Zachary Levi Plays a Different Kind of Geek in REMEMBER SUNDAY {Advance Review}

Zachary Levi returns to the small screen this weekend in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Remember Sunday, airing April 21 at 9/8c on ABC. I had the opportunity to watch the made-for-TV movie in advance, and was completely charmed.

Remember Sunday is about a man, Gus (Zachary Levi), who used to be an astrophysicist but now works at a jewelry shop preparing stones for setting and occasionally minding the store. He has a set routine and relies on notes – from a clearly marked folder, on post-its, and audio from a pen recorder that is transcribed into his laptop – to remind him what and when to do what he needs to do. OCD? Not really. See, a few years ago Gus suffered a brain aneurysm that affected his short term memory. Every night when Gus goes to sleep, instead of his brain cataloging and storing his memories from that day, it erases them. So every morning, Gus has to start from scratch.

Enter Molly (Gilmore Girls‘ Alexis Bledel), a free-spirited, trying-to-find-her-path waitress at a diner. Molly is staying with a friend until she gets on her feet, coming out of a relationship with a guy that didn’t treat her well, and generally trying to stay optimistic. When Gus comes to the diner to meet his best friend for breakfast, they have a “meet cute” and she leaves him a message on his recorder pen that he discovers later, which leads to a little bewilderment on his part before he realizes that she’s interested in him.

As Gus and Molly’s relationship progresses into something serious, his forgetfulness causes some problems, but Molly is unaware that it stems from a neurological defect. Should Gus tell her the truth? Will she want to be with someone who forgets about her every night and has to set up an elaborate system of notes to remember her every morning? Can love overcome science?

Remember Sunday is a gentle romance that occasionally tugs at the heart strings, as Hallmark movies do. The general premise is similar to the 2004 movie [easyazon-link asin=”B0001Z3TXE”]50 First Dates[/easyazon-link], but this is more of a drama and has a sweeter tone than the Drew Barrymore/Adam Sandler project.

Zac and Alexis have a lovely, natural chemistry and their characters are adorable together. I actually said, out loud, about 1/3 of the way through the movie, “Well, this is just adorable.” They’re quirky and sweet without being annoying and saccharine, letting the audience fall for them as a couple as they fall for each other. Gus shares some traits with Chuck – serious intelligence, thoughtfulness, sly wit, and a certain wistfulness – so he felt familiar but enough different that I didn’t feel like I was watching the same character. Alexis Bledel’s Rory Gilmore is another of my all-time favorite characters, and Molly again shares a few traits with Rory that made it easy to like her.

This isn’t groundbreaking or provocative TV by any means, but we can get plenty of that elsewhere. Instead, Remember Sunday is the perfect way to wind down your weekend, and remember how much you enjoy having Zachary Levi on your screen.

Remember Sunday premieres Sunday, April 21 at 9/8c on ABC.