In the Hallmark Channel movie To Philly With Love, Rebecca Dalton plays Emily, a woman who visits the National Archive in Philadelphia to research some Revolutionary War-era love letters her grandmother left her before she died. As Emily tries to decode some clues buried in the letters she employs the help of the lead archivist, Nate (Stephen Huszar) to help her and the two realize they could learn a thing or two about romance from these 250-year-old letters.
The Gist: Emily is a teacher and amateur historian who is helping her mom clean out the home of her recently deceased grandmother, Beverly. Beverly was also a historian who was a member of the Ladies for Liberty, a group dedicated to preserving the memories and traditions of Revolutionary America in Philadelphia, and her old home seems to hold lots of historical artifacts they have to cull through.
When Emily learns that Ladies for Liberty is at risk of losing its non-profit status, one of her grandmother’s friends asks Emily to take over on a project that Beverly had been researching, trying to reunite the letters of two young lovers, one a Revolutionary soldier named Jonathan, and his beloved, Mary, whose family was against the Revolution. Emily visits the National Archives and enlists the help of Nathan, the lead archivist there, to help her finish the research job Beverly started, with the hopes that it will help Ladies for Liberty retain their non-profit standing.
The pair work together to decipher a series of clues in Jonathan’s letters in hopes that it will lead them to Mary’s set of letters, and as they dig into this romantic mystery, they fall for each other. (Of course, for a little bit of tension, when Nate uses the letters in an exhibition at the Archives, Emily assumes he was just using her and the letters to advance his career, but rest assured, Nate’s a good guy and never intended to take credit for their discovery.) Not only do they unlock the secret codes buried in the letters, they manage to save the Ladies for Liberty, earn landmark status on Beverly’s house, and by the end, Emily finds in it her heart to love Nate despite the fact that Nate like Whiz on his cheesesteak. It’s a true Philly romance.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? To Philly With Love was probably not inspired directly by Ken Burns’ American Revolution series on PBS, but it’ll certainly appeal to anyone who enjoyed it, with it’s Revolutionary War-era love story at it’s center. (It also reminds me of Haunted Wedding, the goofy, lighthearted 2024 Hallmark romance starring Janel Parrish as a ghost hunter trying to reconnect the spirits of who 18th century lovers who died before they could be married. This movie has a similar vibe, it’s just less supernatural.)
Performance Worth Watching: Watching Stephen Huszar play Nate is like watching Clark Kent become Superman. Though he’s often dressed in stuffy clothes and dark-rimmed glasses and is adorably passionate about American history, you can’t help but notice his biceps bulging out of his Brooks Brothers button-downs.
Sex And Skin: None.
Our Take: On the one hand, To Philly With Love is just an extended advertisement for Philadelphia. (You want footage of cheesesteaks and water ice and Independence Hall and Reading Terminal Market? Say no more.) And as someone who loves the city, I have nothing against that (although I just wish they had found a way to work my favorite Philadelphian, Gritty, into the plot). But on top of this being a love letter to the City of Brotherly Love, it’s also a complex romance with layers of mystery and history added in for fun.
Even though the characters are all fictional, Emily and Nathan investigate the letters between Mary and Jonathan while traveling to historical sites around the city and trying to break their secret code. It’s like a fun National Treasure-style hunt for clues, but the movie never forgets that it’s ultimately a cozy romance, too, and the chemistry between the two leads is what holds it all together. As Emily and Nate investigate, the romantic nature of the letters they’ve uncovered unlocks something in them that makes them realize that they’ve both been playing it safe and not opening themselves up to love, bringing all of the plot lines of the film together once they finally get together.
Our Call: To Philly With Love weaves together a modern romance with a historical mystery, successfully using Philadelphia as a character central to both plots. It’ll make you wish Hallmark made movies about every major American city, just to see what kind of fun references and location shots they’ll throw int. STREAM IT!
How To Watch Philly In Love
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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.
