Movie Review: Signed Sealed Delivered - Higher Ground

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Solid mystery with characters we love

Cons: Shane sidelined for too much of the movie

The Bottom Line:

A jazzy letter

Trying to find refugees

Sidelined character

“In My Country, You’d Be Married with Twins by Now.”  “Well…We Have a Potato.”

I always marvel at what storylines a series can come up with.  Take Higher Ground, the eighth Signed, Sealed, Delivered movie.  The series follows the cases that the dead letter office in Denver, Colorado, deal with.  So imagine my surprise to learn this movie centered around a refugee from Hurricane Katrina.

Set in 2017 (when the movie was originally released), it finds our heroes tackling a letter they’ve just been given.  Their only clue to the sender is the name Gabe (Keb' Mo').  And the recipient is a woman who owned a jazz place in New Orleans before the hurricane hit.  Without much more than that to go on, can they figure anything out?

Meanwhile, in the POstable’s personal lives, Norman (Geoff Gustafson) makes a decision about his relationship with Rita (Crystal Lowe).  But it’s Oliver and Shane (Eric Mabius and Kristin Booth) who face a crossroads when Shane’s ex comes back and insists that she is needed for a top-secret project.

You’ve got to love movie time (or fictional time in general).  The last movie was set in spring 2016 (not that we ever see snow in the Denver of this show).  This movie starts clearly days later, but it’s also clearly 2017.  Yes, I know, just let it go.  And I don’t care.  This kind of thing I notice in passing and move on.

I am wondering if there was a scheduling issue or why Kristin Booth was written out for so much of the movie.  Yes, I liked where things ended up for all the characters at the end, but I like these movies the most when the four POstables are working together toward their goal.  Having her missing definitely left a hole in things.

The case involving the letter was good.  I knew the high points of the plot early on, but I honestly didn’t care.  It was nice to be following the characters as they solved the case.  And it is very much nice to sit down knowing you will get a satisfying ending.

I did find bits of low budget cheese slipping into this movie, which is rare for this franchise.  The writing was where I noticed it the most.  It’s only a few lines, but they were definitely awkward.  The actors are all fine, especially the leads.  But that’s no surprise; they always are.

When this movie was in production, Hallmark hadn’t agreed to any more movies in the franchise.  (Which is funny given the fact that two more were released in 2017.)  Creator Martha Williamson made sure that all the storylines were given a satisfactory wrap up.  I appreciate her dedication to making sure fans weren’t left hanging.  I’m even happier there are still more movies to watch.

I am continuing to enjoy the Signed, Sealed, Delivered franchise.  It’s heartwarming with charming characters.  Fans will find Higher Ground another movie worth their time.

This movie is included in the Signed, Sealed, Delivered Movies 5-8 DVD collection.