Review of Lead with Your Heart

This hallmance takes a surprisingly mature approach: None of the silly misunderstandings, overreactions, juvenile antics, or unnecessary conflict for the sake of following the stock romance formula. Although nothing much happened, it kept me engaged with refreshing surprises along the way. His woman friend whom the kids think are making a play for their dad turned out to be just really nice, wise, and only a friend; Her handsome divorced boss really was nothing more than a nice boss; the immature irresponsible lifelong buddy not only does not seduce the husband into bad behavior, but gives him some heartfelt touching advice about working on his marriage from the perspective of actually being a still grieving widower. Both were somewhat at fault for losing touch with each other, and not making an effort to share each other's interests. Their problems were molehills, however, not mountains. Refreshingly, they don't lose their perspective and blow things all out of proportion. I really appreciated how the husband sacrificed his love of small town life and his socially conscious (but probably low-paying) career and agreed to move to the city to support his wife's once in a lifetime career opportunity. Too often, the husband or wife's career is sacrificed on the altar of what the children want, the family home, and wholesome small town/country living. This Hallmark movie's message is that home is where the heart is, not some idealized lifestyle.