Two for the Win is typical Hallmark fare, which is to say it’s decent but instantly forgettable. The ski-themed romance makes for perfect stress-free TV though, harmless fluff that will warm your winter evening. The movie stars Trevor Donovan as a champion skier on the mend and Charlotte Sullivan as his friend and coach. Since it tries to tell several stories without ever settling on one, it loses some of its emotional punch, but fans of the two leads may enjoy it.
Donovan at least looks the part as skier Justin O’Neill. Having managed some shaky outings as a country singer and Amish farmer among other roles, the actor and actual ex-member of the US teen ski team is in his element here. Justin returns to his hometown to recuperate after a nasty tumble on the slopes a year ago. Luckily, home is a ski lodge next to Winter Mountain and dad Tom (John Ralston) is a former champion skier himself. Justin hopes to make his comeback and perhaps score some endorsement deals by performing well at a local race, but he needs a new coach and he needs one fast.
Enter Kayla (Sullivan), an O’Neill family friend, daughter of a legendary coach, and Winter Mountain’s best instructor. She mostly teaches tykes and isn’t too keen on shifting her focus to a giant man with a bum knee, but her hesitations stem more from a past misunderstanding. She still feels sore about Justin’s hasty departure years earlier. The former friends had shared a close personal and professional relationship until Justin made it big and promptly ghosted everyone. Now with a week left until the big race, the two find themselves partnering up again.
Some familiar themes echo through the movie. Justin wrestles with his pushy father, whom he feels he is constantly disappointing. He also comes face to face with a new generation of skiers, future stars poised to overtake him within a year or two. The support and stability he gets from being back home gives him space to reflect on this while allowing him to make amends with Kayla. The story tugs at all these threads, revealing a more nuanced image of Justin. That’s helpful since Donovan never fully inhabits his character. He tends to act with his mouth, resorting to a fixed set of grimaces and half-smiles to convey Justin’s feelings. A bigger problem though is the overall lack of consistency in the storytelling. There are moments where Justin’s frustrations with his father come to the fore and others when his career reckoning takes precedence, but these appear as flashes. The film needs a steadier narrative or emotional arc to hold things up.
The subplots don’t help the story. Amanda Martinez has a supporting role as Justin’s overeager manager while Siobhan Murphy and Farid Yazdani have more substantial parts as Kayla’s sister and Justin’s best friend, respectively. The latter pair find themselves falling for each other except they have almost no chemistry and merely go through the motions of two people in love. Of all the actors, Sullivan comes out the best in this, but even she can’t do much to spike up her bland character. Kayla only shows some spunk when she lets loose at a charity auction, whilst donning a gorgeous champagne gown I should add. I’ll give a nod to the skiing bit as well. I wish the movie would have dedicated more time to pure ski photography in order to show off the sport. Not every winter movie must include multiple fire pit chat scenes.
Released: 2021
Dir: Jerry Ciccoritti
Writer: Andrea Canning, Nina Weinman
Cast: Trevor Donovan, Charlotte Sullivan, John Ralston, Farid Yazdani, Siobhan Murphy, Amanda Martinez, Seana McKenna, Alicia Richardson
Time: 85 min
Lang: English
Country: United States
Network: Hallmark Channel
Reviewed: 2021
Fits of Fury 