 |
| Chad Michael Murray and Minka Kelly couple up in Hallmark’s new film, “The Beach House.” Photo: Crown Media / Nino Munoz |
By Rachael Ellenbogen, International Business Times - Business
What do you get when you put Minka Kelly, Andie MacDowell and Chad Michael Murray all together? Saturday’s brand-new Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, “The Beach House.” This’ll mark Murray’s debut on the network and a return for Kelly and MacDowell, who’ve both worked with Hallmark in the past.
The “Friday Night Lights” alum previously starred in the 2015 Hallmark Hall of Fame flick “Away and Back” with Jason Lee, while MacDowell played the lead in Hallmark’s “Cedar Cove” series from 2013 to 2015 and most recently headlined “At Home in Mitford,” a 2017 movie on the network.
Now, the two actresses have combined their experiences on the network with Murray’s past rom-com skills, from films and shows like “A Cinderella Story” and “One Tree Hill,” to create Hallmark’s “The Beach House,” which finds Kelly’s Cara heading home to visit with her mother.
“After losing her advertising job, Caretta ‘Cara’ Rudland leaves Chicago to visit her mother, Lovie (MacDowell), in the scenic Lowcountry where she spent her childhood summers,” the synopsis begins. “Cara’s childhood was rife with tension from her late, overbearing father, and some of this tension still hangs heavy over her impromptu homecoming. Cara and Lovie don’t share the same interests, especially Lovie’s passion for preserving the local turtle population.”
While there, Cara runs into her former love, Brett Beauchamps (Murray). Lovie has always liked the two of them together and tries to bring them back together while Cara’s in town visiting. What starts out as Lovie calling Brett over to fix things around the house turns into he and Cara going out and reconnecting.
“Cara is surprised to meet Toy (Makenzie Vega), and to learn that her mother has taken this young, pregnant woman into her beach house,” the synopsis continues. “What she doesn’t realize is that Lovie is terminally ill and the caretaking is reciprocal. Lovie, Cara and Toy visit Cara’s brother Palmer (Donny Boaz), who inherited his mother’s house and his father’s arrogance. Cara suspects that Palmer is mismanaging Lovie’s money and is appalled when he is rude to Toy.”
Once Lovie finds out that she’s dying at a fast rate, she decides to forego radiation and tells Cara about the diagnosis. Cara chooses to stay home for the rest of the summer to spend as much time with her mother as possible. “Trying to make it the best summer yet, Cara follows Lovie, Lovie’s friend Flo (Donna Biscoe) and Toy to preserve the area’s wildlife as ‘turtle ladies,’ and the three fix up the beach house.” Though Cara turned away from a renewed romance with Brett, he still comes around to help care for Lovie and for the turtles.
“When Palmer insists on selling a plot of land that belonged to Lovie’s first love, who she lost in a tragic accident, Lovie finally stands up for herself,” according to the synopsis. “She confronts Palmer about mismanaging her money, and refuses to let him develop her beloved beach. He pushes back at first, but upon learning about Lovie’s diagnosis, retreats into sadness.”
Things get a bit more complicated for Cara when she’s offered a promotion if she’s able to immediately return to Chicago. But after visiting her mom, she’s not so sure about the promotion when it means giving up her new beach town life. Before she can make a decision, a hurricane approaches and “though many evacuate, Lovie stays put to save displaced turtles, and Cara stays with her.” As for Toy, she goes into labor while she’s alone in the storm.
“As the storm clears, Cara has a big decision to make: to stay in the beach house that Lovie has offered to her and perhaps rekindle a relationship with Brett, or to return to her big city life,” the synopsis explains. “Lovie must use the time that she has left to guide Cara, Toy and Palmer toward the fulfilling lives she has always wanted for them.”
COMMENTS