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.

Although the basic Hallmark story lines are there , this was still a bit different. Each jump changed the story just enough , kept it really interesting and moving forward.

Leads were excellent, hadn't seen them before that I could remember, but hope to again. The secondary characters were great also. Especially liked the comic store owner , grandma and cousin. But possibly the biggest surprise was seeing Rick Hoffman again. Hadn't seen him since Suits , and in he was great as ever. And the ending was a complete surprise. Start to finish this was one of Hallmarks best in my opinion. Hope to see all the actors in future projects.

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.

8.4 stars.

Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators...

This is a wonderful movie about a woman in a time loop who must learn a life lesson before she can escape. We've all seen a movie or two like this, based on the original 'Groundhog Day' from the early 90's, and I feel 'Round and Round' follows that blueprint more closely than most others, but with a twist. And of course there has to be a twist, we can't have too many similarities. This one is different in that there is more control (you'll see) and it's not about Groundhog Day, but about Hanukkah and Jewish families and nerds and science fiction and oh so fun. This is a most wonderful rendition that Hallmark has concocted, I am blown away. It needs no explanation, it's a "reliving the same day over" theme, what else do you need to have an entertaining evening? But how it's presented is masterful. Nothing will compare with the original Bill Murray film, which I saw in the theater, and that says more about my age than I'd like, but I laughed more with it than any movie before, or since. 'Round and Round' is not as hilarious, but it's so clever.