McCormack's Getting Downey for Christmas
A single mum, a cute kid missing their father, a handsome business man and a mention of angels; those are 4 cliches which frequently appear in Christmas movies especially those which are made for TV. They are also 4 of the cliches which appear in "Borrowed Hearts" a thoroughly cute Christmas movie from 1997 starring Roma Downey and Eric McCormack. In fact "Borrowed Hearts" often goes beyond cute and if you are not on the mood for what comes close to Christmas corn you might want to give it a miss until you are in the right mood.
Sam Field (Eric McCormack - Return to the Lost World) runs the business his father set up and is on the verge of a lucrative deal to sell it to Javier Del Campo (Hector Elizondo) but in order to seal the deal Del Campo wishes to meet Sam's wife and child which as a playboy bachelor with a rule against dating those with children proves to be a problem. Enter Kathleen (Roma Downey - Come Dance at My Wedding) who works in the packaging room of Sam's business and who has a daughter Zoey (Sarah Rosen Fruitman) who are perfect to play the role of his wife and child especially as Kathleen is trying to save up to put a deposit down on her own home and Sam will pay her royally for a few days pretending to be his wife.
When it comes to Christmas movies you come to accept that those which are made for TV rarely have an original idea and rarely disguise how things will end up playing out. As such there are no surprises in "Borrowed Hearts" when it comes to what is going to happen be it Zoey's real dad showing up and spying an opportunity to blackmail Sam to Kathleen discovering that if Sam signs the contract with Del Campo many of her friends will be out of a job. But in a strange way being predictable is what you expect and it means you have a certain romantic element to come where the business relationship between Sam and Kathleen evolves and you can bet your bottom dollar that a mistletoe kiss will be involved somewhere.
But the things about "Borrowed Hearts" is that it sets out to be a cute and charming Christmas movie and it succeeds in doing just that. The whole romantic plot is sweet especially as it ties in with Sam going from shallow to caring and whilst the cuteness borders on overkill it still manages to make you smile. Well smile if you are really in the right mood for a cute and obvious Christmas movie because just the slightest bit of scepticism will mean this ends up annoying for being so cute.
As for the acting well Sarah Rosen Fruitman as young Zoey does cute to the point she would give Aileen Quinn from "Annie" a run for her money in the cute stakes. But there is also Roma Downey and Eric McCormack and they both look good, they are easy to warm too and if you are in a really sappy mood they make a nice looking couple. But the most fun performance is from Hector Elizondo who as Javier Del Campo has a wonderful twinkle in his eye which works out nicely for a subplot surrounding Zoey believing in angels.
What this all boils down to is that "Borrowed Hearts" is nothing special, it is just another cute and charming Christmas movie with a romantic storyline. It is predictable from start to finish and often goes beyond the point of reasonable cuteness but if you want some cute Christmas entertainment then this will certainly entertain.
Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies
