Christmas

Oy to the World

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Oy to Joy

Hallmark’s Hanukkah based holiday movies of recent years have been some of their better ones, so I was cautiously looking forward to this one. The title seemed a little iffy but I do like Jake Epstein in most everything, and I thought he had really good chemistry with Brooke D’Orsay, his co-lead. Overall this was a pretty standard enemies to lovers plot, although both were so nice and family and faith oriented that I use the term “enemies” with a huge grain of salt. It was very sweet, if a little too good to be true. But you know what? It’s Christmas.

Nikki and Jake were childhood friends who at some point became rivals during their high school years. It all probably had it’s beginnings in their opposing personality traits. Nikki being structured, organized, and serious, and Jake being free-wheeling, unfocused, and fun. In a flashback scene we see Nikki getting up to sing “Joy to the World” in front of the whole school. She hits a bad note, her voice breaks, and she runs off the stage in embarrassment only to see Jake backstage smirking at her. The whole experience was so devastating to her that she quit singing in public despite her love of music. She is now the “choir director” of her father’s Episcopalian Church. I put that in quotes because the choir consists of 4 kids one of whom quits mid-movie. This is apparently her only job because she is in her mid-thirties and seems like she is still living at home, although I may be wrong about that. This struck me as pretty sad though it does not seem to be an issue and no mention is made of it. Jake, on the other hand is a singer/songwriter in New York City and has enjoyed moderate success though he has yet to get his big break with an actual record deal. His dad is the rabbi at the temple across the street from Nikki’s church and their families are close. When the pipes burst at the temple, and Jake’s grandmother injures herself in a resulting fall, it brings Jake home to take her place as the temple’s choir director. Not using quotes because his choir has 5 teens in it.

Needless to say (a phrase often used when talking about Hallmark movies), The two single thirty-somethings continue their rivalry while simultaneously falling in love. The tipping point is kind of sweet. Nikki and Jake make a wager that if Nikki’s family loses a bowling match to Jake’s family, Nikki will have to get up and sing in front of the whole bowling alley. On the verge of winning the bet, Jake purposely throws a gutter ball to lose the match when he sees how horrified and sick Nikki becomes at the prospect of singing publicly. When one of Nikki’s 4 choir members quits the choir because under her direction, the choir is no fun (poor Nikki! Again, so lame) the two choirs are merged under their dual direction for a big concert on Christmas Eve (which also happens to be the last day of Hanukkah) at Father Paul’s church. The joint effort will be raising money for Rabbi Levi’s broken pipes. To kick off the extravaganza, Nikki and Jake will sing the fateful “Joy to the World”. And Nikki is fine with that because Jake will be there by her side and supporting her. Won’t he? I mean surely he will not be called away back to New York for a big career break on that very day! Will he?!

Needless to say, we have a flirty baking scene complete with flour throwing, in which Nikki’s gentile gingerbread cookies recipe gets mixed up with Jake’s Jewish rugelach cookies recipe and they are delicious. The symbolism reflects the whole movie’s message which is peace, love and acceptance between the two religions and amongst people everywhere, despite their underlying differences. Yes, it was very cheesy, but it is tough times these days and I welcomed the message wholeheartedly. I won’t comment how accurate and faithful certain things in this movie were to Jewish customs and culture because I am not qualified to do so. But I did detect a few Jewish stereotypes, and I had to cringe when the Jewish part of the congregation had to listen and smile to a song which celebrates baby Jesus as the king of the world. To be fair, the Hanukkah song written by Jake was really beautiful. It was a very sweet comfort movie. And thanks to these Hallmark movies I can now spell Hanukkah without looking it up.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

A Suite Holiday Romance

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“Oh My Lord!”

