Hallmark For All Seasons

Countdown to Christmas 2021

Christmas Sail

“Christmas Sail,” starring Katee Sackhoff, Patrick Sabongui, and Terry O’Quinn, aired on October 31 during 2021’s Countdown to Christmas on Hallmark Channel. It was filmed in the waterside town of Gibsons as well as Vancouver, Canada in August.

This is writer Robin Gadsby’s first screenplay, but he has the benefit of a past relationship with Hallmark thanks to a small role in one of the “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” movies. Director Stacey N. Harding has been active with Hallmark for several years as an assistant director (as well as on one of my favorite cancelled TV shows from last year, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”), and finally landed a directing gig for one of the “Mystery 101” movies this year. And clearly they liked what Harding did since they were given “Christmas Sail” to direct.

This movie’s poster is a bit deceptive, in that other than the red and green sweaters on all the people, there’s no indication that this is a holiday movie.

In a nutshell

Prior to watching it, I had heard so many good things about the movie. A few people had it as their favorite thus far out of 8 movies that had aired by the time I sat down to watch myself. As such, I had really high hopes for it. Unfortunately, despite some strong stuff here and there, the movie did not end up being one of my favorites thus far.

The Plot of “Christmas Sail”

When Liz returns home to take care of her estranged father, Dennis, she is determined to give her daughter a perfect Christmas and reconnects with her best friend, Luke.

Actors & Chemistry

I will start by saying that having Terry O’Quinn back on my TV was a wonderful thing. He brought such a rare mix of remoteness and tenderness all at the same time while playing Liz’s father, Dennis. Every scene he was in was fantastic. Simply wonderful. I also thought Patrick Sabongui was really good as childhood best friend Luke. He’s been acting for 20 years and is one of those “oh it’s that guy!” actors.

Emma Oliver was adorable as Liz’s child, Hannah. I recognized her from her role on TNT’s “Snowpiercer.” She did a great job in this movie.

And here’s where we get to Katee Sackhoff. Now, I know there are a lot of people that absolutely love her. She’s been in some iconic TV shows over the year, such as “Battlestar Galactica,” “24,” and “Longmire,” just to name a few. She’s a great actress. However. I did not like her at all in this movie. I don’t think she was well suited to the character, and the ONLY scenes in which I felt anything for the character were the quiet scenes she had with Terry O’Quinn, which were genuinely heartfelt and dramatic.

Tropes

Empty coffee cups during the chess match. Cute kid. Big city woman returns to small home town. House has a front porch. We had a widowed parent that doesn’t like Christmas. A Christmas market. Two handed cocoa drinking. They all decorated a tree. They attended the town’s big dance.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Liz and Luke are at the dance. He tells her what he would have told her had they gone to the dance in high school. It’s romantic and sweet and nostalgic. And then they go in for the kiss. I will quote my husband, who was watching from the other room: “What are those two people doing – is that supposed to be kissing? What, are they three years old?” And that perfect sums up how terrible that kiss was. I do not understand WHAT those actors were going for, nor what the director asked them to do, that resulted in that awful “12-year-olds playing 7 Minutes in Heaven” kiss.

Having done a light show for my outdoor house decorations every Christmas since 2015, and having been on a production team at my church for almost 15 years, I can state with all confidence that there is NO WAY that the photos could be projected on to the sail of that boat during the light display. Not without significant distortion of the photos either because the projector is on the deck of the ship, or it’s being projected from the dock. Yes, I thought it was sweet, but the skeptical side of me won out. Even my 18 year old daughter, who watched that part of the movie with me, said, “I’d like to know the logistics of how they did that because I don’t think they can.”

Feelgoods

As I said earlier, every scene with Katee Sackhoff and Terry O’Quinn was amazingly done. There were no melodramatics, no over the top reactions. It was just simple, emotional, deep conversations between a father and daughter, both grieving the loss of their wife and mother, respectively.

