Hallmark’s ‘Lake’ OK, but not too deep
IN CASE anyone might miss the point, the creators of the new Hallmark movie “Lake Effects” spend the first 10 minutes of the film cutting back and forth between leisurely, idyllic rural life in Smith Mountain Lake, Va., and the frenzied rat race of Los Angeles.
In Smith Mountain Lake, a woman named Vivian (Jane Seymour) wakes up to find her husband, Ray (Jeff Fahey), has placed a rose on the pillow next to her before he and the dog strolled down to the lake to do some fishing.
On the way, he paused to blow a morning kiss to their daughter Lily (Madeline Zima).
Everything is lush, warm, green and beautiful.
Meanwhile in L.A., another woman named Sara (Scottie Thompson) is jolted out by bed by her too-early alarm clock. She races to the gym, where she hits the treadmill while making business calls on her cell phone.
Sara arrives at her law office 10 minutes late for a meeting because she was waiting for her boyfriend, Ash (Casper Van Dien), a lawyer at the same firm who didn’t tell her he’d already arrived.
Sara, we will soon learn, is the other daughter of Vivian and Ray, the one who left Smith Mountain Lake for the big city.
Even without Reese Witherspoon in a leading role, it’s not too hard for the eagle-eyed movie fan to imagine where all this is going.
Sure enough, two minutes before Sara is flying into another superimportant meeting, she gets a call from Lily: Ray has died.
We knew that was coming. When he walked outside to head for the lake, he lit up a cigarette — modern movie code for a bad guy or a goner.
So Sara flies home for the funeral, taking her paperwork with her and planning to hightail it back to L.A. the minute Daddy is planted. Not so fast, little lady. The complications begin the way we’d expect. Sara had a diffi- cult time with her mother and father, so some of that needs to be untangled. Meanwhile Lily, a teacher who longs to be an artist, feels some of her dreams have been left behind.
While family strife is being dealt with, it’s time to cue the hometown boyfriend, whom Sara bumps into, conjuring up all that small-town warmth and friendliness. The stars in the sky at night, they’re so bright. You don’t see that in L.A.
Finally Sara learns a big, heartless real estate corporation has been secretly fixing to grab Vivian’s land.
Where it all goes from here, gosh, can’t imagine. But do consider this question: Which would you rather wake up to, a rose or a treadmill?