“The Story of Us” aired on February 9, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel. It stars Maggie Lawson as a bookstore owner named Jamie , and Sam Page as ex-boyfriend Sawyer, who is an architect for a firm that has plans to renovate the downtown area where Jamie’s bookstore and many others may be torn down as a result.
In a nutshell
I am a big fan of Maggie Lawson, who starred on “Psych”, so I was preternaturally likely to enjoy this movie. And while I found some of the movie incredibly cloying, I still found myself smiling throughout. Thumbs up from me!
Plot
Due to the plot, there were tropes galore in this movie, which made me very happy. Small town girl Jamie owns an extremely quirky independent bookstore (criminally named “True Love Bookstore & Cafe”) that is under threat from the possible re-development plans in downtown Waterford that could cause all the local shop owners to lose their businesses. High school ex-boyfriend Sawyer (who also happens to be the architect of the re-development plan) comes to town to pitch it before the town council and runs into Jamie. Sparks fly, but emotions run high when Jamie discovers Sam’s involvement in the re-development plan.
Actors
As I said already, I really like Maggie Lawson. In fact, both my daughter and I are fans of hers and when my daughter saw that ML was in the Hallmark movie I was watching she was thisclose to staying to watch. But one look at the pink piano and she left the room. Maggie Lawson is three degrees away from Kris Polaha. She starred in “Cheats” with Mary Tyler Moore in 2002. MTM was in a 2003 TV-movie called “Blessings” with Laura Regan. Laura Regan was in a little movie called ‘Atlas Shrugged, Part III” which starred Kris Polaha as none other than John Galt.
Sam Page does a fine job as Sawyer and was a good on-screen match for Maggie Lawson. He has been in several Hallmark movies in recent years, and I’m sure they will continue to use him since he does a solid job in these movies.
But this is where I BEG Hallmark Channel to give a leading man role to Marco Grazzini sometime soon. In “Story” he played Rick, the best friend of Sawyer who also happens to have a secret crush on Jamie’s employee, Lucy (played by Zibby Allen). When he first popped onto the screen early in the movie I thought, “Well who is THAT guy and why isn’t HE playing Sawyer?” But I was so pleased that instead of just showing up in a couple scenes and that’s it, he actually had a pivotal plot point in the movie when Jamie and Sawyer attempt to get Rick to ask out Lucy and get out of the friendzone.
Chemistry
ML and SP have good chemistry together – but what I found most interesting was that Sam Page and Marco Grazzini had GREAT energy in their scenes together as best friends catching up. Grazzini, in my opinion, was the standout in this movie and was pitch perfect with each actor with whom he shared a scene. That’s why Hallmark needs to use him more.
Feelgoods
Did I get feelgoods from this movie? Yep. I adore “The Princess Bride,” I love a good bookstore. High school sweethearts reuniting? I’m up for it! In fact, they could have done away with any of their connections to Valentine’s Day and this still would have been a fine addition to the general Hallmark catalog.
Tropes
Tropes galore in this one. Struggling local business? Check. Big land developer threatening to ruin struggling business? Check. Big City boy coming home to Small Town Girl? Check! And that’s just in the first five minutes!
Did I Hear/See That Right?
There was one big question mark moment that I became obsessed with. At the end of the movie Sawyer receives a valentine from Jamie that has the bookstore key inside. He goes over to the bookstore and finds the store filled with lit candles laid out in a path that leads out the back of the store into the courtyard where he finds the first course of dinner (presumably made by Rick, who was a chef) and a copy of “The Princess Bride” on a table. Jamie comes in, they talk, they kiss, fade to black.
Um. How/when did she get all of those candles set up and lit? And lit candles in a bookstore? How safe is that? How could she possibly know when Sawyer would show up? Those candles could have burned down to nothing by the time he arrived if Rick and Lucy hadn’t given him the valentine in a timely manner. And the food on the table – um, I’m sorry, but I’m not eating ANY food that has been sitting on a table outside for who knows how long. Even if it is just a salad as opening course.
And don’t get me started on a cat being a daily guest in a bookstore that also SERVES FOOD. I remember going to Amsterdam in 1999 and being shocked to discover that a lot of restaurants allowed cats to wander aimlessly in and out of the kitchen and dining areas. That shouldn’t be a thing. I know they have cat cafes now, where you can grab a cup of coffee and play with cats that are available for adoption, but that’s the purpose of those cafes. That is not the purpose of Jamie’s store. She just didn’t want to leave her cat at home where it belonged, apparently.
And also don’t get me started on the bookstore itself. It hardly has any books (the amount of open floor space in that store is egregious), and given the name, am I to infer that it only carries romances? Because if that’s the case, I can identify for Jamie pretty easily why her bookstore might be struggling. And what’s with the pink piano? That rang a completely false note to me – the set designer made the bookstore TOO sweet, TOO charming, TOO cloying.
Re-watchability
I don’t know if I would watch this one again if I saw it was re-airing. I liked it, and it did score pretty high on my spreadsheet, but I don’t know that it’s one I would ever watch again.
The Ranking
So where does it fit in the rankings? Second place! I knew it scored high because I love Hallmark tropes and really liked the actors. Those two things alone gave it a lot of points it might not have otherwise gotten.
- Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 725 points – final weighted score: 117.8 points (77.2%)
- The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 665 points – final weighted score: 104.3 points (68.4%)
- One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 635 points – final weighted score: 100.8 points (66.1%)
- Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 603 points – final weighted score: 94.5 points (61.9%)
- The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 605 points – final weighted score: 92.4 points (60.6%)
- Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 565 points – final weighted score: 91.3 points (59.8%)
- A Winter Princess (air date: January 18) – 540 points – final weighted score: 78.5 points (51.5%)
To see my entire ranking of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
What are your thoughts on “The Story of Us”?
