Hallmark For All Seasons

I grew up in a military family, so I’m a sucker for Hallmark movies featuring our armed forces.  Add in two REALLY attractive people and you have a movie that I know I’m going to like.  “Holiday for Heroes” aired on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel on Friday, November 8 at 9 p.m.  It starred Melissa Claire Egan and Marc Blucas, and was filmed entirely in Connecticut.  There was nary a Canadian backdrop to be seen!

In a nutshell

I’ll be the first to admit it. I cried.  I knew I would.  Did you cry?  If you did not cry, you have a cold, dead heart.  Because even though I saw the ending from miles and miles away, it didn’t matter and I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING.

Plot

After a year’s worth of letters exchanged between Audrey (Egan) and soldier Matt (Blucas), their worlds collide for the first time when Matt is sent home from deployment and sent to Audrey’s hometown to consider his career options going forward.  Friendship and romance bloom, but Matt has to decide: does he reenlist or take a job opportunity a few states away?  And what will this mean to his new friendship with Audrey?

Actors

Before this movie I did not know Melissa Claire Egan at all, but MAN, I LOVE HER.  What a FABULOUS addition to the Hallmark acting family! Her smile is megawatt bright and her acting was so natural and easy-going.  I loved her character and can’t wait to see Egan in future movies.  As for Marc Blucas, as I said in my preview, I’m a huge fan of his, so I knew he’d be great (and he was).

I also really appreciated the supporting cast in this movie, especially the women playing Audrey’s coffee shop partner and employee, Jade and Pam. Latarsha played Jade and she was such a great foil for Audrey.  Patti Murin played Pam and she was so cute you couldn’t help but like her.

As for Six Degrees of Kris Polaha, you can KIND OF say he and Melissa Claire Egan are one step away since they both appeared in episodes of “Bones,” but not really since they were not the SAME episode.  Marc Blucas is a mere two steps away.  Blucas had a role in 2016’s “The Red Maple Leaf” in which he co-starred with Martin Landau, who shared the screen with Polaha in “Billy: The Early Years” which came out in 2008.

Chemistry

Oh my.  So much chemistry.  Their eyes positively sparkled when they looked at each other, as they out-blinded themselves with those incredible smiles.  I loved this pairing from beginning to end.  The slow dance in the barn was fantastic, and I loved that during the sleigh ride she did NOT care about boundaries and full-on rested her head on his shoulder as the ride began.  Loved it.

Feelgoods

Even though I saw what was coming with the Toy Soldiers March at the end (and don’t get me wrong, it was incredibly cheesy and over-the-top), I still shed more than a few tears with the reveal of Audrey’s brother and the rest of the town’s soldiers at the end.

Tropes

There were plenty of tropes in “Holiday for Heroes.”  Audrey wore a big scarf, the town had a tree lighting, the leads went ice skating (and it was clear that they both really can skate instead of that weird step shuffle that some Hallmark actors are forced to do to make it seem like they are ice skating and talking at the same time).  They took a sleigh ride together and there was a big misunderstanding that could have easily been resolved.

There may have been more, but I was too busy being charmed by Egan and Blucas to notice or care!.

Bingo Card Score for “Holiday for Heroes”

Nowhere close to getting a bingo with this movie.  Only 8 squares got covered and they were all over the board.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

At the beginning of the movie, the letters they wrote to each other in the first 5 minutes of the movie were so well done.  It established a growing friendship, and how they got to know each other through the letters.  The only weird hiccup is that I never got a sense that these letters were romantic in any way, and yet Matt assumes when he gets to Connecticut that they are going on a date.  And yet, even in the letter he sent (that ended up getting lost), he just said he wanted to get coffee with her.  That’s more like a lunch date than a date date.  So when he went to the tree lighting and got jealous of the real estate agent, it was a weird beat because at their initial in-person introduction I didn’t see any hint of attraction on her part so much as a “Wow! My pen pal is here!”  For her, I think the attraction grew the more they spent time together.  And that time together is what made the movie work for me.  This movie, unlike “A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas” which aired the previous night, showed the growth of their relationship in a very real way throughout the movie.

I already mentioned the Toy Soldiers at the end, but there is NO WAY that the military would extend the deployment of an entire town’s soldiers and then suddenly change their mind and send them home.   At least, that’s not what I recall from my childhood as a Navy brat.

My only other !!!!! moment was in the delightful scene in the coffee shop when Audrey admits her feelings to him, and he for her.  He grabs her face like he’s going to kiss her, and THEN HE DOESN’T.  WHAT?  It was not the standard Hallmark almost-kiss, but it was way more aggravating!  You just admitted you each have strong feelings for each other.  YOU HAVE TO KISS HER, MAN!!!

