Fairfield Road

I'd only seen Jesse Metcalfe in Desperate Housewives which didn't really flex his acting muscles, so I was a little wary of watching a film with him in the lead role. I was pleasantly surprised, he's a cracking actor and really rather wasted in lesser roles. He has bags of screen presence in this little film which is visually stunning in terms of scenery, certainly a great advert for the area. Someone already drew comparisons with the Capra-esque ideals of little man against the big corporation and this definitely has the charm and heart of a much older film. A sweet supporting cast of quirky characters make this a nice cosy watch for a Sunday afternoon.

Noah MacManus is a rising young politician, but when the Boston politician he is an aide to melts down in the middle of an election, the U.S. Senator he is set to work for gets caught in a scandal and the woman he has been engaged to for eight seconds cheats on him, he winds up on Cape Cod with his dog and finds love and purpose.

There's little that's wrong in this by-the-numbers TV romcom, except for a lack of good jokes. Everyone is good looking, everyone speaks their lines and does a decent job acting, and Toronto in Canada stands in nicely for a picturesque small town in Massachussetts. The whole effect is a decent enough time-waster for the Hallmark Channel, if little more. Still, visually it's pleasant enough and if your attention wanders for a minute or two, you won't be terribly confused when you start watching again.

Jesse Metcalfe stars in Fairfield Road and revives the Frank Capra idea of the small town idealistic hero. Jimmy Stewart never did a better job with Bedford Falls than Jesse does in saving a small Massachusetts coastal town in this made for TV film.

Things really go out from under Metcalfe as the film opens. He leaves his job working on the campaign of Maria Ricossa the Mayor of Boston and then a prospective job working for a US Senator blows up in his face. Adding insult to injury his engagement to his fiancé Natalie Brown also goes South when he finds her cheating on him.

With wedding ring in hand he goes off to where they were going to spend their honeymoon, a small New England Cape Cod village at Derek McGrath's small inn. He's persuaded to stay both by the charm of the place and the bookstore owner Natalie Linska.

Since politics is his bag, Metcalfe gets intrigued also by the current election for town supervisor. McGrath is a candidate, but he's a heavy underdog against Brandon Firla, one alpha male type developer who wants to build a strip mall there. The whole character of the town would be changed if that came to pass. And Firla is also a truly hateful being.

Metcalfe's speech to the town at their meeting where they personally choose their supervisor is right out of Frank Capra. But that's something that never goes out of style. Need I tell you the result.

Fairfield Road was a truly pleasant viewing experience. Jesse Metcalfe brought some of this same idealism into playing Christopher Ewing in the unfortunately canceled Dallas. I hope he does more roles of this type.

Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart would be proud.

I'm just starting to watch Hallmark's "Fairfield Road" (2010). I only got to the credits before one thing became obvious: I've heard this title song before.

"Fairfield Road's" composer is listed as Ian Thomas and this film is his only IMDb credit.

However, it must be noted that the music to his instrumental theme song is, in fact, "Durham Town (The Leavin')," a 1969 written and performed by Kenyan/British singer-songwriter and musician Roger Whittaker. The song hit #12 in Great Britain when it was first released in 1969. When it was re-released in 1976, it hit #8 in Canada and #23 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart (now called the Adult Contemporary chart).

What gives?

I found this Hallmark romance to be quite charming, and I recommend it for anyone who likes an understated love story.

Noah McManus (Jesse Metcalfe) is a young man whose life goes off track when his job and his engagement both disintegrate on the same day. He travels to a small town on Cape Cod and checks into the cozy B&B where he was to have stayed with his fiancée. There, he becomes involved in the politics of the town and the lives of its residents.

The acting of the two leads, McManus and Natalie Lisinska, feels genuine and appealing. Their relationship grows organically out of their interactions. And the film's incidental music greatly contributes to the tone of the story.

Like many Hallmark stories, it champions small-town virtues and the value of personal interactions. The people who inhabit the coastal town feel like part of a hospitable landscape.