Hallmark Channel
The seasons have changed, the weather is warming up, the flowers are blooming, and Hallmark is moving away from its wintry romances as the network launches its ‘Spring Into Love’ series of films. Interestingly, the first film of the season is also launching a series of four films under the banner of Hearts Around the Table with each film numbered in its title. Hopefully this series of films will actually carry through till the end with its filmic universe, unlike the ‘Royal Weekends’ which set up a connecting series of films but failed to connect the third and last of the bunch. Looking forward over the next three weeks, it looks like this group of films was better thought out. But can the movies live up to the ambition?
Hearts Around the Table: Jenna’s First Love kicks right off with introducing Angie Hartman (Mindy Cohn) and her ‘hearts’ for their weekly Sunday dinner. These ‘hearts’ of hers are now adult, former foster children she raised along with one new foster added to the group, all convening at Angie’s home every Sunday for dinner without fail. We meet Shari, Josh, Kiki and Rory (the first three will have their own stories in the coming weeks), who are all awaiting Jenna but she has been called into a meeting with a new client on a Sunday. She tells them to go ahead without her but they insist on waiting. Arriving at the office building for her meeting, Jenna literally runs into Andrew — her ex-high school sweetheart (we later learn that he broke her heart, but there is much more to that story that Jenna or any of her family know) and it turns out he is who she is to have the meeting with, his boss Tom Redlands letting him handle things. But once Andrew realizes it’s Sunday and she is missing dinner, he reschedules for Monday and she heads to her family, dropping the news on them. Sister Shari is less than thrilled that she may be in a position to reconnect with the heartbreaker, and Angie reminds her to mind their boundaries. Jenna assures them everything is fine and not to worry, but as the two begin to work together, it becomes clear that Andrew still has feelings and Jenna is hesitant to revisit that love story.
Throwing a wrench into the works is Tom, who is so impressed with Jenna’s presentation for the gala he’s throwing that he asks her to have dinner with him, flying her on his private jet to his family vineyard, but all they do is talk business. Andrew, however, is upset and hurt that Jenna has gone on a ‘date’ with Tom but tries not to get too far into his head. Jenna invites Andrew to a family dinner and the reception is a chilly one but he finally explains why he broke it off with Jenna, allowing everyone to see him in a different light. They continue to work together well, but Tom again invites Jenna out and this time it’s a real date … except Jenna is taken off guard and when Tom reveals his feelings she bolts and finds Andrew waiting for her at her apartment building. But Tom’s car shows up and Andrew walks away, thinking Tom is in the car (he had just sent the purse she left at the bar with his driver) and that he’s lost Jenna. While prepping for their event, Jenna gets a call that Rory may have run away, and she and Andrew begin to search for the boy with the help of Tom’s security team (another dagger in Andrew’s heart). Feeling that he may have lost Jenna to Tom, Andrew gets a pep talk to remind him that Claringtons fight for what they want and Andrew decides that’s exactly what he’s going to do. But is he too late, and will a major job offer from Tom throw all of Andrew’s plans out the window?
Hearts Around the Table: Jenna’s First Love is a neat concept for Hallmark, introducing all of these characters who will carry through the series. It’s sort of like their holiday ‘Cherry Lane’ movies, but instead of a house as the main character this time it’s a family. Making this a family of foster children who have grown and moved away but still find time to meet up once a week is a nice touch. Unfortunately, the film’s story is a bit predictable and despite the best efforts of (most of) the cast, it all just feels a little flat. Not that it’s bad, it’s just pleasant enough without being surprising.
Hallmark Channel
It does succeed in the casting, for the most part. Ashley Newbrough is excellent as Jenna, a confident, professional woman who knows her business but also knows when to step back, such as when Andrew shot down her ideas for Tom’s event, wanting to go a little more inside the box with black tie attire and champagne and caviar. But when Tom is less than thrilled, Jenna jumps right in and saves the day with her out of the box approach to allow the donors to interact with the people and charities they are giving to, getting to know where their money is going. Surprisingly, Andrew does not feel emasculated and is fully on board, seeing that Jenna was right all along (and perhaps making him fall for her even harder). Newbrough really carries the movie with her intelligence, kindness and compassion, always putting family first. Also doing some great work is Mindy Cohn as Angie. You can feel the love coming off of her for her ‘hearts’, the ideal mother everyone would want. And she gets a few deeply emotional moments that will really tug on your heartstrings. If you only know her as Natalie on The Facts of Life, she may really surprise you with the dramatic depth to her performance.
The siblings of the family all do some nice work with Mishael Morgan as the outspoken Shari; Jake Epstein as Josh, a teacher who is trying to help Rory come out of his shell; Kathryn Davis as Kiki, the sister who tries to be a voice of reason among the group; and Justice James as Rory, the young boy who isn’t sure he belongs and struggles to make connections. Al Mukadam is also good as Tom, a businessman who isn’t egotistical and self-centered, a man who appreciates the people who work for him, and he doesn’t fire Jenna when she sort-of rejects him. The film’s weak link, though, is Steve Lund as Andrew. This is an actor with a long list of acting credits, but his performance feels like it’s his first acting gig. Whereas poor Ezra Moreland was a handsome stiff in Happy Howlidays — his actual first acting role — Lund is completely over-the-top with his facial expressions and huffing and puffing when he thinks Jenna is into Tom. He does have a good moment here and there, but it all comes undone again in his amateurish reactions, bringing some unintentional comedy to the proceedings (unlike a lot of the recent Hallmark romances, this one has no real comedic elements). His eye-rolling gets to the point that you might hope Jenna decides to go with Tom because he seems more grounded and mature. Andrew still acts like a teenage boy around Jenna … and perhaps that was intentional but it just doesn’t work and it makes Lund’s performance a bit unbearable and knocks the whole movie down a notch.
Hearts Around the Table: Jenna’s First Love ends up being an okay launching pad for this series of films, and hopefully the three yet to come will have more of a spark now that the first one has gotten all of the family exposition out of the way. Not Hallmark’s worst, but not among any of its better offerings.
Hearts Around the Table: Jenna’s First Love has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, and is rated TV-G. The film is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview – Hearts Around the Table: Jenna’s First Love
Hallmark Channel