~~Eloise (on the tippy top floor of The Plaza)

This is one of those Hallmarks that feels like it has to retcon what we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears in order to create a last minute drama that tears the couple apart so they can get them back together at the very very end. In this one it is the “You’ve Been Lying to Me the Whole Time!” scenario. I understand that this is the formula. And I really don’t mind it when there is a reason for the conflict and drama. Like if the guy or girl had really actually been actually lying to the other one the whole time. But in this case, there was no lying to be had. At All. Well Ok, maybe just a little bit very near the end, when he realizes for the first time that she thinks he is someone he is not. He doesn’t immediately correct her misapprehension. It would have been difficult. He is in a state of shock probably because he is thinking she was only pretending to love him because she thought he was a higher status person than he actually was. Depressed as well, probably. And it’s too bad, because otherwise this was a pretty good Hallmark.

By virtue of a great article she wrote about Hazel Holley,  a famous children’s book author, Sabrina, our heroine, has been tapped to ghost write the memoirs of a great world famous art-broker.  He, Grayson Westcott, was once Hazel Holley’s butler while she lived at the famous Grand Fairbanks Hotel in Manhattan while writing her books. This book series is about a little girl named Cordelia who lives at this same world renowned and very fancy hotel. If you are familiar with Kay Thompson’s children’s series about Eloise and The Plaza, you will recognize a lot of parallels with this movie. Right down to Sabrina staying in the “Cordelia Suite” and a huge oil painting portrait of “Cordelia” in a place of honor. So that was fun! Also staying at the same luxurious hotel, is Lord Braxton, who is vaguely part of the royal family of England, and his secretary, Ian, who also works for the family’s charity, “Read for the Stars”. They are there to exhibit the Braxton family’s jewelry collection to raise money for this charity which fosters reading skills for learning disabled children. After they have their meet-cute (she starts to eat his delicious-looking sandwich by mistake at the hotel bar), Ian and Sabrina form an instant connection, start doing stuff together (remarkably not ice skating at Rockefeller Center, however), and fall in love.  Meanwhile Ian is trying to keep the immature and fun-loving Lord Spencer Braxton out of trouble, specifically keeping him from proposing marriage to the hotel jewelry clerk (who is doing post graduate work on the Victorian author, Elizabeth Gaskell. Kudos there, script writer!). Also meanwhile, Sabrina is interviewing Grayson Westcott for her book. He tells her the story of his love affair with an 18-year-old debutante while he was taking care of Hazel Holley. It ended sadly because she had to go to London to fulfill her dream and the dream of choice of seemingly all young Hallmark heroines: being a fashion designer. They keep in touch but when he finds out down the road that her family lost their money and her fashion designer dream is dead, he doesn’t go to her rescue. This was badly done on Grayson’s part and quite a plot hole. Especially since when she was rich he didn’t think he was good enough for her. 

Now the crux of the matter, which everyone sees coming. Thanks to Sabrina’s daffy and obnoxious friend, Sabrina thinks that Ian is really Spencer the royal Lord, but he is just calling himself Ian to protect his privacy. The fact that Ian, she thinks, is royalty and very rich doesn’t seem to bother her too much at first *wink*, but she finally realizes that the romance cannot be because they live in two different worlds and two different countries. So inspired by Grayson’s frustrated romance, she writes him a letter breaking up with him. Please note that he never lies to her except when he finally realizes, near the end, that she has the wrong end of the stick and thinks he is a rich royal and not a lowly secretary. At that point he is shocked, discombobulated, and he doesn’t know how to tell her the truth. And then she breaks up with him before he can set her straight. All this while, Sabrina knows he has no idea that she thinks he is a Royal. Very early on, she comments to him that he didn’t tell her he was “with” the Braxtons. Not that he was Lord Braxton, but “with” the Braxtons. And later than that, when their romance is in full swing, she tells her flakey friend that Ian has no idea that she knows he is really royalty. In other words Ian thinks she thinks he is just a normal guy. Which he is. After a pow-wow with Grayson, she has a change of heart and decides to try to make their relationship work despite the challenge of him being a Royal and all. But when the truth is finally publicly revealed she stalks off accusing him of lying to her “the whole time.” and “Was any of this even real?!” The only unreal part was what was going on in her own head. You’d think she’d be happy. How could he be lying to her? He never claimed to be a Royal, and thought she knew that. Which she knew. My head is still spinning.

