preachy.

After the third viewing, I'd like to add that the story line is erratic and seems like a cut and paste for desired messages. Autumn Reeser barely holds this one together with her charm and slight touch of quirkiness. She has a comic and sensitive nuance and is a seasoned pro. Chances for a good laugh were sometimes lost like where the scene Autumn when unloading her bag of tech gear, computer, iPad, etc. Was rushed. In fact, the first few scenes were hurried and the story line was hard to grasp. Autumn and Andrew had zero chemistry in fact it seemed he wished he was somewhere else. What longfull looks between the two came across as empty. The scenery was beautiful. Overall, since the cast and crew had to deal with the constraints of the COVID restrictions including a two-week quarantine for US personnel the production went well.

The premise sounded intriguing and reasonably original for Hallmark but part of me was not sure whether it would entirely work, as it did have the potential to feel rushed or have an unlikeable female lead. 2021 was very hit and miss for Hallmark, but that was to be expected considering the circumstances and also they have always been hit and miss. Will admit to not being particularly impressed by most of the previous 2021 Summer Nights films.

As far as the 2021 Hallmark films go, 'The 27 Hour Day' is neither among the best (i.e. 'As Luck Would Have It') or among the worst (i.e. 'Beverly Hills Wedding'). As far as the 2021 Summer Nights films (which had mediocrities such as 'Sand Dollar Cove') go, it is one of the better ones by quite some way and a contender for the best one up to this point of the Summer Nights block. For anybody who likes Autumn Reeser and Andrew W. Walker, personally do like Reeser and Walker is one of the better Hallmark leading men, 'The 27 Hour Day' is well worth watching.

Both Reeser and Walker are immensely engaging in their roles, particularly Walker who brings his usual easy going understated charm. Reeser gives it everything without overplaying and manages in not overdoing any character flaws, which could easily have been done with this premise. While their chemistry doesn't scintillate, it is at least there and is genuine. The supporting cast are solid and the characters didn't annoy or bore me.

It is a good looking film, particularly the scenery, and the music avoids over scoring, intrusion or drabness. The direction is low key but not not pedestrian. The script is mostly light hearted, playful, sincere and charming and the story mostly engages and warms the heart.

By all means, 'The 27 Hour Day' is not perfect. The pacing is uneven, with the film taking a little while to get going and then it feels rushed and a bit chaotic in the final act. The ending is too pat and easily foreseeable, that was not surprising though as a lot of Hallmark films have this problem.

Furthermore, there is too little conflict and what there is is bland.

Overall, nice film. 7/10.

I was really looking forward to this movie as I think two two leads are great. The movie was slow and not terribly interesting.

The best part was the pig.