Signed, Sealed, Delivered (2013)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

I wanted to but couldn't!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Shane (Kristen Booth) is getting her dream job, she thinks. This young lady has been sent to revamp the Postal System's dead letter office in a Western town. But, when she arrives, she learns that it is NOT the job she was promised. Andrea (Daphne Zuniga) the overbearing boss tells S too bad, a transfer takes six weeks. Yet, once Shane actually meets the crew that deals with misplaced letters, Oliver (Eric Mabius) and his two assistants, she learns these folks may have something going in their old-fashioned ways. Most importantly, the group stumbles on a love letter that should have been delivered a year ago. What's more, the woman who wrote it may have a fatal illness and not be able to meet the gentleman she wrote to, making plans for An Affair to Remember type re-union. As Shane and Oliver start to track this woman, they uncover more and more secrets. Since when is the DLO a detective agency? Since always! This darling film was offered from Hallmark and made into a series. Who else in the world is making such great romantic comedies? NO ONE! As the two principals, Mabius and Booth are just terrific but so are the entire rest of the cast. Likewise, the costumes, script, settings, and direction are blue ribbon winners. So, you feel abandoned by Hollywood, right romcom fans? This viewer does which is why she says HOORAY FOR HALLMARK. May this company NEVER disappear from the earth, not with terrific films like this coming time and again.

This movie script is sort of a rip-off of "Dear God," a 1996 movie starring Greg Kinnear. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116059/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_44) I happen to love that movie, so I'm not upset that someone chose to update the story and add a new twist. I also like Eric Mabius, but found his performance in Signed, Sealed, and Delivered a bit wooden and forced. He overacted the role of being a sort of OCD-ish boss. The cast didn't seem to gel as quickly, as the cast in Dear God did. I hope Hallmark gives this cast an opportunity to find its "ensemble" quality.I look forward to Hallmark making this into a series, because I think it would be very entertaining. I love non-violent programming and this dead letter story line offers a lot of opportunity to produce some creative stories for the whole family. I hope Hallmark expands Kristen Booth's Shane character to add that subtle humor as Tim Conway did in Dear God.

Both my husband and I enjoyed this movie very much. We didn't know until after we watched it that it was the pilot for a series. We are looking forward to seeing more entertaining stories with this wonderful cast. I don't know if the US Post Office actually has a Dead Letter Office, but the portrayal of this concept was charming.It is so refreshing in this day and age to have something interesting to watch that doesn't revolve around violence and crime. It had great writing with enough little twists and turns to keep things interesting. We have seen Eric Mabius in other Hallmark movies. He does such a great job. All of the actors were perfectly cast. We highly recommend this movie.

A dedicated team of lost-mail detectives enters an unpredictable world where letters and packages from the past save lives, solve crimes, reunite old loves, and change futures by arriving late, but always miraculously on time. The team is led by the charming and idiosyncratic Oliver (Eric Mabius), who still considers the stamped and mailed letter to be the gold standard of human communication. Together with his team of lost letter experts, free-spirited Rita (Crystal Lowe), oddly-intuitive Norman (Geoff Gustafson) and newcomer no-nonsense Shane (Kristin Booth) they embark on a risky and unorthodox way, beginning with a chance to clear the name of a wrongfully accused man and reconnect him with the love of his life. I love Hallmark movies, but even I know that they are a bit too cheesy for most people. Every once in a while however, they produce a little gem. This movie is just that. It's sweet and quirky and has a happy ending, but there's also a decent script, a lovely love story and good acting.