Strangers Heart (2007)

Editor's Note The romantic drama A STRANGER'S HEART stars Peter Dobson (LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN) and Samantha Mathis (PUMP UP THE VOLUME). On New Year's Eve, Jasper Cates and Callie Morgan both undergo heart transplant surgery after a couple is killed in a car accident. After becoming romantically involved, Jasper and Callie befriend the young orphaned daughter of their organ donors.

	Gina Hecht
	Kevin Kilner
	Peter Dobson
	Samantha Mathis
	Andy Wolk - Director
	Christine Kelley - Editor
	Kelli Pryor - Writer
	Lawrence Shragge - Original Music By
	Matt Fitzsimons - Producer
	Maximo Munzi - Cinematographer
	Robert Halmi, Jr. - Executive Producer
	Scott H. Campbell - Production Designer

Variety 7 of 10
To be fair, Hallmark Channel's target movie audience knows precisely what to expect -- a combination of hankie-waving and moral uplift. That said, there is something vaguely creepy about "A Stranger's Heart," a romance built around two people who meet while awaiting heart transplants and gradually bond as both are mysteriously drawn toward the orphaned child of the couple whose hearts they inherited...Actually, the concept of a romance between these heart patients -- and little wrinkles, like how understandably tentative they are about having sex -- wouldn't be such a bad backdrop by itself, though writer Kelli Pryor seems to be engaged in a contest to see how many groaning lines with "heart" she can incorporate into the dialogue...Still, the subplot involving the kid is simply bizarre -- neither fully embracing its spiritual dimension nor the not-terribly-reassuring notion that while she's lost mom and dad, she can take solace in -- what, being close to their hearts?...Mathis and Dobson give it the old college try, but there's only so much that can be wrung from material this stilted, which requires a magical touch and, under director Andy Wolk, finds none. Think of it as a trip to Oz where the Wizard grants just one wish: The movie has a little heart, to be sure; now if it only had a brain. - Brian Lowry