User reviews

This was pretty good. Decent acting from Kellie Martin and Kavan Smith especially for one of these Made for TV movies. The plot is ultra predictable but helped along by a supernatural element and some beautiful scenery from Ontario lake cottage country.

The story follows Annie and her two children a couple years after the sudden death of her husband. Annie has started a catering company and meets a wealthy guy who is immediately smitten with her. Annie is hesitant however to let her heart go until she begins to receive encouraging phone calls from her late husband. Some very nice scenes towards the end with the daughter and James

Annie (Kellie Martin) lives on Long Island with her two children, Ella and Milo. A widow, her husband Andre died in a boating accident two years ago. To say the least, its been hard moving forward and Annie has never erased the last phone video recording of Andre, the one where he says this is the happiest day of his life. A fine cook and baker, Annie has been working as a caterer out of her home, even though she longs to open a bake shop. One day, on her way to a work engagement, Annie is in a collision with another driver, James (Kavan Smith). As its totally James fault, Annie is miffed, especially when the baked goods are damaged. Very wealthy, James offers to pay for everything but Annie cuts him off. Later, she discovers that while she catered the party, James had her car repaired. Wow, how nice is this! For his part, James is an extremely successful businessman who inherited a lucrative firm and who hobnobs with the elite. His mother is very snooty but always trying to fix up her bachelor son with the "best socially prominent gals." Yet, James sees something in Annie he feels he is missing so the two grow slowly closer. Ella, the older child, is not really happy. More importantly, in a most startling fashion, Annie begins to receive phone messages from Andre, worked into the video that she has saved. Could her deceased husband really be watching over her, trying to tell her important advice? Yet, each time it happens, Annie steps back from her budding romance with James. What to do? This lovely romantic drama will have some in tears, its so touching. The paranormal angle is beautifully conceived. Martin and Smith make a great couple while all of the other cast members are nice as well. Then, the LI setting, right on the coast, is very beautiful, making one wish for a beach home there as soon as possible. In short, what would fans of romance do WITHOUT HALLMARK? Thank Providence that this network continues, week after week, to rain down blessings on its loyal subjects.

2015 did see some good Hallmark films, as well as some bad ones and plenty in between. Had a good feeling that 'Hello It's Me' would work, with it having one of the most appealing and relatable-sounding premises of 2015's Hallmark batch and have always admired it when Hallmark tackle mature themes regardless of the execution. Have seen Kellie Martin and Kavan Smith in other things, and while Martin is a bit take and leave Smith have near consistently impressed me in spite of being in some misfires.

'Hello It's Me' on the whole turned out quite well. 2015 did see some good Hallmark Movies and Mysteries films and 'Hello It's Me' is one of them. While not one of the best 2015 Hallmark films overall, it is certainly closer to that extreme than the worst in my view. There is also a lot to like in 'A Gift of Miracles' and it does a nice job with its premise and relatable family themes, it started off a little uncertain but grew significantly when the characters and relationships did.

Not everything succeeds. It is a bit of a slow starter, with less than tight pacing and dialogue that goes a bit too far too far on the maudlin. It took me a bit of time to warm to Martin's character, who even for the situation seemed too mopey and stuck in the past which took somewhat too long to shake off.

Smith's character is a little too clueless towards the end.

A lot is good here though. The latter stages did see me connect more with Martin's character and understanding her point of view and Martin does give a very heartfelt performance that is one of her most natural, no signs of phoning in or being too affected. Smith is very subtle and sympathetic and they have a lovely gentle and always genuine chemistry that develops realistically. The younger cast also do well, especially the daughter in the second half. Very touching chemistry with Smith later on. The situation is a true to life and relatable one and once the film got going it did do well at allowing one to connect to the characters after an uncertain start.

