Movie Review :: Hallmark’s The Way to You

Hallmark Channel

It’s February, the month traditionally associated with love and romance, and it’s time for Hallmark Channel to roll out a month of ‘Loveuary’ romantic movies (but aren’t they all, really?). To kick things off, we get The Way to You, a meet-cute rom-com with a twist … and a little bit of plot borrowed from We Met in December.

Kim Matula stars as Emma, a New York City gallerist (someone who arranges art exhibits in galleries), who can’t find Mr. Right because she’s stuck in her small art circle world, and self-centered artists are the only men she seems attracted to. Investment banker Conrad (Aaron O’Connell) finds himself stuck in his own world with a female work partner who thinks after a month the two are an item but … he’s not feeling it, and she doesn’t take it well. Wanting to help her sister find love, Hazel (Sarah Luby) and her husband Sid (Eugene Baffoe) suggest that Emma start riding the subway for the morning commute because that’s where the magic happens apparently. Not thrilled about rising early (since her job is mostly at night), Emma hits the subway and walks right past Conrad, who has stopped to pick up a book someone dropped, hoping to return it to them. He spots a woman who appears to be searching for something and holds out the book, which she thanks him for picking up. Is there a tiny spark? On the train, Emma is crowded into a small space when another passenger bumps her and spills her tea all over her top but they chuckle about it and connect over it looking like a Jackson Pollock painting. Conrad finds the woman with the book and pretends it was happenstance, but the lights go out all of a sudden and everyone is stuck on the subway. Conrad chats with the woman, and Emma chats with the man, but when the lights come on and the train arrives at the station, neither of them have gotten the names of the people they’ve been speaking with. Emma calls it a day and heads home, but Conrad is haunted by his encounter, desperately needing to find out who the mystery woman is. His boss, Lance (Ryan Mah), suggests putting an ad in the local paper that gets handed out at the subway station, which Conrad thinks is silly at first because who actually reads the paper anymore, but then he has second thoughts and places the ad which vaguely suggests the meeting and the talk about books and art.

Emma hits the subway again the next morning and hears some other women reading the ads out loud and she hears the one about chatting about books and art, and wouldn’t you know that’s exactly what Emma and her mystery man chatted about so she decides to answer the ad and set up a ‘date’. Conrad is thrilled his mystery woman replied so quickly but when he gets to the restaurant, he and Emma are both surprised that neither is the person they expected, but since he’s there they might as well enjoy the moment. When Conrad reveals a very specific ring his mystery woman was wearing, more of an art piece than jewelry, it strikes a chord with Emma who has an idea who the artist is, and then she offers to help Conrad find the woman using her gallerist and social media skills. While helping Conrad, Emma also has to deal with her sister and brother-in-law suddenly winning a new apartment in New York, meaning she will also have to find a new place to live (Emma has been living with the couple). Emma and Conrad actually begin to grow closer, and during a night out with her sister and some friends, Emma spots the ring in question while ordering a round of drinks at the bar. She chats the woman up for a moment and also sees that she is wearing a necklace with the name Simone. Until now Emma hasn’t actually faced the fact that she really likes Conrad, but she has to tell him that she found the woman, and he goes to the bar to chat with her. Conrad had previously set Emma up on a date with one of his co-workers, which didn’t go well at first (mainly because he wasn’t Conrad), but now with Conrad getting involved with Simone — while still in contact with Emma but more in the ‘friend zone’ — Emma decides to give her guy Aaron another chance. After awkwardly helping Conrad pick out an outfit that isn’t a white shirt and plain tie for a company event, Aaron invites Emma to be his plus one to the same event. Not wanting to turn down the date, Emma tells her sister that she’ll probably not even see Conrad, and that they surely won’t be seated at the same table. They are seated at the same table, and Lance’s wife really seems to like Simone. But is Conrad just forcing the relationship? Is Emma doing the same? On earlier dates, it became quite clear that neither Simone or Aaron had much in common with Conrad or Emma, and to make matters worse Conrad is about to head to Tokyo for at least six months for a work assignment. Can Emma muster up the nerve to tell Conrad how she really feels before it’s too late? And will Conrad realize that Emma is the woman he’s been looking for all this time and never realized she was right under his nose?

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It took me some time to really get into The Way to You, perhaps because of seeing actors in a Hallmark movie I’d never seen before (there’s something about that familiarity with the regulars), and because knowing the story somewhat going into it that it seemed like it was going to be a re-do of the Christmas movie, We Met in December. I also wasn’t sure how I felt about Aaron O’Connell, who at first seemed like a bit of a stiff, but perhaps that was just the character of Conrad. I was eventually won over by Kim Matula and as the relationship between Emma and Conrad developed, I began to enjoy the movie more. The story, by Nicole Baxter, does seem to borrow from We Met in December with two people who met and then lost each other in the chaos of travel, never knowing more than a name and career, using various means to locate the other. That device is employed while Conrad and Emma look for the people they met, but it does take a turn as it becomes clear these two are meant for each other, with Emma realizing it but stuck in the position of helping Conrad find his mystery woman, him seeming oblivious to his own attraction to Emma. The story is one big ‘will they or won’t they, of course they will, but when’ tease, but it’s all handled with a great amount of charm with two leads who do make you root for the characters. Director Norma Bailey does a nice job of moving the story along, often juxtaposing the dates between Conrad & Simone and Emma & Aaron, showing the viewer that Conrad and Emma are definitely meant for each other. Bailey and the production and special effects crew also do a nice job of making Manitoba look and feel like New York City with some recognizable buildings realistically CGI’d into the background helping to sell the illusion.

