Movie Review- Hallmark Hall of Fame’s The Love Letter

In the 1990’s, before the Hallmark Channel was the Hallmark Channel, there was the Hallmark Hall of Fame on CBS. I remember watching the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies on Sundays during holiday season, specifically Christmas time. Although there are some movies I really didn’t like, there was a few that stood out to me as my favorites. One of those movies is called The Love Letter.

Although I plan to review Hallmark Channel Christmas movies this year for Blogmas, I wanted to review this movie first because it was the first Hallmark movie I ever saw and is to this day one of my favorite Hallmark movies ever.

The movie stars Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Scotty and Lizzy, a man and women who write love letters to each other. The problem is Scotty is in 1998 and Lizzy is in the 1800’s. The correspondence begins when Scotty discovers Lizzy’s love letter in a hidden compartment of an antique desk. Even though it is illogical, Scotty writes back and, by miracle, his letter is received by Lizzy in 1863. Their correspondence, which starts as curiosity, turns into love.

Although this plot seems kind of far fetched, I loved it as a child. As an adult, I needed to rewatch the movie before I could say that I think this movie is as good as I thought it was… and it is. In comparison to the Hallmark Channel romance movies that everyone knows about today, this movie’s formula and pacing is similar, yet different. This movie is much more serious, has slower pace, and includes an more complicated plot that modern day Hallmark Channel movies. It requires focus and attention to capture the details of the movie and how the time traveling letters play into Scotty and Lizzy’s lives and how it changes them. The plot also touches on how the influence of someone in the future’s desire to do something good but it would cause more problems and heartbreak instead of preventing them.

The plot is thought provoking and, even though Scotty’s desire to protect Lizzy from the events of the American Civil War doesn’t work out as planned, Scotty’s love for Lizzy made him reassess his own reasons for marriage to his fiancee.

Although the movie has a more serious tone, it is very much a family friendly movie. If you watch this movie with children, I would advise to watch this movie with children eight years and older. Children under the age of eight can watch it, but they may not understand the time travel part of the movie as well as older children.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!