Hallmark Review: 'What I Did for Love'

Rising lawyer James White (Jeremy London) and successful doctor Sadie Ryder (Dorie Barton) have been together for months, and James is ready to start a life together by popping the question to Sadie in the days leading up to Christmas. But while Sadie is thrilled by James' proposal, she has one hang-up: James has yet to meet her family, and she knows her father would be upset if they married without getting his blessing first. While reluctant, James agrees to head to Sadie's small hometown of Pine Gap to meet his soon-to-be in-laws.

But upon arriving, James quickly learns he has a lot riding against him when it comes to marrying Sadie. While her brothers warm up to him well enough, Sadie's father Karl (James Gammon) takes an immediate disliking to his daughter's "city-boy" boyfriend and is convinced he's no good for Sadie. Wanting to get in Karl's good graces, James begins integrating himself into ranch life and hopes to make a good impression. But with ranch troubles and the arrival of Sadie's ex-boyfriend Clint (John Littlefield), it might just take a Christmas miracle for James to mend things before he and Sadie can tie the knot.

Tone-wise, What I Did for Love can best be described as Hallmark's Die Hard. While technically a Christmas movie, given that the film takes place at that time of year and contains a handful of scenes where the holiday is given focus, the film is less to do with Christmas antics and more to do with the standard romance flicks that Hallmark airs all year round. And while there are infinitely less explosions and shoot-outs here than in Die Hard, What I Did for Love does contain more peril and mild profanity than one would typically expect from Hallmark.

The story of What I Did for Love is essentially Meet The Parents with a rural Christmas-y setting. The film starts out pleasant enough, with the opening proposal scene being made rather sweet thanks to the combined efforts of Jeremy London and Dorie Barton. But it's once we learn about Sadie's protective and severely old-fashioned father that What I Did for Love begins to delve into territories that have always gotten under my skin. Starting with Sadie's insistence that James get her father's blessing before they get engaged to the multiple instances in which she brushes off Karl's controlling demeanor over her and brash attitude towards James, What I Did for Love spends a good deal of its runtime building Karl up into the standard "Overprotective Father" trope which I have always disdained with a passion due to how often these characters range from infantilizing to outright abusive towards their daughters.

In the case of Karl Ryder, he sits somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, with his "I'm doing what's best for you" attitude only seguing into outright domineering control on occasion. It's in his attitude towards James that most of Karl's toxicity lies, taking every opportunity to see the worst in James and degrade him as less than a worthy man for his daughter. With a great deal of his criticisms being centered on James' lack of traditional manliness and his being from the "big city", Karl's attitude made it hard to sympathize with him, even as the film's progression has him trying to lighten up on James.

Thanks to the late James Gammon's performance, sympathetic moments do emerge for Karl, particularly when the spotlight is given to Karl's grief for his deceased wife. SPOILER ALERT The film's conclusion, though, leaves Karl's redemption arc partially unfulfilled. Despite accepting James as a son-in-law and agreeing to work for a compromise regarding his ranch dilemma, we never see him make the same change in regards to his sons Jake and Zeb (played by Steve Monroe and Chase Hoyt)--both of whom are interested in pursuing ambitions beyond the ranch that he wants them to dedicate their lives to. All of this combines to make Karl a character that, despite the film's best efforts, is hard to forgive after spending two hours watching him at his absolute worst. Spoilers Over

While other characters in What I Did for Love run the risk of joining Karl, none quite match up to him and are also given strong performances by their actors. London is charming and likable as a successful lawyer turned awkward fish-out-of-water outsider, keeping his sympathetic qualities even as his frustrations with Karl cause him to lash out at Sadie. Barton does well in her role as the put-upon Sadie trying to keep the peace with her father, though her passive acceptance of Karl's disrespectful attitude towards her boyfriend makes it rather hard to feel for Sadie when it ends up putting a strain on her and James' relationship. All of the Ryder brothers are adorkably charming in their quick acceptance of James (as played by Monroe, Hoyt, and Jonny Acker) and John Littlefield is effectively sleazy as Clint. Sally Struthers is also charming as the boisterous Aunt Trudy, though her inexplicable attempts to get Sadie and Clint back together throughout much of the film leave her less than likable, and her change of heart comes with almost no build-up.

The problematic elements of What I Did for Love make the the first few acts of the film hard to sit through, and are bound to drive some to switch to something else if they get irritated enough. But once the film allows depth to emerge from characters that are initially brash and/or one-note, What I Did for Love allows for its story about love and family to flourish. Had the preceding film had as much of an underlying sense of heart as its conclusion shows in full force, Karl's attitude and Sadie's complicity might have been easier to stomach. As is, however, What I Did for Love will prove to be a divisive film, with its audience-alienating first half and occasional stretches of overly-drawn-out plotting overshadowing its strong conclusion. But with that strong third act and a cast that brings their all to the proceedings, What I Did for Love is at least worth testing to see if they prove strong enough to keep you from rage quitting.

Score: 5 out of 10 barbed wire collections.