Christmas in Conway
Not fair Hallmark... not fair. When we started this foolish endeavor a few years back of watching these TV holiday movies around Christmastime, a definite pattern emerged. It's a pattern to a point where it's almost a constant. A Holiday averse working woman doesn't have time for these holidays, or her family, has to close down an orphanage or cookie factory, meets a generically handsome guy, love blossoms, one of them is holding a secret from the other and love fails, until orphan kids or some magical entity brings them back together. And Hallmark has this special series of Holiday films call the Hallmark Hall of Fame, and of the ones I've seen, they have generally followed this loose pattern, only using actors you actually recognize. What I didn't expect was to see an actual film that was actually, I don't know, good. I've been blindsided. Clipped. Intentional flagrant foul with free throws, ball possession and Dramont Green ejected. Not fair Hallmark.
Welcome to Conway SC, where we meet Duncan Mayor (Andy Garcia) who one is an angry dude. No reason in particular, just a personality trait. True enough, his beloved wife Suzy (Mary-Louise Parker) is dying, but that's just making him incredibly sad... the anger part has always been there. Suzy's coming home because she's had enough of the chemo thing and wants die in her own home. As a condition to this, the doctor insists that Hospice nurse Natalie (Mandy Moore) be assigned to handle Suzy's needs, which makes Duncan angry because he can take care of his own damn wife. He can't.
There's other stuff going on in the neighborhood which makes Duncan angry like his pesky neighbor Gayle (Cheri Oteri) always in his business and crossing his property line, but he's especially angry at handyman Tommy (Riley Smith) because of something Tommy did as a kid many years ago. Tommy has since gotten himself together, got a college degree, all the credit of which he gives to dying Suzy for believing him, but that Duncan holds a grudge like forever.
So as we've said Suzy doesn't much time. She and Duncan spend a lot of time discussing the good times they've had, including the day he proposed to her atop a Ferris wheel in Myrtle beach. Duncan would love for her to relive that moment but since Duncan can't take his gravely ill wife to the amusement park, he will bring the park to her by building a Ferris wheel in their back yard. Crazy right?
But there are roadblocks to this happening, such as finding a Ferris wheel that will fit in the back yard (solved), Duncan, a contractor will need help which means he needs Tommy's help, which means he needs to forgive Tommy (solved...eventually), then there's the pesky neighbor, permits, the oppressive HOA rules (all solved), and most importantly his true love is deteriorating quickly. To spoil it for you a bit, that part is not going to get solved. She's gonna die. No remission or miracle cures for this woman, she's gonna die. Maybe not on screen, but she is destined for the next world. We just have to get her on this Ferris wheel before that happens.
So this movie lacks all of the vomits we use to gauge these types of movies. No snow, Christmas cookies, not a lot Christmas music in the background, no wise old dudes, no cute kids... actually zero kids period. Mandy Moore is like the youngest person in the movie and she in her mid thirties. Nope, just raw emotional drama. A man dealing with eventual loss, his overwhelming grief, and his inability to accept this. His wife attempting to make things better for him and everybody around her but also dealing with her own unavoidable end and bouts of anger of having to deal with this. There is a throwaway subplot with nurse Natalie dealing with a douchey boyfriend she eventually dumps, which doesn't add much to the story other than it shows Natalie has the ability to deal with high levels of douchery. Also Natalie and Tommy go on a date, which was cute and all, but it seemed like padding and gave Mandy Moore something else to do other than take care of Suzy and comfort Duncan.
But none of this takes away from the heart of this story which is watching Andy Garcia and Mary-Louise Parker work. Admittedly, hearing Andy Garcia speak with a southern accent caused me some concern because far too often it appears non-southern actors base their accents from old episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, but his wasn't so bad. It certainly didn't get in the way of his performance which was stellar, Mary-Louise Parker was heartbreaking and Mandy Moore served to hold it all together.
By the time Duncan carries Suzy to the completed Ferris wheel, and Suzy insists on walking the rest of the way, you will be excused for breaking down and crying. I mean I didn't cry. Sure, my throat was a little choked up, but that's because there's a bug going around is all. And yes, there were tears in my eyes but that's because there's these damn fruit flies in the house and one flew in my eye which simulated the effect of crying. I'm a MAN! I'm FORTY! I'm not crying! Dammit.
Anyhoo, not a very vomit worthy traditional Hallmark movie, but just a regular old very good movie.
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