When I read the synopsis for Falling Together and saw the previews, I was afraid to watch. In the movie they talk a lot about the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s and having lost my Grandmother to Alzheimer’s, I didn’t know if emotionally I could handle.
In the movie, “Natalie tries to bring feuding neighbors together in her new condo building. Her unexpected ally is the building’s super who prefers to avoid getting involved.”
Simple enough. Sounds cute.
I was talking to a friend of mine and I was explaining the sometimes Hallmark feels like TGIF from the 90’s/early 2000’s. There was always a lesson to be learned with each weeks show, even if you weren’t looking for a lesson. I then it explained that it was also like Target, where you don’t go to Target telling Target what you need. You go to Target and it tells you what you need.
Nothing with Hallmark is ever simple – even though it’s a simple escape. Falling Together was a reminder of giving to others and also taking time for yourself. It was a reminder to pay attention to the world around you, but also to pay attention to yourself.
And it was a reminder that life is too short to do anything but live.
Ashley Williams stars as Natalie. She’s lived her entire life in Miami and is moving to Pittsburgh for a new job at Carnegie Mellon. She wanted to leave early – six weeks before her job started – to get settled in her new building.
We see from the beginning that Natalie thrives off a sense of community. She wants everyone to get along and to spend time together. Moving into her new building in Pittsburgh, that’s the last thing that she’s going to get.
Everyone really dislikes each other.
She meets the Super of the building, who doesn’t want to get involved. He keeps trying to tell Natalie that he can’t get everyone to get along and that they all need to stay out of building politics. Just live your life and keep going.
But, Natalie is determined to not give up and she’s determined that she will make a community out of this building. Everything she tries keeps failing to build the community she wants out of the building. She however, does start to find a community when she volunteers for the Walk to End Alzheimers.
On a personal level, Williams is heavily involved with the Alzheimer’s Foundation. It’s a cause close to her heart. She’s written essays that I have read about her personal connection to the disease – her Mom’s battle with the disease. I knew that if there was anyone who would do justice to a story and shine a light onto the disease – it would be Williams.
She knows the importance of finding a cure and that is part of the reason that I knew that watching this movie would be okay. If you’re worried that you will see the affects of Alzheimers – you will see some. But mostly what you are going to see is the importance of volunteering and helping to find a cure. You’re going to learn a bit about the walk and what it does. You’ll see the importance of making a difference.
I was inspired by Williams bring that into the middle of a romantic comedy. Personally, I thought that it was important because even as you’re falling in love, getting accumulated to a new place, living your life – you will have other things going on. I thought that it felt natural and didn’t feel oddly placed. If anything it’s one thing that I loved so much about this movie – that the pacing and the storylines felt natural.
But back to the story.
It was so strange to me how I didn’t realize how Mark (Campbell) and Natalie (Williams) started hanging out because it just happened. Everything felt just so natural and fun. The two started to learn about each other and they just realized that they fit.
What do I mean? Well, Mark also wanted the building to get along (you’ll never convince me otherwise) and so he makes a deal to help Natalie if she takes moments to slow down. Have to admit that it was a win/win for her. She realized it and I think he did too. But I also think that it was Mark’s really slick pickup move (even if he didn’t know it yet).
Watching Natalie and Mark learn from each other was just sweet. Seeing the two find moments to challenge each other and the way that it managed to feel not like a challenge – I loved. Campbell and Williams have an onscreen chemistry that is magnetic. If you are a Hallmark fan – I can describe it as the same chemistry that Tyler Hynes and Erin Krakow have on the screen. It’s just rare and beautiful.
Natalie and Mark working together brings the building together in a way that you can only wish that your building would get along. I mean, I live in New York and we definitely doing talk to each other, but I was tempted to have a chili party here after watching the movie.
But in bringing people together, there is definitely going to be issues. A building that is so used to fighting, gets into another one when Natalie leaves them a lone for bit. They do find their way to getting along though, without any help. The building wants to make things right, but Mark tells them there is something that he needs to make right first.
They all attend the walk to support Natalie, which visibly moves her. Yes, her and Mark end up wanting to date and kissing, but I THINK that the most important part of the movie wasn’t that. The part of the movie that was important was people coming together in the building, the people coming together for the walk, and the people learning to be there for themselves.
Falling Together was a great Hallmark Channel movie, one that we’d definitely watch again.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Have to admit, Natalie as a neighbor would freak me out at first
- Loved the pacing of the movie
- If one of my neighbors was handing out muffins outside, I would think they were insane
- The fight of the people in that building – WOAH
- There is a scene that involves a blue flower – you’ll know when you see it – that had me in tears.
- Mark and his Dad >>>
- I loved the pie lady. Didn’t like the boss skit, but whatever. Others did.
