The entire slate of fall programming set forth by our friends at the Hallmark Channel could best be described by that great McSweeney’s post, “ It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherf—ers .” On Hallmark, it’s always decorative gourd season somewhere, and in the case of the new movie Autumn at Apple Hill , the time and place for decorative gourds mixed with an opposites-attract romance is now. Unfortunately, as pumpkins go, this one ain’t that great.
AUTUMN AT APPLE HILL : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? Opening Shot: An old-fashioned car drives down a dirt road. A voiceover explains, “Grandma Hannah always said, all it takes is just one moment to change everything.” The Gist: That voiceover is delivered by a woman named Elise (Erin Cahill) who is freshly divorced and has inherited her Grandma Hannah and Grandpa Charlie’s old motel called the Inn at Apple Hill.
Elise grew up in and around the inn and is delighted to be its caretaker, and she revels in the old-fashioned customs and look of it all. The trouble is that the inn is falling apart, it doesn’t turn a profit, and she can’t get a loan to make improvements. Over in New York City, Luke (Wes Brown), the workaholic CFO of a major hotel chain, is wheeling and dealing and never not closing.
His mother, who is also his boss, insists he take a mandatory vacation, so he heads to his hometown of Landover to visit friends and stay at this quaint, local B and B, the Inn at Apple Hill. Elise and Luke have one of those cl.