Furthermore, it t is beautifully filmed and the scenery is stunning to look at. The music is not intrusive, and didn't feel too melodramatically loud, repetitive or too constant (all of which being common with Hallmark's music), actually found it very sensitive. The direction lets the drama breathe while not allowing it to drag. The script is sincere and mature without being too melodramatic or too serious, while not sugar coating. The same goes for the gentle, charming and moving story, which is not always as fleshed out as it could have been but the good intentions and sincerity were to be admired all the way through as was the relatability of the themes.

Overall, well executed, honest and touching. 7/10.

Annie is hard to really like, although you do kind of root for her. Her two children are barely any better off as far as the pain they carry. There is a mystical element to this story because Annie gets phantom messages on her phone from her dead husband. James has potential and lives up to it as the story goes on. Annie on the other hand carries her chip far too long.

Their initial meeting is a disaster as James irresponsibly backs into Annie destroying her day's livelihood. (Another reason not to like Annie is her stubborn refusal to accept the payment he offers which he totally owes her for the accident. In fact his liability should be far more.) Their second meeting is better with some decent banter between them.

A big subplot is Annie's relationship with her kids, especially her teenage daughter, Ella. Ella's character gets more development than the daughter does in a lot of stories like this. We see how Ella is dealing with her dad's loss.

There are some great lines. "None of the women you know actually eat." I can't say there is much chemistry between Martin and Smith, mostly because Martin keeps pulling back. Annie and James start to click and then Annie shuts it down. More than once. There is a hint of chemistry. It could have been there.

I like sappy. The climax/ending of this movie goes over the top of sappy. It almost seems manipulative.

I think I am overly generous with my rating. The movie was comfortable because I like both Martin and Smith. If two much less known actors had done this, I think I wouldn't have liked the movie hardly at all.

7.7 stars.

There is something about this family, a widow named Annie (Kellie Martin) and her two children. There is a depth to them that is rarely seen in family relationships with Hallmark. James (Smith) is at their home and he gets to experience this wonderful trio, so endearing, and lovable, in spite of the daughter's bitterness.

This film is beautifully wrought full of deep emotion for the loss they have suffered and James is the right man to fit the huge hole that has been vacant for the past two years. The son lights up when he's around, and it's evident that Annie is falling for him. Once they are able to sort through the emotions and the complicated grief, maybe they can be happy once more. The complexity of their loss is that Annie is getting messages from beyond the grave. What do these messages indicate? Annie must figure it out for herself.

I cried not once, twice, but three times. I wept like a baby in one scene, a rare moment for a film to evoke such a measure of compassion within me. It's just a movie after all...

I knew from the beginning I was going to like this movie. The two leads Kellie Martin and Kavan Smith were great, their chemistry was perfect. I've always been a fan of Kavan and am now a fan of Kellie.

Great movie.

I know these movies are formula, and I generally overlook the more egregious plot lines because they are entertaining and even inspirational.

I have to take issue with the trend of these terribly wounded widows who by all accounts had "perfect" marriages and are stuck in limbo. From my years of observation, those who had good marriages were the first to want to reconnect with a significant other. At worst, they didn't spend years bringing everyone around them down with their inability to move forward in their lives. On I think it sends a message that depression is OK if not laudable after the loss of a spouse and that it is OK to spend years lost in space, unable to function. Kelli Martin seems to be cast as the same character, again, after "The Christmas Ornament".

This movie was awesome. It really showed the struggles one experiences after the death of someone close to them. Then you slowly see new love reborn. I would definitely watch again. Loved it James Welch Henderson Arkansas 5/17/21.

Bat-shit crazy pastry chef with insufferable brat daughter is courted by good looking business man with more money than sense. Why? One of life's mysteries.

This is a very enjoyable and engaging movie. The element of fantasy/supernatural is not often seen in a Hallmark movie. It is refreshing to see a family oriented movie with actors portraying real emotions of love, loss and finding happiness. The child actors are excellent, and the relationship between the two main adult characters is mature and believable. I find that in many Hallmark movies, the actors play their roles as over the top caricatures or the chemistry is absent and that is not the case in Hello It;s Me. I have seen this movie three or four times and I never tire of it. I highly recommend this movie!

