Hallmark Channel movie review: 'Sweet Carolina'
The family drama 'Sweet Carolina' (premiering May 15 on The Hallmark Channel) is a departure from the rom-com formula most Hallmarkies come to expect - but this is a love story all the same, albeit an endearing and bittersweet one.
In short: New York City marketing executive Josie (Lacey Chabert) returns to her small home town when she becomes the unexpected guardian of her niece and nephew. While there, she reconnects with Cooper (Tyler Hynes), her high school boyfriend.
The fact that this movie begins like so many Hallmark movies is devastatingly and completely disarming. Josie is a workaholic hoping to land a big account, dating a guy (who's clearly not a great fit for her), she has a charming closeness with her sister and she's looking forward to a trip back home to North Carolina. This is literally how a thousand other Hallmark movies begin. Josie's phone chat with her family is so innocuous and utterly familiar, laying out Josie's busy office life and her playful relationship with her sister. Then, in the movie's opening minutes, a tragedy upends everything.
'Sweet Carolina' turns on the waterworks in a big way less than 10 minutes into the movie. It's a small moment between an aunt and niece in grief - but it's so specific and so heartfelt in addressing the sudden void in their lives. Honestly, it’s impossible not to tear up a little … or a lot. But rather than being a stone-cold bummer or cloying tearjerker, this sincere movie is peppered with heartrending little moments revealing a family experiencing their grief - 'Carolina' smartly doesn't just try to 'solve' grief in less than 90 minutes.
Chabert is so earnest and conflicted as the aunt and up-and-coming marketing expert whose life is totally thrown for a loop. The unprepared "big city girl" is suddenly thrown into the overwhelming world of parenthood. She's not perfect and Josie's harshest critic is Josie herself - but Chabert's performance makes it effortlessly easy to cheer for Josie and believe in Josie, even when she doesn't. So much of the story is Josie reconciling her family's impression of her with Josie's own notion of her future and herself. And because it cannot never be repeated often enough: ‘identity’ is one of the strongest and most meaningful pillars of storytelling - and ‘Sweet Carolina’ finds a woman trying to determine whether she can be a parent to her niece and nephew, or if she’s just cut out to be a supportive aunt
'Sweet Carolina' actually reunites 'Winter in Vail' co-stars Chabert and Tyler Hynes, but this time around Hynes is very much the supporting character. It’s wonderful to see these two actors together again and it’s all the more refreshing to see them take on a new relationship dynamic. 'Carolina' is very much Josie's story as a woman at an unexpected crossroads in life. While the romance angle of secondary in this movie - Cooper teases his past "grand romantic gestures" (practically a necessity for most Hallmark romances) - Cooper is just there for Josie, listening and offering some friendly advice. There's no grand romantic gesture and 'Sweet Carolina' is all the better for it - because the underlying core of 'Carolina' is Josie learning that there's no quick fix that will solve every problem overnight. Josie just has to show up, which itself is an incredible act of love.
This family drama has a lot of moving parts, from Josie's relationship with her father to her future as a marketing expert, her low-maintenance relationship with her boyfriend, her brother's secret dream job and, of course, her sudden new role as legal guardian to two teenage kids. To the film's credit, 'Carolina' deftly juggles the various plot threads impressively. But, if anything, perhaps a few dangling plot threads could have been trimmed. Josie's catty high school rival and even her "big city" boyfriend don't add much, if anything, to the story. 'Carolina' is already a winner - but some light editing could have tightened up the film’s focus a little bit.
Final verdict: 'Sweet Carolina' is a heartbreaking, bittersweet, lovely and hopeful story of loss and "rebranding." Chabert shines as the aunt trying to step up for her family, a sister still internally reeling with the loss of her best friend and a woman trying to refocus when life throws her a curve ball. This will absolutely be among the very best Hallmark Channel films of 2021.
Score: 5/5
'Sweet Carolina' premieres May 15 on The Hallmark Channel. The movie is rated TV-G and has a running time of 90 minutes.