Re-watchability of “Christmas Sail”

Sadly, I won’t be watching this one again. Terry O’Quinn’s presence notwithstanding.

The Ranking

“Christmas Sail” landed in the middle of the pack, and the only thing that caused it to be ranked that high were the tropes.

The Santa Stakeout (air date: Oct 24) – 730 pts – weighted score: 122.3 (85.8%)
You, Me and The Christmas Trees (air date: Oct 22) – 716 pts – weighted score: 121.3 (85.1%)
Crashing Through The Snow (air date: July 10) – 705 pts – weighted score: 118.1 (82.8%)
Boyfriends of Christmas Past (air date: Oct 23) – 673 pts – weighted score: 116.1 (81.5%)
It Was Always You (air date: Feb 27) – 668 pts – weighted score: 114.2 (80.1%)
The Christmas Promise (air date: Oct 30) – 675 pts – weighted score: 114.1 (80.0%)
Christmas In My Heart (air date: Oct 23) – 675 pts – weighted score: 113.9 (79.9%)
You Had Me At Aloha (air date: June 5) – 675 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
Sweet Carolina (air date: May 15) – 648 pts – weighted score: 110.1 (77.2%)
Taking a Shot at Love (air date: Jan 2) – 641 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (air date: Mar 27) – 636 pts – weighted score: 108.5 (76.1%)
Right in Front of Me (air date: Apr 18) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
As Luck Would Have It (air date: Apr 10) – 638 pts – weighted score: 107.7 (75.5%)
Her Pen Pal (air date: June 19) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.1 (75.1%)
The Baker’s Son (air date: June 13) – 637 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
South Beach Love (air date: Oct 9) – 615 pts – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
Love Strikes Twice (air date: Oct 2) – 608 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
Christmas Sail (air date: Oct 31) – 606 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
Christmas in Harmony (air date: Oct 29) – 605 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
A Winter Getaway (air date: Jan 23) – 620 pts – weighted score: 104.4 (73.3%)
Coyote Creek Christmas (air date: Oct 30) – 614 pts – weighted score: 104.3 (73.2%)
Love, For Real (air date: July 31) – 607 pts – weighted score: 103.6 (72.7%)
Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (air date: Oct 1) – 595 pts – weighted score: 103.0 (72.2%)
Mix Up in the Mediterranean (air date: Feb 20) – 590 pts – weighted score: 102.5 (71.9%)
Advice to Love By (air date: Oct 16) – 599 pts – weighted score: 102.2 (71.7)
Two For The Win (air date: Jan 16) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
Taking the Reins (air date: Sept 28) – 574 pts – weighted score: 101.2 (71.0%)
Raise a Glass to Love (air date: Sept 18) – 590 pts – weighted score: 100.7 (70.7%)
Chasing Waterfalls (air date: Mar 20) – 570 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
Roadhouse Romance (air date: Sept 11) – 571 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
Sweet Pecan Summer (air date: ) – 576 pts – weighted score: 97.3 (68.3%)
Sand Dollar Cove (air date: June 26) – 557 pts – weighted score: 96.8 (67.9%)
Hearts Down Under (air date: Apr 24) – 547 pts – weighted score: 95.2 (66.8%)
Fit for a Prince (air date: Mar 6) – 546 pts – weighted score: 94.6 (66.4%)
A New Year’s Resolution (air date: Jan 9) – 516 pts – weighted score: 90.5 (63.5%)
Finding Love in Mountain View (air date: ) – 504 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
A Little Daytime Drama (air date: Aug 21) – 511 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
Baby, It’s Cold Inside (air date: May 8) – 495 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.0%)
Playing Cupid (air date: Feb 13) – 466 pts – weighted score: 82.6 (58.0%)
Beverly Hills Wedding (air date: Feb 6) – 431 pts – weighted score: 80.6 (56.5%)
Journey of my Heart (air date: ) – 450 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
Snowkissed (air date: Jan 31) – 402 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)