Romancey Pants

Friends, this duck is a big fan of movies with disabled characters, and by pairing a seeing-eye dog trainer with a blind college lecturer, Hallmark got me quacking with heart before I’d even begun this film. Starring Amber Marshall and Ben Mehl, there’s a lot of heart in this movie, and some great scenes where college students really rock at supporting their blind lecturer. (Note that one student tells his lecturer, “‘Til later” instead of “See you later.” Great job at a subtle inclusion of terms that aren’t seeing-eye-centric.)

But you know what? My Christmas Guide also sapped the tickle from my flippers, largely because Star, who is also disabled, used to work with blind communities and is skeptical when blind characters are portrayed as more in need in a relationship than empowered. Why is our blind lecturer not allowed to drive more of his own successes? Why can’t our dog trainer be as helped by her blind love interest as he is by her? Why doesn’t our seeing-eye person learn more from him?

Also, (slight spoiler coming,) why is she dating a total misogynist duckhead yet lets him shift her boundaries over and over? Perhaps that wouldn’t be an issue if we knew why she lets him behave so badly, or if he also had a tender, broken side, but no, my flippers are still in the dark.

That said, the inclusion of a blind character is very much appreciated, as are the wonderful details about the work that is done by seeing-eye dogs. And I must say, the leads have super-ducking awesome chemistry.

Now, don’t let any dogs near this duck! I’ve heard that they swallow us and I can review duck-all from inside a retriever’s intestines. Thank you.