Re-watchability

I’ll definitely watch this one again.  Loved it.

The Ranking

While it didn’t crack my top 20, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it.  I liked it a LOT.  And I especially loved these two actors together, and I’ll say again that I sincerely hope Hallmark pairs them up again for another movie.

1. Two Turtle Doves (air date: Nov 1) – 742 pts – weighted score: 123.7 (86.8%)
2. Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses (air date: Oct 26) – 719 pts – weighted score: 121.0 (84.9%)
3. Love to the Rescue RE-RANKED (air date: March 23) – 708 pts – weighted score: 120.6 (84.6%)
4. Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 685 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
5. Mystery 101 (air date: January 27 (HMM)) – 454 pts – weighted score: 94.2 (80.5%)
6. Love on the Menu (air date: February 23) – 642 pts – weighted score: 113.8 (79.9%)
7. Bottled With Love (air date: April 13) – 649 pts – weighted score: 112.2 (78.7%)
8. Love Takes Flight (air date: April 27) – 670 pts – weighted score: 111.0 (77.9%)
9. Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
10. The Last Bridesmaid (air date: June 22) – 643 pts – weighted score: 109.2 (76.6%)
11. Love, Fall and Order (air date: Oct 12) – 636 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
12. Paris, Wine & Romance (air date: May 4) – 638 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
13. My Boyfriend’s Back: Wedding March 5 (air date: June 8) – 635 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
14. Over the Moon in Love (air date: Oct 5) – 613 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
15. Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 pts – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
16. My One and Only (air date: Aug 31) – 597 pts – weighted score: 105.6 (74.1%)
17. Mystery 101: Playing Dead (air date: June 23 (HMM)) – 425 pts – weighted score: 86.5 (73.9%)
18. A Summer Romance (air date: Aug 17) – 577 pts – weighted score: 103.7 (72.7%)
19. True Love Blooms (air date: April 6) – 598 pts – weighted score: 103.1 (72.3%)
20. Forever in My Heart (air date: Sept 14) – 560 pts – weighted score: 102.4 (71.8%)
21. The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
22. Holiday for Heroes (air date: Nov 8) – 566 pts – weighted score: 99.8 (70.0%)
23. A Brush with Love (air date: March 30) – 563 pts – weighted score: 97.7 (68.6%)
24. Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
25. Love, Unleashed (air date: July 6, 2019) – 559 pts – weighted score: 96.2 (67.5%)
26. Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
27. One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
28. Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 pts – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
29. Christmas Scavenger Hunt (air date: Nov 3) – 561 pts – weighted score: 95.4 (66.9%)
30. From Friend to Fiance (air date: May 25) – 555 pts – weighted score: 94.8% (66.5%)
31. Christmas Camp (air date: July 11) – 530 pts – weighted score: 93.9 (65.9%)
32. Love and Sunshine (air date: Aug 3) – 504 pts – weighted score: 91.7 (64.3%)
33. Crossword Mysteries: A Puzzle to Die For (air date: March 10 (HMM) – 354 pts – weighted score: 74.1 (63.3%)
34. Sister of the Bride (air date: June 29) – 516 pts – weighted score: 89.8 (63.0%)
35. Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
36. Love, Take Two (air date: June 15) – 507 pts – weighted score: 87.8 (61.6%)
37. All Summer Long (air date: Aug 24) – 512 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
38. Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
39. The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
40. Merry & Bright (air date: Nov 2) – 483 pts – weighted score: 84.4 (59.2%)
41. Nostalgic Christmas (air date: Oct 31) – 446 pts – weighted score: 79.2 (55.6%)
42. A Merry Christmas Match (air date: Oct 25) – 455 pts – weighted score: 78.3 (54.9%)
43. Sailing Into Love (air date: May 18) – 455 pts – weighted score: 78.0 (54.7%)
44. Rome in Love (air date: July 27) – 436 pts – weighted score: 76.7 (53.8%)
45. A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas (air date: Nov 7) – 398 pts – weighted score: 72.3 (50.7%)
46. A Taste of Summer (air date: Aug 10) – 403 pts – weighted score: 70.9 (49.7%)
47. A Winter Princess (air date: January 18) – 380 pts – weighted score: 70.5 (49.5%)
48. A Feeling of Home (air date: May 11) – 386 pts – weighted score: 69.7% (48.9%)
49. Love in the Sun (air date: June 1) – 361 pts – weighted score: 62.5 (43.8%)

To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of “Holiday for Heroes”?  Comment below and let me know!

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