Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel rolled out a new Saturday night movie this week, Head Over Heels, and it has elements of A Very Vermont Christmas with a little Ugly Betty thrown into the mix for a story set in the apparently cutthroat world of shoe designing. Of course if you’ve ever watched an episode of Project Runway, you know in the fashion world ‘one day you’re in and the next you’re out’, and that really does form the foundation for Head Over Heels.
The story begins in Conner’s Shoe Repair shop in Somewhere, New York. Addison, or Addi, Conner (Rebecca Dalton) is a whiz at repairing shoes, as well as sketching her own designs, and has a real fondness for the couture brand Delaney Diaz (Alex Castillo). Her sister Claudia (Veronica Hortiguela) just happens to know someone who knows someone and gets Addi an interview for a receptionist/assistant position at the company. Not wanting to consider the job because New York City is ‘too far away’ — even though she seems to make it back home for dinner every night — she finally gives in and makes the long journey to the Big Apple. After volunteering to clean up the previous receptionist’s desk, Addi bumps into and spills coffee onto the white shoes of hunk Austin Strickland (Olivier Renaud), son of the company’s PR firm head honcho. Quickly customizing Austin’s shoes so as not to offend Delaney — yes, she just walks into a room and begins cutting and gluing with any materials she can find — Austin begins to see something special in Addi, and after a disastrous interview he manages to convince Delaney that Addi has something special.
Delaney brings Addi in on a trial basis, but Addi’s days of performing menial tasks for her boss are the real trials, compounded by her complete lack of knowledge of the industry and who’s who in it. The company is actually on its last legs with a rival shoe manufacturer itching to buy for pennies on the dollar (Delaney was involved in a scandal in which she was falsely accused of stealing someone’s design, but the story stuck and damaged her credibility). The Diaz company needs to knock it out of the park for the upcoming show at Fashion Week, but Addi unknowingly reveals a bit too much about the star shoe to the rival’s spy — and they quickly turn out a knock-off — which causes Delaney to cancel the show. But Addi, Austin and everyone else convinces her to keep going as they all try to come up with a new design for the showstopper. Addi and Austin begin to get closer, she brings him all the way back to her family home, he clicks with everyone including Claudia’s baby, Claudia gets to meet Delaney and they hit it off and without knowing the ramifications of what she’s about to do, Claudia sneaks one of Addi’s designs to the company designers’ sample book and that happens to be the one they all agree on. And then the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan as a shady reporter again rakes Delaney over the coals for stealing someone’s design, putting the company … and Addi’s relationship with Austin … in danger. Will any of them be able to overcome this situation?
Head Over Heels is another in a line of pleasant rom-com with a hint of drama TV movies. There’s certainly nothing groundbreaking in the way of the film’s direction by Samantha Wan, but she manages to make good use of the sets and locations in Ottawa, Canada, standing in nicely for New York City. The screenplay by Megan Hocking and Rickie Castaneda has some clever moments, as well as some that just makes you question out loud what is going on (like that shoe repair scene where Addi just commandeers a room of materials), and some genuine chuckles. It does what it’s supposed to do, but it’s the director and the cast who help really bring things to life (and plausibility).
Hallmark queen Rebecca Dalton is a delight as Addi. She plays her as the underdog who lacks confidence in her own skills, the family girl who would rather stay where she is and not miss a Sunday dinner with the family, continuing to repair the shoes of her favorite customer (who loves the Diaz shoes as much as Addi does). She makes us feel for her when Delaney is pretty much bullying her (to build character, of course), she makes us root for her to finally open her eyes to the magnetic attraction with Austin, and she makes us really, really want for her to stop being so meek and tell Delaney that shoe design was hers and of course she can have it. (Of course the script has to make her fearful to reveal the truth which only compounds the drama.) Dalton just makes Addi someone we’d all like to have as a friend, someone of good character with a sense of humor. Dalton and the writers crafted a wonderful character in Addi.
Olivier Renaud surprises as Austin. Renaud shows us right from the start that Austin clicks with Addi, so even after their ‘meet cute’ we want them to quickly let their romance bloom. But it doesn’t. It just keeps smoldering throughout the movie until it finally ignites. Renaud is charming and encouraging of Addi, but again that manufactured drama of the story has to make Austin be kind of a jerk for believing Addi tried to sabotage Delaney after getting a job offer from the rival. That he believes the rival’s little snake in the grass Andrea hurts our hearts a little, but it’s a Hallmark movie so we know that at some point Austin will see the light. It’s a nice performance but my only quibble is his hair. It’s a mess and really needed a nice cut.
Hallmark Channel
Alex Castillo does her best Anna Wintour as Delaney. Right from the start she flings around her (w)itchy attitude and it’s no wonder she goes through assistants. As much as this movie is about Addi finding herself and some confidence in her talents, this is also about Delaney regaining her confidence in the face of adversity. The attitude she has comes from being a powerful woman in what is still essentially a man’s world, a woman on the verge of losing everything to a predatory businessman, a woman who lost her confidence after the scandal of the design theft even if it wasn’t true. But Castillo shows the icy exterior of Delaney beginning to crack under the influence of Addi and begins to become a warmer, more personable individual, someone who actually appreciates what her staff does for her. Castillo could have kept Delaney in villain mode for the entire movie, but she brings a nuance to her performance that allows not only the other characters but the audience to see that she’s not as bad as she first seems.
Veronica Hortiguela and Michael Dickson are also good as Addi’s sister and father — even when the script seems to make them contradict themselves several times when it comes to their support for Addi’s career — and Holly Jade Balmer is perfection as the rival’s spy Andrea. Curtis Legault also gets to steal every scene he’s in as the receptionist Tony, bringing back fond memories of Michael Urie as Mark on Ugly Betty.
Overall, Head Over Heels is another pleasant romantic comedy with a wonderful cast that delivers exactly what you want from a Hallmark Channel movie.
Head Over Heels has a run time of about 1 hour 30 minutes, and is rated TV-G.
Hallmark Channel
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