“The Awful Truth” was a Cary Grant/Irene Dunne screwball comedy about a divorced couple who discover that they are still in love, despite the fact that they are about to marry other people. “The Parent Trap” concerns twins trying to reunite their divorced parents before Dad marries a younger woman. Combine these two movies and you have “Personally Yours.” Well, sort of. The magic that makes a film a classic is seldom evidenced in this made-for-TV romantic comedy. Rather than “screwball,” most of the situations are dim-witted, with the main characters behaving rather insensitively toward the women who have responded to the magazine article.

Actually, it is rather sad. Lonely ladies from all over the country have flown up to Alaska to meet this handsome bachelor. He’s so annoyed, however, that the slightest courtesy towards these poor souls never seems to occur to him. At one point, he even embarrasses a woman by shouting at her in front of strangers on the street. The writer, director and actors treat these lovelorn people as mere props to further the story. Neither the kids nor the adults seem concerned in the slightest with the well-being of anyone not in their immediate circle. True, anyone who has been dumped unceremoniously can relate to this type of indifference. For that matter, apathy toward others seems rampant in our hectic society. But in Philippians 2:3-4, we are instructed, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”

Then we have Valerie Bertinelli’s pepless performance. Although Ms. Bertinelli has demonstrated a certain enthusiastic charm in past movies-of-the-week, here she seems drained of energy as if she had been listening to far too much Van Halen. The film does contain good relationships between the siblings; a positive message about being fortunate if you realize what you have; and a thoughtful discussion about sex as mom and daughter discuss the subject, with the girl realizing love should come first. Also, there are several beautiful shots of Alaskan vistas, and the story has a happy ending. Plus, I think this film and others are re-examining family breakups. Perhaps this generation is discovering that it hates divorce nearly as much as God does.