Unexpected Grace (TV Movie 2023)

Unexpected Grace (TV Movie 2023). 1h 24m

“I think Erica Durance is one of the most beautiful and talented actresses working in television. And lately sheu0026#39;s been popping up in Hallmark movies that have more depth than the standard rom-com. This is NOT a rom-com.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a lovely and profoundly moving story of people recovering from the loss of loved ones and finding a way to move on. I canu0026#39;t imagine how a parent survives the loss of a child, but Duranceu0026#39;s Noelle is plodding forward as best she can 2 years later. As she tells a colleague: u0026quot;grief makes one hour ten.u0026quot; There are many other great Shakespearean lines in this movie (Ashland is famous for its Shakespeare Festival and Noelle is a college professor who teaches Shakespeare).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe plot device that starts the movie is a message, tied to a balloon, that Noelle and her daughter Toni released into the air. The message has the uplifting ending couplet from Shakespeareu0026#39;s otherwise very depressing Sonnet 30 that expresses the painful u0026quot;remembrance of things pastu0026quot;. I love the idea of a u0026quot;message in a bottleu0026quot; (Bottled With Love is one of my favorite Hallmark movies ) and this is a fun and eventually poignant variation of that.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eErica Tremblay is perfect in the well written role of 13 year old Grace. Hallmark should use her more often. Michael Rady is good and steady as Graceu0026#39;s father Jack (u0026quot;I canu0026#39;t always relate to the struggles of a teenage girl but Iu0026#39;m tryingu0026quot;). But, cu0026#39;mon dad, use Graceu0026#39;s phone as leverage. If sheu0026#39;s not going to answer it when you call, or text you where she is, and her grades drop, the ultimate behavior modification strategy is phone access. Whenever I threatened to call the phone company to put my kidsu0026#39; lines on hold, they got with the program, fast. My daughter is now about to graduate Berkeley and my son graduated UCSB.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKudos to the writers Mark Hefti and Eugenia Zukerman for a script that gave us some really beautiful and heartfelt moments, and some important conversations between Noelle and her colleague Chris played by the dependable Hallmark vet Vincent Gale (u0026quot;Being young isnu0026#39;t easy. All those hormones and wide-open future, itu0026#39;s scary and exhilarating all at the same time.u0026quot;). Mark Hefti wrote 2 other very good Hallmark movies (A Dickens of a Holiday and My Family Christmas Tree).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGraceu0026#39;s interactions with her father and with Noelle were extraordinarily realistic and the tone and pacing of the movie was just right. And I could listen to Erica Durance read me Shakespeare all night, especially if she looked at me the way she looked at Jack. But I didnu0026#39;t like having her read an edited version of an already short but beautiful Sonnet 18 (u0026quot;thy eternal summer shall not fadeu0026quot;).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI also appreciated the well timed use of these 2 lines by Grace:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Sometimes a girl just needs her Momu0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Sometimes a girl just needs her Daddyu0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNoelle and Jack had great chemistry, which was essential given the focus on Grace. But Noelle really needed a hug. She broke my heart when she talked about how she missed being part of a family and missed having Toni hold on to her. Thatu0026#39;s why I loved it when she told Jack:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Thank you for this. I donu0026#39;t know what this is, but itu0026#39;s nice.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd I LOVED the scene where Grace eavesdropped on her father talking about all the things he loved doing with Grace.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn fact, the first 75% of the movie was a solid 10 stars. I didnu0026#39;t even mind the horrible dad jokes. But the basketball tryout was cringeworthy. And the plot conflict about a contract termination was unrealistic. Jack supposedly had a signed written 2 year contract to build a campus science center and moved from Colorado to Oregon for that contract. The plot suggests a new Governor could just terminate that contract. Iu0026#39;ve drafted construction contracts. They canu0026#39;t just be unilaterally terminated without severe penalties.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd I didnu0026#39;t buy the coincidence that was nearly 300 miles away in Portland. And that guy would have to have been extremely wealthy in order to agree to fund and do what happens at the end of the movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI also had a very small pet peeve about the Petition for Dissolution that appears on the screen for a few seconds. First, that document was u0026quot;servedu0026quot; on her, which means it was filed with the Court; but it didnu0026#39;t even have her name on it, or anything essential filled out. And although the first page referred to Oregon, the second page referred to the State of Washington. And even though Noelle is shown to have been very friendly and cordial with her ex, he apparently felt it necessary to serve her with the Petition, when they could have worked out a stipulation without her being served.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut, otherwise, the movie was so extraordinarily moving, well acted, and very well done, that I think of it as being one of the best Hallmark movies that Iu0026#39;ve ever seen. Because I grade Hallmark movies on a curve, Iu0026#39;m giving this a 10, despite a few relatively minor flaws.”