'Miracles of Christmas' movie review: 'Holiday for Heroes'
The drama “Holiday for Heroes” (premiering Nov. 8 as part of the Hallmark’s Miracles of Christmas) is a heartfelt tribute to those that serve and the family members that support America’s heroes in uniform.
In short: Audrey (Melissa Claire Egan) and overseas soldier Matt (Marc Blucas) exchange letters for a year as pen pals, when Matt is unexpectedly transferred to Audrey’s hometown.
Right out of the gate, "Heroes" begins with an engrossing opening sequence that tracks Audrey and Matt’s blossoming and personal pen pal relationship. It’s relatively short section of the movie, but it absolutely impresses how personal and important the letters are to Audrey and Matt. And it’s the foundation for this story, putting Audrey and Matt in the odd position of knowing so much about each other, but meeting each other for the first time.
The rest of the movie is very light on plot, instead, "Heroes" leans heavily on the value of personal connection between those back home and those serving their country abroad. There is a "how are we going to throw the town's holiday festival" story that threads everything together, but "Heroes" smartly spends most of its time allowing Audrey and Matt to fall in love, while exploring the difficulties that soldiers' families and the soldiers themselves during the holidays.
Unfortunately, the story is imbalanced - following Matt's struggle to decide his future is much more engaging than Audrey's event planning / coffee store owner plot threads. Matt is faced with options that will either lead him back into the service or away from Audrey -- even as its obvious his heart knows where he wants to be. As the movie kind of ambiguously meanders, "Heroes" becomes much more interesting once it becomes clear that Matt has a deadline to make a decision - a choice where both his options appear to take him far away from Audrey. For her part, Audrey's character is much more intriguing when the film focuses on what keeps her motivated to support soldiers stationed far from home. She's personally and passionately invested in helping soldiers know they have people thinking of them. Her b-plots involving expanding her coffee shop and dealing with a realtor also infatuated with Audrey are plots that do not add much to the movie.
A lot of "Heroes" is Audrey and Matt wrestling with what their heart truly desires versus what they are scared to tell each other, so the ending is a sweet and lovely act of being honest with themselves. That said, the resolutions to their plot-based stories are barely earned plot turns that feel forced and just kind of fall out of sky.
Final verdict: "Heroes" resonates with a sincere appreciation for soldiers serving their country, in a story rooted in a very easy going, sweet romance. The movie only stumbles when it has to deal with its weak subplots.
Score: 3 French hens (out of 5)
"Holiday for Heroes" is rated TV-G and has a running time of 90 minutes. The movie premieres on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on Nov. 8.
