From its humble beginnings as a postcard company in the 1910s, Hallmark has become synonymous with anything evoking over-the-top sentimentality.
By the 1960s, it had grown into a successful greeting card company — one that also had a knack for making people cry at its emotional commercials and TV specials. By 2001, Hallmark’s sappy, greeting card-inspired programming began to run on its own cable channel, and it’s steadily grown in popularity ever since.
In recent years, Hallmark movies have essentially become a genre unto themselves, thanks to their lighthearted stories and comforting, albeit formulaic plotlines.
These flicks are usually set in idyllic small towns during the holidays or amid some other type of festive occasion. They typically feature an independent and career-focused protagonist returning to said small town after previously moving away. Inevitably, a charming love interest enters (or reenters) the protagonist’s life, and just as inevitably, some type of misunderstanding, conflict, or obstacle threatens this budding romance before the couple finds their happy ending.
Hallmark has found enormous success through the expression of heartfelt feelings, and although these lines from some of its greeting cards and movies may be cheesy, they also encapsulate the simple feel-good nature to which the company owes its enduring popularity.
I want to walk through life leaning against you so that neither one of us falls.Bradley Suttons (Jesse Metcalfe) in “A Country Wedding”
I’m in love with you, and I want anyone and everyone to know about this flip-flop thing my stomach does whenever I see you walking my way.Hallmark greeting card
Every time I look at you, I'm breathless. Every time I hold you in my arms, I feel like I am home. I loved you yesterday. I love you today, I love you tomorrow.David (Tyler Hynes) in “It Was Always You”
When I think back about when we were growing up together I remember so many things. But for the life of me, I can't remember a time when I wasn't in love with you.Neil Thomas (Billy Magnussen) in “The Lost Valentine”
We go together like a cupcake and sprinkles. You’re sweet, and I wanna be all over you.Hallmark greeting card
You were just gonna leave without saying anything? You’re just gonna take off for Thailand to build houses for all of those elephants without even saying goodbye to me?Merry Griffin (Rachael Leigh Cook) in “’Tis the Season to be Merry”
Every day with you is a dream come true.Hallmark greeting card
As long as we’re together, I’m home.Ilana Elbaz (Torrey DeVitto) in “Love’s Greek to Me”
It’s not saying too much to call you my other half, my missing piece, the better part of me that takes my whole world to a higher level … And if it’s not asking too much, I’d like to keep loving you and being the one you love forever.Hallmark greeting card
Before the moon has left the sky, he must know he’s still your guy.Opal (Marcia Strassmann) in “Looking for Mr. Right”
Heart and soul, head to toe — and everything in between — that’s how I love you … A moment of passion with you feels like a breathtaking eternity. I don’t know how you do it. I just know I don’t ever want you to stop.Hallmark greeting card
True love, like driftwood, reinvents itself and stands the test of time.Maxwell Gridley (Paul Campbell) in “Surprised by Love”
Featured image credit: Zoonar GmbH/ Alamy Stock Photo
