Rating: 
Posted: 1:48 am
August 30, 2008
HALLMARK Channel, which became sort of the place of last resort for entertainment in the past several years, is mid-makeover via a new head honcho. And after watching their latest made-for-TV original movie "For the Love of Grace," I have to admit that for the first time in years, I didn't feel like I was robbed of a few hours of my life.
OK, I know that's not exactly an endorsement, but "Grace" is a very sweet, naive bit of fluff with some very good actors doing some honest acting which, again, is a departure for Hallmark.
The movie tells the story of Grace, (Chandra West), an overworked how-to author who is getting set to marry her perfect match - the equally hard-working, totally ambitious Cliff. They have a two-year plan, a perfect apartment, and BlackBerrys that won't quit.
When Cliff is out of town, perfect Grace lights some candles and the drapes catch fire. Not so perfect after all, are you Grace?
But all is not lost, because who should rescue her, but troubled fire fighter/world's best looking man, Steve (Mark Consuelos), even though he's just been suspended for risking his life in a fire unnecessarily. Steve has lost his will to go on because he's recently lost his wife in a car accident. A guy who saves people for a living couldn't save his own wife and all that.
Anyway, by the time Steve climbs up the side of Grace's burning condo, she is out cold.
Grace's near-death experience starts to make her reevaluate her life. She tries to thank Steve personally but finds he's been suspended and with the help of his relentless firefighter brother, Frank (Ennis Esmer), she finds him.
And where is Steve? Why, he's volunteering at a soup kitchen. And why is he at the soup kitchen? Because he's the best cook in the fire department, that's why.
Grace begins to percolate a new book in her head - a firehouse cookbook by the guys in Company 22 who juxtapose running into burning buildings with cooking for one another at the firehouse. Even the gruff chief (Corbin Bernsen) approves.
Meanwhile, Steve and Grace have something cooking themselves, but don't act on it. But oops, she's got a fiancé.
Now, not for nuthin', but if it were between a boring, driven, business guy and Mark Consuelos in an entire fireman's outfit, who would you choose? Grace's choice may surprise you.
West is very believable as Grace, and Consuelos is a knockout as Steve. Finally, this thought: Kelly Ripa must have been Mother Theresa in a former life to get that career, that face and that man in one lifetime! Damn!