Other than that, I liked the movie. It was good to see Jessy Schram again after 2 Hallmark-free years. The male lead was good as was Adam Hurtig as the volatile Spencer Braxton. The production was very well mounted with the hotel and New York City background. And, small spoiler, I’ll never have a quarrel with three happy endings. But it lost a star due to the rewrite of established facts.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Single on the 25th

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Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving

This was but a simple love story set in Chicago with no gimmicks or even much of a secondary plot line to distract us from the romance. Everything was focused on the character development and the growing connection between the two leads. And it was lovely. Lyndsy Fonseca, Hallmark Christmas movie veteran, usually seen only during the Holidays (once in January), was charming and charismatic as always. I am not sure this would have worked without her talented presence. She was paired with Daniel Lissing and he was good. I would say the time we spend with them in the movie was pretty much equally divided between the two.

Christmas-loving Nell Duke is looking forward to her family visiting her in the city during Christmas and she has taken the whole week off from her successful career to show them a good time with a host of curated activities. So refreshing not to have our heroine dealing with career woes or trying to convince an awful boss that she deserves the big promotion! Unfortunately her family has to all drop out due to unexpected family emergencies and Nell decides to go home with her good friend and cancel all of the reservations. Unfortunately some are non-refundable. She is discussing the situation with her friend when she runs into her apartment building neighbor with whom she has a cordial but rather awkward relationship. He helps her carry in her Christmas tree, and later, she locks herself out of her apartment, knocks on his door for help, and they get to talking. He convinces her to stay in Chicago during the holidays and embrace her singleness, taking part in all of her planned activities all by herself. He is kind of a loner at work, not seeming to have a lot in common with his obnoxious office buddy. When he is roped into planning the important office Christmas party, he has to cancel his own planned skiing trip and stay in Chicago himself. Nell and Cooper get to know each other and they start doing some of the activities together. Cooper, who prides himself on his independence, coaches Nell on how to be successfully single while living in a world seemingly made up of happy couples and babies.  Nell, who is experienced at planning parties, helps Cooper make his office party for clients extra special to impress his bosses. They slowly become good friends and start to fall for each other while Cooper’s family welcomes her into some of their traditional events. Cooper learns that going it alone is sometimes not as fun as being part of a couple and he can show his true self, a goodhearted guy and a bit of a nerd, and still not be an outcast in the corporate world full of yuppies.

The romance is developed slowly and steadily and is well founded. They open up to each other, learn about each other, and when they resolve that dreaded last minute misunderstanding and get together at the end, it is because of choice, not need. 

One of the highlights was seeing Cooper’s obnoxious office buddy learn from Cooper’s example and quit being such a phony. Bro Hug! The movie was well paced with lots going on despite the slow steadiness of the romance development. I loved the messages this movie conveyed, the Christmas in the city atmosphere, and seeing both leads have real character arcs and backstories. There was nothing “wrong” with either of them, but they brought out the best in each other and learned to be happier people together. I loved that it seemed to be aimed at a younger than usual demographic. Of course there were a few of the usual tropes, but they were not crutches for a weak plot. And it was nice to see Lyndsy Fonseca star in a movie that didn’t rely on paranormal activity.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

She’s Making a List

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Coal-Worthy

It’s not that I didn’t understand this movie, it’s that so many little things did not make sense. And it was boring. I really had high hopes for it. The premise was cute and different, and it starred two of Hallmark’s biggest and most popular stars: Lacey Chabert and Andrew Walker. I would have thought they would have given them a better script. And I don’t know much about direction, I just know when it’s good, but things were said or implied that I didn’t see on screen. Then at the end, the plot just went off into La-La Land, and by that I don’t mean Los Angeles.

