When Hope Howard (Layla Cushman) discovers that her boss at a medical research company has been overcharging the company for medical supplies, she is promptly fired by Dr. David Jakes (Eric Hanson). Angered over the way she’s been treated and still convinced she can prove that Dr. Jakes was up to something shady, Hope hits the road. She returns to her former hometown and drops in on her way-too-quirky best friend, Stephanie (Allison Grischow). She visits her mother’s grave and then has an awkward encounter with her father (Philip Schaefer), from whom she was once estranged but who is now making an effort to be a better person. She also meets a cute guy (Jason Frederick), and they end up with a sort of Hallmark-like romance going.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jakes is dying. He has a rare form of blood cancer, one that is survivable when you’re young but aggressive when you’re older. He realizes that his only hope is to find someone who survived the cancer as a child and get a blood transfusion from them. With the help of a nerdy but greedy hacker named Dylan (Michael Alan Herman), he tracks down the only possible donor and—OH NO!—it’s Hope!
Now, this might sound like the setup for a really zany Hallmark film, but unfortunately, in 2023’s Chasing Hope, Dr. Jakes is not that nice and Hope is not that forgiving. Dr. Jakes tries to call Hope several times, and she eventually reacts by tossing her phone in a dumpster and then trying to find proof that he’s been stealing money from the company. Eventually, Dr. Jakes resorts to trying to kidnap Hope. If nothing else, this film is a lesson in being polite to people. Seriously, you never know when you might need their blood. If Dr. Jakes had been a little bit nicer when firing Hope or had offered her a better severance package, maybe she would be more willing to give him her blood. It’s hard for me to say because I’ve never actually been fired. When I graduated college, I was hired to be an office administrator by a friend of my mom’s, and I did that until he retired, and there was always kind of an understanding that all I really had to do was show up and stay out of trouble. I think that if I ever had been fired from an actual job, I would be pretty angry. Would I still let the person who fired me die of a rare disease? I’d like to think that I wouldn’t.
This is a faith-based film, though it doesn’t really become obvious how until the final minutes. It feels more like a Lifetime film from the late aughts. It has a strong woman trying to bring down an ungrateful man, a quirky best friend, and a potential romance with a somewhat boring man. Unfortunately, the film itself is not as much fun as the typical Lifetime film. For instance, the quirky friend is actually a bit too quirky, and by the third time she’s said something inappropriate, you’re kind of over her. Hope herself isn’t always that sympathetic, if only because she keeps dragging everyone else into her personal drama. Like, seriously, Hope, not everyone wants to risk dying just because you’re unemployed.
Oh, this movie made me happy that I’ve never had a real job.
