Hallmark’s slate of Loveuary movies continues this weekend with the premiere of Return to Office, about co-workers who fall for each other after they’re forced to share a desk when their office returns to a hybrid work schedule. Janel Parrish and Scott Michael Foster play colleagues who leave sticky notes for each other on their shared desk, eventually getting to know one another purely through their anonymous Post-It conversations, promising not to reveal their real identities until the time is right.
RETURN TO OFFICE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: It’s 7 a.m. and Liv Smith (Parrish), lying in bed, tells her smart device, “Hey Winston, play Brandenberg Concerto Number 3.” As the music plays, she prepares herself a cup of matcha and some fruit, enjoying a leisurely morning full of small pleasures. Then, moments before video call, she changes into a smart-looking blouse and throws on some lipstick, leaving her fuzzy slippers on. All in a day’s work…from home.
The Gist: Liv is a corporate strategist for a tech conglomerate (I don’t know what any of those words mean), but she’s the all-business type and has been integral to her company’s acquisition of art-based social media platform, Artist Axis. Having spent a long time working remotely, when Liv is told she needs to go hybrid, working part time in the office, she finds herself sharing a workspace with a stranger, the art director for Artist Axis, Tom (Foster). Communicating solely via Post-It, the two leave messages for one another about their shared workspace, at first they’re a little contentious, complaining about cleanliness and decor, before an olive branch (in the form of Tom sending Liv a chocolate croissant one morning) is extended and they warm to each other. But rather than reveal their identities to each other, they call each other Ms. Monday and Mr. Tuesday, referring to the days of the week that they’re in the office, and just to keep things cute, they agree not to divulge real names.
But the thing is, while Ms. Monday and Mr. Tuesday get along great, Liv and Tom, who end up seeing each other at company-wide meetings and collaborating on the company’s new logo, have a strictly professional relationship. Things are complicated though when Mr. Tuesday asks Ms. Monday out – and then, through a random coincidence involving Tom’s mom taking a quilting class from Liv, who volunteers at a retirement center – Liv discovers Tom is Mr. Tuesday and things get awkward now that she knows who he is, but he doesn’t.
Things are even harder for them both after their big boss, Walter (Christopher Shyer) becomes a common adversary, threatening the very existence of Artist Axis. This causes Liv and Tom (and their alter egos) to realize that, even though work was what brought them together, the office itself isn’t required keep them together.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Return to Office has its roots in hidden identity movies like You’ve Got Mail and the fun British rom-com series The Flatshare, where two roommates who have never met split rent on a one-bedroom apartment that night-shift worker Leon lives in during the day, and roommate Tiffy sleeps in at night, and correspond by leaving notes for each other.
Our Take: Thinking that the premise of Return to Office could really happen requires a little suspension of disbelief, in the same way that you have to be pretty oblivious to not know that Clark Kent is actually Superman. While Ms. Monday and Mr. Tuesday adore each other, it would be near impossible in the real world to keep their identities a secret if they were actually sharing a desk and computer. It’s especially frustrating to watch Tom obliviously ignore all the hints that Liv drops to him that she’s Ms. Monday once she learns that he’s her crush. And yet, even if you can’t get past that, Foster and Parrish’s performances and chemistry will still win you over.
Despite the fact that Tom’s clueless about Liv’s identity, he is otherwise an emotionally astute and fully-realized character who, whether he’s interacting with Liv or Ms. Monday, is genuine and warm, but doesn’t hold back his frustrations and constructive criticism either. It’s that criticism, when he calls out Liv for being a lackey to their boss, Walter, that jolts Liv into the realization that he’s right. At least Tom is fulfilling his creative desires in his job, but Liv is simply Walter’s yes-man.
The movie takes a kind of surprising twist at the end when Walter goes full tech bro villain and tells Liv he’s embracing AI and planning to shut down Artist Axis after stripping it for parts, which causes her to finally stand up to him, showing some backbone and doing what’s right, which is what Tom had been asking her to do all along. (I definitely didn’t have “Hallmark movie takes an active anti-AI stance” on my Loveuary bingo card.) The final third of the movie is more concerned with Liv and Tom dealing with Walter, practically abandoning the Monday/Tuesday plot for a while, which is why, in the final moment of the film when Liv reveals herself to be Ms. Monday it’s almost funny to be reminded that Tom still never figured that out. But remember, we’re suspending our disbelief for this one, and that’s okay, because their pairing is strong enough that no matter which identities they assume, they sell the relationship.
Parting Shot: Having both just quit their jobs, Tom and Liv meet for a real date. She reveals to him that she also just quit her job, and she proposes they start their own boutique design firm, an idea Tom loves. “Perfect, I’ll draw up the paperwork on Monday,” she tells him, to which he replies, “Can’t it wait till Tuesday?”
Performance Worth Watching: The movie lacks any kind of real ensemble, but Christopher Shyer does his best to bring “intense, vaguely evil corporate villain” vibes to the mix while making the role funny.
Memorable Dialogue: “I met someone,” Tom tells his mom when she asks him what’s new. “Well, okay, I haven’t officially met her, we just share a desk and write notes to each other. I actually don’t even know who she is!”
“Dating is so different these days,” his mom responds.
Our Call: STREAM IT! A lot of what happens in Return to Office is refreshing and surprising – even though the movie adheres to typical Hallmark formulas, there are some interesting choices throughout the film that keep things from feeling predictable or stale.
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Return To Office’ on the Hallmark Channel, Where Desk-Sharing Hybrid Workers Fall In Love Via Sticky Note appeared first on Decider.
