Plot Summary
After an airplane tragically falls from the skies and kills many who were involved, struggling local reporter Peyton MacGruder discovers a note at the crash site that leads her to some investigative journalism about the note’s author and intended recipient. Thankfully, she has the help of office love interest Kingston Danville to help sort out this holiday mystery. You never know when or where love’s going to find you at Christmas time!
Production Quality (2.5 points)
As usual for a Hallmark Christmas movie, The Note has a high-quality production. Video quality, audio quality, and camera work are all on par with what they should be. The soundtrack is about what you can expect for a Hallmark holiday creation. Sets, locations, and props are all professional, and Christmas decorations are even kept to a happy medium. There are just a few minor errors throughout, like some awkward transitions, but it’s only nitpicking. As a whole, this is a great production that is mostly the norm in made for television films.
Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)
As the Hallmark team decides to borrow a plot from acclaimed author Angela Hunt, The Note is unsurprisingly more creative than most Hallmark plots, even though this is not Hunt’s strongest storyline in the least bit. However, the characters at least bear a semblance of realism due to some good dialogue, even if the plot tends to be based on too many coincidences. Even so, there are a lot of great messages and ideas throughout this story. Yet there are one too many moments that come off as a little too cheesy, as well as the inclusion of too many random, disconnected scenes. Yet on the whole, this is perhaps the best Hallmark has to offer in the plot department.
Acting Quality (1.5 points)
Another common pitfall in Hallmark movies pertains to the casting and acting. Any cast that involves Ted McGinley is rarely good, but at least the other cast members besides him are fine, even though he tends to drag down an entire movie with his plastic and overly fake demeanor. Yet there are enough good and honest moments from the other cast members to make this section at least average. The one thing that can be said is that it’s not as bad as usual.
Conclusion
Bringing Christian novels to life is almost always a great idea because the plot is already written, and these plots almost always involve some different and non-typical elements. Angela Hunt is certainly a great author to choose from. However, production companies are still usually safe in the plots they choose and don’t go too far outside of the norm. In the end, companies like Hallmark have advertisement spaces to sell, so they don’t want to be too risky. Perhaps the advent of more Christian-based streaming services will allow more creative content to flourish.
Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 