"Dashing Through the Snow" is a Hallmark film based on a novel by Debbie Macomber staring Andrew Walker and Meghan Ory as two young people travelling from California to Seattle for Christmas. The plot bears similarity to the great "It Happened One Night," which is mentioned by Ory's character, Ashley Harrison, several times. It's one thing to riff on a great movie. It's another to rip it off while mentioning you are ripping it off. It is the same problem that "Sleepless in Seattle" has with "An Affair to Remember." It's not clever or respectful just lazy.
In spite of this, the film isn't terrible. The leads are attractive and personable with each other and other actors. I think Ory is especially charming in the scene in which she talks to the crazy guy who gives her a free puppy. Actor Aleks Paunovic as the dog man camps it up really good here. If you have ever lived in a rural area, you might run into someone like this. When no one is around to tell you you're crazy, you end up giving away puppies at a gas station.
Walker, for the most part, is emotive as always. I especially enjoyed the scene when he attempts to tell Ory's character that he is an FBI agent. Oh, there is a subplot about Dash investigating Ashely because she is a suspected terrorist. When she meets him at the airport she has no idea that he is a secret agent. Someone swapped her wallet and the FBI is dumb to know what happened until after the bust into her friend's home near the end of the movie to arrest her. That's the biggest problem with the film. The FBI subplot is entirely unnecessary and handled poorly. It is really cheesy even when intended to be serious. Ashely and Dash have a pretty good rapport and their relationship grows organically. The revelation about Dash's life pulls the rug out from under her. Ory is sweet and this seemed unusually cruel to me.
The film is hard to recommend in spite of how good the actors are. It's just all over the place and the bad is really bad.
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