I love this movie for having a bit more kick than many Hallmark productions.

The lead character is capably played by Kellie Martin, but this character is clearly too distraught to be dating anyone. The new man in her life needs the patience of a saint to put up with her reluctance to date, and anyone with common sense would move on to someone more emotionally available. This guy is a bit too clueless, though, to notice that she has both her heart and her head still stuck in the past.

... but I thought that was in the top 10 Hallmark movies I've seen. I've always liked Kellie Martin since the bookstore mystery days with Clarence Thomas III, so when I noticed she was in it, I sat right down. Just super entertaining, family friendly, poignant, entertaining.

From the synopsis: "Annie can't imagine falling in love again, until she meets a wealthy bachelor ..."

That is all you need to know about this movie. I noticed this trend about a decade ago, where the guy has to be rich, handsome, hopefully a celebrity or powerful CEO with high social status as well, even if the woman is only average in every regard she DESERVES this!!!

She is extremely off-putting and handles a minor fender bender with the rich guy in this particular film with ZERO class, but catering to the female audience it hopes to please it furthers the idea that men are attracted to and intrigued when treated this way by a woman.

I couldn't finish past halfway.

I like these type of movies, a rainy afternoon coming in from the cold and settling down to warm by a fire and watch some light relief.

Kellie Martin and Kevan Smith are two of my favourite Hallmark actors, neither have said hello to the Botox and seem more genuine than some of the others (especially women). Both have always given a stellar and solid performance, even when dealt a dodgy script. For this though, it seemed the writing had more depth and allowed for the characters to grow, it was touching and sensitive. The scenery was magnificent and really added to the whole film.

A quality film and well directed from Mark Jean.

I saw it the first time a few months ago when it was on hallmark channel and I loved I told my friends about this movie it gave me chills it made me laugh it made me cry (a lot) and I watched it again when it reaired and hopefully I'll get to see it again in the future.

I really liked this movie. The story was quite touching and avoided a lot of the sentimentality and schmaltz that you often see from Hallmark movies. The characters seemed real and the dialog was very natural. Kellie Martin's performance as widow Annie was superb. You really felt the pain of her loss, her concern for her family and her growing attraction for James. Kavan Smith as her love interest James was great too. He really made you believe that this rich, successful heir to a fortune was just a nice, ordinary guy who truly wanted to connect with Annie and her children without any ulterior motives. The chemistry between the two was wonderful. Their attraction seemed very genuine and unforced.

I liked how Annie's daughter Ella was a bratty, sullen teenager. Sure, there were times you felt like slapping her upside the head, but she was much more like what you would expect a 14-year old who had lost her father to act than the saccharine sweet teens that you often see in Hallmark movies. Annie's 7-year old Milo was quite believable, too. A boy that age who had lost his dad would immediately latch onto a nice man who showed him some attention and who could play the role of a father figure for him.

I thought the initial venom from Annie when James almost ran into her was a little over-the-top. Of course, this is part of the rom-com formula. The leads usually need to start out as quasi-enemies, and, more often than not, the initial enmity is done badly and seems forced. I'm glad that it didn't continue for very long. Otherwise, I found their interactions with each other very believable and enjoyable.

The whole supernatural thing with the phone messages beyond the grave from Annie's late husband Andre wasn't done very well, and could have been eliminated from the plot, in my opinion. This was a heartwarming drama about relationships, not The Twilight Zone, and that plot element really seemed out of place to me. Other movies of this genre have used the plot device of having the widow/widower having imaginary conversations with their dead spouse. That's a little cheesy, too, but would have worked much better in this story than the phone message thing, where the messages were cryptic, one-word utterances.

Otherwise, I loved this movie. It had a lot more emotional depth than most Hallmark movies and the dialog was natural and realistic, avoiding the stilted "Hallmark-speak" that you get in many of their films. I highly recommend it.