In a nut shell, here is the plot. The naughty or nice list is real. But Santa’s elves have long since been relieved of the huge responsibility of deciding whether the children of the world get presents or coal in their stockings. That  job has been sourced to Naughty or Nice, Inc. who uses modern technology and algorithms to separate the good, the bad, and the in-between. They have a huge fancy office building in a big city so the whole company and its mission is right out there on Front Street. The algorithm is adequate for most kids, but some kids are on the line between naughty and nice. And that is where the human inspectors come in. Isabel (Chabert) is one of the best and up for a big promotion. The inspectors are dispersed throughout the Santa Claus believing world assigned to take a closer in-person look at the actions and behavior of these fence-straddling kids. They are armed with a huge guide book detailing, among other things, the rules of engagement in order to make the final determination of coal or presents for Christmas. And no one knows the rule book better or follows it more closely than Isabel. Sounds cute, right? And I am the last person to turn my nose up at a little whimsey. The production values were good, there were some clever and cute lines and concepts, and Lacey Chabert and Andrew Walker are always competent at the very least. But it ended up in a muddle that could have been done much better. And easily fixed.

The first case has Isabel scrutinizing two little boys playing with a ball. One dares the other to throw the ball as high as he can and when he does it breaks a car tail light when it lands (somehow?). It was just an accident, but the one kid runs away and the other struggles with his conscience and then runs away. Lacey writes down “Mischief, Destruction, and Evasion”. Both the boys are judged “Naughty.” Case Closed. No presents. One of the messages this movie seems to be trying to convey is about digging deeper past the surface actions before putting a label on a child. Wouldn’t it have been more effective if the kid would have changed his mind and taken responsibility for his actions but after Lacey had left the scene of the crime? Or some other extenuating circumstances?

The next case is a boy named Teddy who is apparently planting seedlings (In December?) with his classmates. He sprays bleach on everyone’s plants except his own! Why? Were they in some kind of plant competition? Why would a kid be so malicious? It’s never made clear. Isabel’s assistant thinks that he meant to spray fertilizer, not bleach. But if that’s true, why would he not fertilize his own plant? Isobel later claims it was the only bottle of bleach in a row of fertilizer bottles so it must have been a mistake. Which is clearly what the viewer is supposed to believe. But the frame showing the bottles clearly shows that is not true.  And why would bottles of bleach be right next to fertilizer in a children’s garden in the first place? And he was definitely acting guilty and sneaky. Making mountains out of mole hills? Maybe. But it was disengaging and distracting for no reason. Nothing about it made sense. If he was spraying bleach on innocent little baby plants that is more than just mischievous, it is very concerning behavior. The lesson of not jumping to conclusions about kids’ motivations was confused and murky.

Those two cases are just prologue to Isabel’s main case of Charlie, played by Cadence Compton, who was fantastic. 11-year-old Charlie is an amateur magician we first see making a little kid’s $20 bill “disappear.” Basically she steals it from him. And the other older kids are so impressed that they start waving their money at her so she can make all their money “disappear” too. What the Hell. As far as we see, she never gives them their money back, and the kids never report her to the authorities either. Again what would have served the moral of the story was her giving their money back when judgmental Isabelle wasn’t looking. Or maybe using the money to buy a warm coat for a homeless kid, or do some other good deed. No, what she did was more than just “naughty.” She does other bad stuff too. But since Isabel is now dating her handsome father Jason (very much against the rules but she couldn’t care less all of a sudden), she starts looking to make an exception for Charlie and protect her from getting coal instead of presents. Because you see, Charlie’s mother died last year, so all is forgiven and excused. Plus she picks up litter. We find out later that when she did get coal for Christmas last year, her Dad secretly replaced it with real presents anyway. I’m like, “Maybe a little coal in her stocking would have done her a lot of good!” Isabel is breaking all the rules when it comes to this one girl because of her crush on Charlie’s father. It just wasn’t right or fair to all the other gray-area kids. Not that Charlie was actually that “gray area” in my opinion. But let’s just overlook Isabel’s shady behavior. I mean it’s Lacey Chabert after all.

