baechter
The storyline had so much potential. This could have been a blockbuster movie but in the end, your left feeling it was made for TV and was on a tight production schedule. I teared up a couple times but way too often I was left disappointed by the character development or dialogue. Many of the situations were not believable or lacked the gravity of the moment. Many elements just happened for the sake of continuity but seemed forced and kept me from being drawn into the movie. So many instances that were highly emotional and the actors were not reflecting a convincible or honest level of emotion. Good but not great. I can't recommend it.
WasteBot
Poorly written story that's internally inconsistent, amongst other problems, including the dialog and acting.Clichés: now, let's write another movie filled with clichés in an hour to dump on TV so the station can sell ad-time to holiday card makers. Halmark and others are losing money to the more enjoyable and personal emails, videos, and photos that can be shared directly without trying to find and pay for a card that sort-of says what you're really trying to say. So, they basically pay for movie length ads, in addition to the more well-known TV shows employing more obvious product placement.The story had potential as a concept, but it's clearly motivated by the desire to promote and sell other things. In short, it's one more reason to limit your TV watching to PBS and Comedy Central and to demand some form of rebate system for the time wasted watching such simplistic stories.
edwagreen
Despite a far-fetched coincidence at the end, "The Note" is a wonderful movie.It made me think of the 1952 film, "Phone Call from A Stranger." Again, we're dealing with the after effects of a plane crash. In this film, a reporter retrieves a note left behind from the passenger and tries to determine who the note was intended for.There are 3 possibilities. While each does not pan out, the note has a definite affect on each of the possible recipients- a pastor, a country western singer and the son of a real estate mogul. The last 2 mentioned had falling outs with their parents. The note shows the importance of strong family relationships and the ties that bind. It is also shown that the note could be used for devious means as in the case with the son of the real estate millionaire.With the spirit of the season, this is a timely, well-crafted film. Genie Francis delivers an interesting performance as the reporter. While she searches out the recipient of the note, we see flash-backs of her tragic life revealed.The ending, while too coincidental, comes with the spirit of the season so I will have to forgive the writers.This is still a memorable film and is well worth watching.
paulgxxiii
As a highly emotional person with absolutely no life, I'm a sucker for holiday movies of the type Hallmark usually shows around Christmas-time each year. Between Thanksgiving and the New Year, if a movie uplifts personal spirit, promotes feelings or thoughts of closeness with family, or otherwise has a happy ending, chances are I'll cry and I'll like it. Not so with Hallmark's latest effort: "The Note". I thought the script was very weak and the story itself just wasn't believable. The movie is about a Newspaper columnist who finds a note in a plastic bag following an airline crash. Assuming the note was written by a passenger on the flight, the lead character, Peyton Magruder sets out to to find the note's intended recipient - it's clear the note was written by a father to his child. With little else to go on, Magruder -played by Genie Francis - takes us on an unbelievable, unrealistic and ultimately unrewarding journey. Blame the script, mostly. I hadn't seen Genie Francis in quite some time and I was really pleased to see how she had changed since I'd seen her last (long long ago). I think I like her and I'd like to see her in something else; she has an interesting and expressive face. It's a good face. Even Ted McGinley who has unfortunately been type cast as the henpecked neighbor from Married With Children was fine. The rest of the cast was awful! The storyline was dreadful! I was tempted to rate this movie one star but I relented because I thought Genie Francis brought it up "a couple of notches" as Emeril might say. While it's a blessing that Hallmark isn't making any more of the dreadful "meet the Santas", their latest fare including this movie and another recent one in which a child sets out to find a husband for his mom (I'm glad I don't remember the name of it), make you wonder if maybe Hallmark's best efforts aren't behind them.
AD
