Tonight's Movie: Snowkissed (2021)

It's been a while since my last Hallmark Channel review!  The last Hallmark movie I wrote about was THE SECRET INGREDIENT (2020) in May.

The common "ingredient" between that film and tonight's Hallmark movie, SNOWKISSED (2021), is actress Amy Groening, who plays the heroine's best friend in each film. This time around Groening plays Jayne, a photographer working with her close friend Kate (Jen Lilley, HARVEST LOVE, USS CHRISTMAS), a magazine writer.

Kate and Jayne head from New York City to Banff for a story, but it's not as simple as it sounds; Kate is a travel-averse, risk-averse stick-in-the-mud who's convinced herself that accepting her desire for a safe, familiar life is the way to be happy.

When Kate and Jayne arrive at their hotel they learn their critical interview will be delayed a few days and spend their "down time" getting to know the inn's owners, Noah (Chris McNally) and Simon (Rodrigo Beilfuss). They end up helping the two men polish their tour guide skills and marketing techniques before Kate finally gets her interview and writes her article...and no one will be surprised that Kate and Noah fall for one another, as do Jayne and Simon.

Although the movie has a pretty good IMDb rating (currently 6.2 out of over 700 votes), some of the people who took time to write user reviews complained about Lilley's character. I initially struggled to "get" SNOWKISSED and Kate myself, as Kate's phobias about travel and the like struck me as so silly...then it dawned on me to think of Kate as if she were the daffy heroine in a '30s screwball comedy, and suddenly the movie made a lot more sense and became more enjoyable.

I also appreciated that the movie, as much as being a romance, is Kate's journey to stepping outside her "bubble" and learning to take risks, whether it's travel, doing things which make her nervous like riding a gondola to the top of a mountain, or expressing her feelings. Lilley portrays Kate's evolution in a realistic way, and her character settles down and becomes more appealing as the film goes on.  The film builds to a warm, "just right" conclusion which left me smiling.

Chris McNally (WHEN CALLS THE HEART) is handsome as the new man in Kate's life, and the Banff scenery is gorgeous! 

The movie was filmed on location in Banff and Winnipeg by Paul Suderman. Jeff Beesley directed from a script by Kim Beyer-Johnson.

In the end, while SNOWKISSED isn't top-tier Hallmark, I found it pleasant. It originally debuted as one of Hallmark's January "winter" films; the snowy scenery makes it a perfect movie to watch curled up with hot chocolate on a cold night. Or, in my case, to watch on a hot August night while pretending it's winter!

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