I won’t go on with other examples of badly presented and mixed messages, but trust me. Isabel gets closer to Jason, finds out she has been doing more harm than good in putting kids on the “Naughty List,” and Charlie is miraculously transformed from bad girl to good girl at the drop of a hat. As it turns out, next year Isabelle’s boss (Steve Bacic) is going to take the whole human element out of labeling the children of the world and rely strictly on the algorithm. There will no longer be any excuses or human input. A now wiser Isabelle is so upset by this, that she quits and then decides to visit the top man, Santa Claus, along with Charlie and Jason to plead her case: No child is ever really naughty, they are just trying to find their way in the complicated adult world. No comment. But it all ends in a happy ending with a world free of coal, naughty lists, and children not being held accountable for their actions. I’m sorry, but this is a 5 in my book.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

The Snow Must Go On

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Snow Business

Wow. I didn’t quite know what to make of this one (at first). Now I hate when people use this word I am about to use to describe the first 15 minutes of this movie, but it perfectly describes how this movie started out: Surreal. We open in a very dark and empty bar/theater with a man singing his heart out in true Broadway fashion with a crown of horns on his head. Yes, if you haven’t seen this, you read it right. It turns out that he is supposed to be Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer who is apparently very upset about something and who at the same time looks very menacing and demonic. The very talented Corey Cott plays Isaiah, the star of this debacle. He was a once rising star on Broadway who has been struggling in his career. The opening scene is from the one man show he also wrote, produced, and directed, apparently out of desperation. He meets with 2 of the 3 audience members who turn out to be his sister and his niece who have come to New York to get him to come back to his home town for Christmas. He shoots them a tragic look, but after he is fired from his Christmas caroling job and after failing to get even an audition to the new Cindy Santos (big name and top producer) fronted musical, he accepts. CS is played by Stephanie Sy who is always great.

Now in a whiplash inducing turn, we get more Hallmarky with small town vibes, bright lighting and decor, and Isaiah’s wholesome family. But when he gets out of the car and volunteers to pick up his niece Aurora from highschool, he is wearing a very weird “sweat suit” as he calls it, that looks just like Christmas pajamas: Snow white with candy canes and sleighs and other Christmas paraphernalia all over it. And he actually gets out of the car dressed like this and into the high school to find his niece with no hesitation or embarrassment at all. Very few would even wear this getup to Wal-Mart after midnight. I don’t know, I just didn’t understand who Isaiah was supposed to be. Desperate and sad? or Goofy? Things settle down to one of the usual Hallmark plots after he gets the suit off. Curiously not mocked or molested by cruel highschoolers, he is wrangled by his niece (who is a real go-getter) and LilyAnne, a teacher (Heather Hemmens), into directing the school Christmas musical after the former director quits to marry a lumberjack she met online. *shrug emoji* (BTW, Hallmark, Where’s that movie?) The usual struggles with the theatre kids ensue. The young actors were all very talented singers. Especially one who played Miranda, a shy girl who happens to be the daughter of the great Cindy Santos. When he finds out who her mom is, he starts to put his all into getting the musical together (hoping to impress her), including writing the second act of the unfinished play. He simply tacks on his “off-off-off” Broadway musical about the most famous reindeer of all to the school’s play about “Randolph, The Christmas Elk.” After Lilyanne helps him with a re-write (This Stinks! It makes no sense!) including taking out the ungulate’s filibuster to Congress (ala Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?), things start to develop in the romance department. He casts Miranda, Cindy Santos’ daughter, as his understudy taking the starring Randolph role for himself in hopes that when Cindy sees him she will cast him in her big Broadway show. Yes, it came across as pathetic and contemptible as it sounds. So we have another facet to Isaiah’s personality: Jerk. Despite his shameless attempt to exploit his position and power for his own ends, a funny thing happens on the way to putting on a show. He starts to love it and is good at it. As it turns out, Cindy, being very busy and important, cannot be at the school on opening night, to her daughter’s and Isaiah’s disappointment. But she offers him an audition in New York after she sees him in the dress rehearsal, and you won’t believe this, but the audition is the same day as Opening Night of the play. Will Isaiah choose the kids and his responsibilities over his one chance to revive his career? Does Broadway stardom lie again in his future or will he choose small town life as a drama teacher with LilyAnne at his side? Will shy Miranda power through her stage fright and shine as his understudy? Will her mother see the light and become the parent her daughter needs?

