Susan Granger’s review of “Miss Lettie and Me” (TNT made-for-TV movie – Dec. 8th)
It’s become a tradition. Every year, a new TNT movie rings in the season’s cheer. So on Sunday night at 8, there’s “Miss Lettie and Me,” a heartwarming holiday drama. Lettie Anderson (Mary Tyler Moore) is a sad spinster lady who lives quietly alone on a small-town sheep farm with her wise and caring, long-time farmhand Isiah Griffin (Charlie Robinson) and his family. Over the years, after many disappointments, she’s isolated herself. And the unexpected arrival of Travis (Holliston Coleman), a nine year-old grandniece she never knew existed, doesn’t help her cranky disposition. Travis’s mother ran off with a musician when she was 17, and Lettie has been estranged from her ever since. Now, with Travis on her doorstep, Lettie moans, “I cannot raise another child,” leaving Isiah to care for the curious youngster, who had expected her great aunt to be, well, “great.” But then feisty, resourceful Travis befriends Lettie’s first-love, Samuel Madison (Burt Reynolds), a former baseball player who’s come back home to open Sam’s Soda Fountain. Will Lettie break through her self-imposed barriers? Will Travis crack open the stone the encloses her heart? And will there be a happy, Christmas-theme’d ending? You guess. Utilizing a formulaic teleplay by Dalene Young, based on a Katherine Paterson short story, director Ian Barry restrains the obvious sentiment, emphasizing, instead, the bittersweet emotional journey of each “lost lamb” character and the joy of family. The acting is strong, despite the fact that wraith-like Mary Tyler Moore has been so cosmetically enhanced that her face barely moves. On the Granger Made-for-TV Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Miss Lettie and Me” is a gentle, sweet, hopeful 5. It premieres Sunday night at 8 on TNT cable TV with encores throughout December.