Kim Matula is excellent as Emma, a professional who really knows her stuff when it comes to the art world, but someone who is also totally insecure when it comes to her own personal love life. We see two of her exes and that clearly shows the men she’s been attracted to only because she never gets outside of that bubble, but she really does know the kind of man she wants, she just doesn’t know how to find him. There seems to be just a slight bit of contradiction in what she wants though, because she tells her sister among the attributes she’d like is ‘maybe an early riser,’ yet Emma herself is not an early riser and she makes that quite clear when Conrad invites her to go on a run with him early in the morning. Girl, I can relate. Matula does a nice job of putting on a game face to do the early morning things with Conrad, but we also know she is not all that into it (but the experience actually does make her an early riser and she eventually does likes it). She also gives just subtle hints that Emma is falling for Conrad but she knows how to pull back and remain on a friendship level, going above and beyond to help him find the mystery woman (or an outfit). When she does fidn the woman, Matula clearly shows with her expression that she is totally conflicted — she knows she has to tell Conrad, but she also knows if she does she’s likely going to lose him. Her performance in that moment just makes your heart ache for Emma, and we want to give her a gentle push to tell Conrad how she feels. Matula is totally endearing and engaging, qualities definitely required for this character.

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Aaron O’Connell has the tougher character to play in Conrad. As I said, he comes off a bit stiff in the beginning, but that is probably because of Conrad’s profession. Even when he moves in on the mystery woman on the subway, it is a little awkward (and you kind of don’t blame her for dashing off when they get to the station). But the moment he goes to meet who he thinks is the woman in question, O’Connell can let down the guard Conrad has up around him and he actually becomes a very charming person, more than willing to learn more about Emma’s nighttime world (it seems that 9:00 PM is his limit). There is a moment where he looks at a piece of art and O’Connell shows just through his facial expressions how deeply moved Conrad is by the painting. If you’ve ever experienced the emotional impact of a piece of art, a photo, a particular song, you know that feeling O’Connell is conveying very convincingly. He also isn’t as overt in his feelings toward Emma as she is with him, so we’re never really sure if he sees her as anything other than a friend … until a date with Simone in which she expresses zero reaction to a painting makes him realize that perhaps he’s made a mistake but now he feels a bit trapped, and is still oblivious to Emma’s feelings. O’Connell does make Conrad a really well-rounded character, going from that professional stiff to a man with a warm personality and a big heart, making the viewer also want to give him a kick in the pants so he finally realizes who his heart wants.

Matula and O’Connell are surrounded by some wonderful co-stars as well. Sarah Luby is terrific as Emma’s sister Hazel, doing her best to nudge Emma into the dating world and then trying to get her to tell Conrad how she feels, but without pushing her too hard. She wants Emma to think these things are her decision and she has a really nice sisterly bond with Matula. Eugene Baffoe has a lot of fun with the character of Sid, one of his funniest moments coming when Emma is asking him which outfit to wear on a date, Sid looking like a deer in headlights, feeling that this is a trap, afraid to give his opinion thinking that Emma already knows which she wants to wear and a wrong answer will spell disaster. Chelsea Brown plays Simone with a touch of coldness to the point that we’re never really sure if she is interested in Conrad on a true romantic level, or if she sees him merely as a piece of arm candy (and he is some fine arm candy). The way she reacts to him on the subway is perhaps understandable, but once they begin dating she makes it feel like Conrad is a trophy instead of a boyfriend. If that is the way the character was written (and that was the direction she was given), then Brown has really knocked it out of the park, because we never for a minute believe Simone has an ounce of romantic interest in Conrad. Ryan Mah is also good as Conrad’s boss, Lance. He is a corporate bigwig, but he still wants to help Conrad focus on getting the girl (mainly so he can put his focus back on his work, but still). But even at the company event, despite his wife bonding with Simone, Lance can clearly see that Emma is the woman for Conrad and tries to tell him as much. He could have made Lance a complete jerk, but he shows he still has some interest in his employees’ lives outside of the office. Jacob Blair only has a couple of scenes as Aaron, and his dates with Emma always feel a bit awkward, with Blair clearly aware that Aaron is not the man for Emma.

It took a little while to really warm up to The Way to You, but once all of the characters and relationships were established and the lead actors really got into their grooves, it ultimately became a really charming romantic movie that handled the friends-to-lovers storyline extremely well, with winning performances from Matula and O’Connell.

The Way to You has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, is rated TV-G, and is streaming on Hallmark+.

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