Believe it or not, thanks to the set design, the make-up, the costuming, and the performances of the kids, I enjoyed what we were shown of “Randolph, the Christmas Elk.” I wish we had seen more. It was a huge success and it all came to a rousing finish, including the snow machine finally producing snow, Isaiah getting the girl, seeing the error of his ways, and apologizing to all and to all a good night. 7 stars.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

A Grand Ole Opry Christmas

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A Good Daddy

I didn’t expect this to be as good as it was. Often highly promoted efforts by Hallmark fall a little short for me. But if it gives me some chuckles, and this one did, I am prone to look benevolently on it no matter how much it otherwise annoys me. But if it makes me cry in a good way as well, it might qualify for an 8 thru 10 stars out of 10. And this one certainly did. The story was moving, but that can go for naught if the acting is not there. Thank goodness Nikki Deloach played the lead. She is easily one of the best actresses that works at Hallmark and I have praised her skills before. More than once. Honestly, she has never given a bad performance, even if the movie wasn’t so great. And Kristoffer Polaha, who plays her leading man, has his own acting style which can get a teeny bit old sometimes, but he is one of my favorites anyway. Just because I can see what he’s doing there, doesn’t mean I don’t like what I see. And they were great together. Add in some time travel, and I’m all in.

Gentry Wade (Deloach) is the daughter of a country music star who died when Gentry was just a teenager. She was once an aspiring songwriter, like her Dad, but things got in the way, and she now runs a popular bar and music venue which is a gathering place for Nashville country stars. The 100th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry is coming up and the legendary duo of Jett Wade (Gentry’s late father) and Von Winters are going to be honored on stage during the annual Christmas show. Gentry has been invited to appear and is encouraged by her “Uncle Von” and her late father’s cousin Rita (the always welcome Sharon Lawrence), who was a talent coordinator for the Grand Ole Opry back in the day. Before his tragic and unexpected death Winters and Wade mysteriously broke up and Von Winters went on to great solo fame. But Gentry is hesitating because she feels she has not earned her right to appear on the hallowed stage as she gave up on her dream to be a songwriter (for what appears to be several reasons). Also in the mix is Mac, (Polaha) a lifelong friend who has returned from L.A. to pursue his successful talent manager career in Nashville.

While all of the talent is preparing for the big Christmas show, Gentry sits down on one of the onstage pews which are reserved for family and friends of performing artists, and she is sent 30 years back in time! It’s the day before the 1995 Christmas concert which was also Winters and Wade’s final appearance together. I’m skipping some steps but Mac follows soon after. Together they spend time with the young Rita. Gentry (who calls herself Jen, because if she had the same name as Jett’s teenage daughter, who is not around, thank heavens, that might be confusing) also gets to reconnect, as an adult, with her beloved father. Also his pal, Winters. At one point she finishes, with the help of her Dad, an old song she started to write as a young girl but never finished. Winters hears it and he is so encouraging, she knows that if she stays in 1995, she will be able to finally pursue her career as a songwriter. So will she stay in the past? Will it be with or without the love of her life, Mac? Why did the legendary duo break up that fateful Christmas in the first place? Will Gentry be re-inspired to try to write again in 2025 (If she goes back, that is)? What would happen if she stayed and met herself as a teenager? The answer to at least one of these questions brought me to tears. And 3 subsequent scenes kept them flowing.

