Silver Bells another generic holiday TV movie
Barry Garron

LOS ANGELES—Over the years, consumers have learned to count on Hallmark greeting cards for the thoughtful way they use images to evoke sentiment. Given the limitations of a card, that’s a considerable accomplishment. A movie, however, can and should be more complex, filled with characters and conflicts that resonate with reality and thus capture our interest. Despite its pedigree as a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” presentation, “Silver Bells” is only slightly more sophisticated than an after-school special.
Put another way, there’s absolutely nothing objectionable about the film. Good triumphs. Families reconcile. Widowed spouses find love again. Life’s lessons are learned. And it transpires in brightly decorated holiday settings that look as if they were adapted not so much from a novel as from picturesque Hallmark cards. It’s a perfectly generic holiday movie but not a perfect example of the emotional and intellectual storytelling of which a “Hall of Fame” presentation is capable.
Tate Donovan stars as Christopher Byrne, a Nova Scotia tree farmer who, with the help of teenage son Danny (Michael Mitchell) and daughter Bridget (Courtney Jines), ships a giant truckload of evergreens to New York every December. TheByrneses set up a curbside Christmas tree lot and sell until all the trees are gone, which usually takes until Christmas. Then it’s back to Nova Scotia for another year.