Captain Grace Garland (Eloise Mumford) is a recently separated veteran driving across country to Cincinnati where a new job awaits when she loses control of her car and crashes into a snow bank. She happens to crash in front of a farm owned by handsome, single, wealthy attorney Joe Peterson (Sean Faris). While the rest of us would probably end up crashing in front of farm owned by unemployed, beer guzzling, gun advocating hillbilly Billy Bob Buford, Grace got lucky on this one. Joe also happens to have a dog that takes an instant liking to Grace, who is suffering loss because she had to leave her longtime canine companion behind when she separated from service. Joe takes Grace down to the only garage in town (run by his uncle) and they find out that her car will take 3 weeks to repair.
Joe just so happens to have a cabin on his property that he offers to Grace the use of (of course). She also finds out that he is the town Judge. Now that she is stuck together in town and with Joe we begin the usual movie tropes of them spending time together getting to know each other and doing Christmas activities together. She also bonds with his family and the other small town folk. Grace is even offered a job doing search and rescue, her job in the Marines, by Travis (Jacob Blair) the town Police Chief (This town looks big enough to have a 3-man police force and yet they have a Search and Rescue division? Really?). Mumford does a fine job as Grace giving her a believable combination of hesitation, sadness and confusion but a unique charm and sweet personality. Her character is alone, dealing with the transition from military to civilian life while dealing with the loss of her faithful companion and some failed relationships. She was excellent in my opinion.
Now that brings us to Sean Faris. In one word I would sum his performance as ‘FAIL’. He was entirely too smooth and charming and didn’t seem real. If this movie had been on the Lifetime Channel, I would have been convinced the upcoming twist was that he turns out to be a psychopathic serial killer. He looked like a shiny, plastic mannequin version of a smiling Tom Cruise throughout the entire movie. In fact, I haven’t seen a character smile that much during a movie since Heath Ledger’s Joker in the ‘Dark Knight’. Did he just have his teeth capped before filming and was determined to show the whole world his bright, new chompers?
Everything is going well as Grace and Barbie Doll Tom Cruise get closer until Marnie (Miriam McDonald) comes back into town for the holiday. It turns out Marnie is Joe’s ex-fiance who dumped him by running off with the town prosecutor to Chicago (Ouch! That’s kind of harsh.). Marnie even tells Joe that she misses him and when she was in Chicago she thought about him every day (You mean while in bed with the prosecutor?). Her presence serves to give Grace bouts of insecurity, fear of rejection and hesitation for the rest of the movie. Although, given Joe’s surprisingly friendly interaction with Marnie (Given the whole cheating and running off with the prosecutor thing.) he’s either an extremely forgiving guy or actually IS that psychopath I suggested earlier and we might find Marnie’s body parts strewn around a campsite deep in the woods someday.
Joe also tells Grace that he has applied to be a District Judge in Chicago (Wait, where your ex now lives?) which has always been a lifelong dream. While out with Joe’s family Grace spots Joe meeting with Marnie a few times and finally comes to conclusion that he’s a big lying sack of fertilizer. Feeling hurt and betrayed she decides to leave town immediately and just get her car later. She buys a bus ticket and heads out of town until the bus is pulled over and she’s asked to return to town by Travis (Is that legal?). Upon her return she finds a big surprise Christmas party in her honor. Joe’s suspicious behavior and dealings with Marnie were only to help get Grace’s dog, Christmas (yeah, go figure) released from service and given to her. Joe also tells her that he turned down the position in Chicago to stay in River Crossing. She then kisses him and decides to also stay in Rivers Crossing (Because seriously, who the hell wants to live in Cincinnati? This is a no brainer.) and take the Search and Rescue position.
Despite creepy Tom Cruise look alike Faris, Mumford carries the movie and Amanda Lisman is adorable as Katie, Joe’s sister. The story is fine for the most part. I give this a 3 out of 5.
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