The Wishing Well

MOVIE REVIEW

The Wishing Well:

Hallmark Channel's television movie starring Ernest Borgnine (A Grandpa for Christmas)

Network: Hallmark Channel

Original Air Date: January 9, 2010

CAST:

Ernest Borgnine ... Innkeeper
Jordan Ladd ... Cynthia Tamerline
Tempestt Bledsoe ... Enid
Sally Kellerman ... Donette
Jadin Gould ... Abby Jansen
Kyle T. Heffner ... Keenie James
Heather Tocquigny ... Erin
Kevin Kirkpatrick ... Tyson
Edward Carnevale ... Serge
Darren Schnase ... Fireman Charlie
Jonathan Rackman ... Jeremy
Jillian Boyd ... Alison

PLOT:

from Hallmark-

When a city-bred journalist heads to small-town Illinois for a story, her one-day visit turns into a much longer stay with the toss of a coin when Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Ernest Borgnine, Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Sally Kellerman and Jordan Ladd ("Death Proof") star in "The Wishing Well".

Celeb magazine writer Cynthia Tamerline (Ladd), who is happy to have never left New York City, is less than thrilled when her boss sends her to Slow Creek, Illinois to write about the town's wishing well. Out of place and uncomfortable from the moment she arrives, Cynthia plans to write her story and return to the city in record time. From eccentric hotel owner Big Jim (Borgnine) to Donette (Kellerman), his ex-wife and the town's resident waitress/unofficial psychiatrist, everyone's got an opinion on the well's supposed powers.

While taking a look at the well for herself, Cynthia meets 10-year-old Abby Jansen (Gould), a loyal believer in the well's wish-granting powers. On the other hand, Abby's father, Mark (London), who owns the town's local newspaper, stopped believing in miracles after his wife's death a few years before. But things begin to change after Abby and Cynthia wish for the same thing simultaneously: To simply be happy.

On the flight home, Cynthia dozes off on the plane, and the next thing she knows, she wakes up back in her hotel room in Slow Creek. She only gets more confused when the people who should know her don't, those who do recognize her claim to have had interactions with her that she doesn't remember at all, and all of her expensive clothes and gadgets have been replaced with average ones. At first, Cynthia is convinced she's the butt of a very thorough practical joke, but in just the few days she spends there, she'll see the life she could be living and will have to decide where she belongs.







Movie Review:

Please Note: There could be some Movie SPOILERS in this Review...

This Hallmark Movie was sweet, delightful, and fun. I adored seeing Ernest Borgnine (I'm a big fan of "A Grandpa for Christmas", in which he plays Grandpa Bert, and I kept wishing while watching the movie that he would be in the movie more. (Guess I need a wishing well!) Unfortunately, he was not. Even still, it was wonderful to see him and I hope he’ll be in many more Hallmark Movies – he’s terrific!

Now for the Movie... as I mentioned, it was sweet... a Magazine Writer, Cynthia Tamerline (Jordan Ladd), leaves New York City, relunctantly, to write a story in a small town about their Wishing Well. She stays in a Bed & Breakfast, run by Big Jim (Ernest Borgnine) and the Wishing Well is located at the B&B, right outside her window. Cynthia quickly meets and becomes acquainted with Abby Jansen (Jadin Gould), a young girl who often comes to the Wishing Well to toss in a coin and make a wish for her Father’s Happiness.

Soon enough, we find out that Abby’s father is the widowed, Mark Jansen (Jason London), who is the owner of the local town newspaper... the two spar when Cynthia is trying to find research for her “Wishing Well Story”, and there is definite chemistry between the two. Cynthia does her research and leaves the town the next morning.... but not before making her own wish in the wishing well for her own Happiness! She and Abby make their wishes together.

While on the plane flying home, Cynthia falls asleep... and when she awakens, she is back in the small town at Big Jim’s B&B... her designer clothes are gone and replaced with simple tops and pants. When Cynthia tries to contact her workplace in New York, no one knows her there. She goes to the local Newspaper Business... and they inform her that she has been hired to work there. Cynthia is puzzled, but takes the job and eases into life there... living at the B&B, working at the Newspaper, helping the towns people, saving the newspaper from being sold, and she becomes friendly with Abby, Big Jim, and Donette, the waitress at the local diner, and eventually, she becomes romantically involved with Mark.

SPOILER:
Just when you think, Cynthia has received her wish and found real Happiness... she awakens on the plane on her way home, again... and everything that has just happened, was only a Dream! This was surprising to me.... because, by this time, there is only about 10-15 minutes left in the movie...

What Cynthia does from here, brings her potential Happiness... but the story is wrapped up so quickly, that it was disappointing to me, that they spent so much time on the dream segment of the story and not on reality.

All in all, it is such a cute Family Movie with No Bad Language, Sex, or Violence. The main characters are so sweet and likable... I couldn’t help from enjoying it with my family!


See or Skip:

See, if you would like something simple and sweet!