So, another holiday season, another Hallmark movie about a big-city professional reluctantly returning to her small hometown. This time, it’s Ashley Greene in Deck the Walls, playing Rose, a Chicago interior designer dragged back to Ohio to help her brother, Sal (Danny Pellegrino), with a charitable house flip. Naturally, Sal’s project is facing a budget crisis – because what’s a Hallmark movie without a good old-fashioned financial obstacle? And who should Rose find herself hammering and sawing alongside but her brother’s best friend, Brysen (Wes Brown), a ghost from Christmases past she’d rather not revisit.
Hallmark has its formula down to a science. We know going in that Rose will initially try to avoid dealing with her past, finish the project quickly, and get back to the Windy City. We know circumstances will force her to confront what she’s been running from. We know working with Brysen and the community will help Rose find deeper meaning in her life, and probably some unexpected love. Is it predictable? Sure. Is it comforting? Absolutely. Will Greene and Brown generate some on-screen warmth? Almost certainly.
While these telefilms rarely stray from the well-worn path, Deck the Walls does at least have going for it a set-up slightly less contrived than, say, a woman who inherits a reindeer farm. This time it’s only home renovation, a task most viewers can, at least vaguely, relate to, even if it’s only from binge-watching HGTV.
Deck the Walls premieres Friday, November 29, 2024 on the Hallmark Channel.
