Following Yonder Star

2024's FOLLOWING YONDER STAR is only the second Hallmark movie I've watched in full.  This came from the prompting of my wife, who's viewed many.  I've seen bits and pieces of several and can just as easily pick the flaws.  Get all the jokes about the interchangeable plots.  How rustic small towns are where the lead character (usually female) from the Big City finds True Love, and themselves.  How the houses and stores are immaculate.  Everything is in place.  There will be conflict, tepid at best.  There will always be a happy ending.  

Nothing wrong with that, as I've said.  I get why folks love these movies.  Inoffensive, with not even a hint of innuendo.  Even the antagonists seem like OK people if only they would get over themselves. 

Abby Marshall (Brooke D'Orsay) used to play a beloved character on T.V. - Gabriele, the perfect wife and mother who could do anything.  Her fans adore her, until that day she argues with an obnoxious clerk in a gift shop.  Of course several smartphones capture the meltdown and soon social media is ablaze.  The paparazzi begins the feeding frenzy.  Abby's agent Oliver (Jacob Blair) goes into damage control mode.

The fracas was sparked when Abby learned her former T.V. (and real-life) husband called to tell her of his plans to remarry.  To a woman carrying his child.  The same dude who told her in the past he didn't want children.

All this being too much, Abby decides to escape L.A. and spend Christmas in a luxury resort.  She accidentally books it for one year later.  But never fear, the desk clerk leads her to a quaint bed and breakfast that happens to have one room left.  A place owned by a handsome but clumsy teacher named Tom (John Brotherton), a widow with a cute daughter.  

You know how John-Eliot Jordan and Carlie Mantilla-Jordan's script will wind up as soon as Abby and Tom meet.  Their script is full of plot and character inconsistencies.  Like why does Abby not know how to bake cookies like Gabriele yet can fix plumbing because she learned how in Season Two, Episode Eight (something like that)? Or why does Tom, who refuses to buy the press' negative portrayal of Abby throughout the movie only to suddenly believe otherwise?  You don't ask questions like these.  You marvel at how attractive and/or cute everyone is.  Tear up when wistful memories are recounted. 

I enjoyed FOLLOWING YONDER STAR well enough.  The leads are appealing and the incorporation of religious and faith elements (this is a Dayspring co-production) was seamless and genuine. Even the faked Vermont locations were pleasing.  The jibes at celebrity and social media are mild but unmistakable.  But you're not watching this for any other reason than to feel good about the human condition.  And possibly get ideas about indoor and outdoor Christmas displays.