A few things added even more to the overall appeal of this movie. One was the mystery of whether two of the main characters remembered the 2025 Gentry as the 1995 Jen that was a brief part of their lives for one day. From a few things that were said or happened, I’m pretty sure one of them did, but am not so sure about the other. There is even a little hint (not in anything in the script, but in the actor’s subtle performance) that her father might have suspected something. It was a welcome wrinkle to the usual Hallmark where everything is spelled out. I like a little thought provoking mystery, sometimes. Of course, the appearances of real life Nashville stars were entertaining (even if the only one I recognized was Brad Paisley). You could really tell that everyone involved was committed to this production, and was glad to be a part of it. Finally, and I’m not sure I should mention this because I may be the only one, but I saw a great resemblance between the two actors who played the younger Winters and Wade to a Wyatt Earp-era Val Kilmer and present day Leonardo di Caprio. For me, it added a certain Je ne sais quoi. One thing I would have liked was to touch base with the poor Opry Guard who saw Gentry and Mac disappear into thin air. That might have long term consequences. 9 stars thanks to a little “Opry magic.”

Rating: 9 out of 10.

We Met in December

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Google is Your Friend

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Autumn Reeser and Niall Matter, both with very lengthy Hallmark resumes individually, are finally in a movie together. And it was a pairing I didn’t know we needed. They were a good match and in a movie where age and singleness was not an issue. Usually Hallmark ties itself up in knots trying to justify why the female and/or male leads are not already “with someone”. Most of the regular and popular Hallmark actors are either pushing 40 if not 50 years old. So if the plot doesn’t call for the death of a spouse they have to engineer a traumatic break up with a long term partner causing a paralyzing inability to trust again and move forward in the romance department. Or, they push these mature actors into stories obviously written for characters in their 20s or early 30s, just getting started in their personal and professional lives. In this one Autumn and Niall play two mature, successful, and well-adjusted professionals not hobbled emotionally by unhappy love stories. Why they are still single is not explained or even  addressed. So refreshing. If it was mentioned, I sure missed it.

The movie’s structure is also kind of unusual. We are thrust right into the action with Annie and Dave having a love at first sight moment while both in a city not their own due to a airline layover. No laborious info dump in the first 2 minutes. They learn that they both are on the way home to Chicago, and spend the day and half the night together cementing their relationship. They are secure in the fact that they have seats together on the flight home in the morning to get to know each other even more. But Dave misses the plane. And since during their time together they only talked about their individual Christmas traditions and warm and fuzzy things like that, rather than more pedestrian topics like phone numbers, last names, and employer’s names, they both are challenged with finding each other for the rest of the movie. The romance part is handled with flashbacks to their time together in this unnamed (to my knowledge) city. The Christmas part is seamlessly tied in during these flashbacks and as the couple, in the present, treks around Chicago visiting places they remember are a part of each other’s Christmas traditions hoping to run into them or someone who knows them. There are false leads, coincidences, and near misses for our viewing pleasure. But it is not until the end, needless to say, after they have each pretty much given up, at least temporarily,  that they are brought together in a church during midnight mass on Christmas Eve. I am always kind of a little moved when church scenes appear in Christmas movies. Home Alone being my favorite.

In addition to the romance, both Dave and Annie, thanks to their time together, get a handle on some personal challenges that have been holding them back. It is the first Christmas that Dave and his family are spending without his late father. He is so wrapped up in recreating all of his family’s Christmas traditions that he forgets that the important thing is to spend time with his family and to be in the moment, rather than controlling, organizing, and otherwise not dealing with his father’s death. Thanks to Dave, Annie is inspired to pursue her first love, fashion design, rather than just being on the outside looking in as the lawyer for a fashion design company. Did you know that Fashion Law is a real legal specialty? I didn’t. And according to Dave’s “Swifty Seek” search for “Annie, attorney, fashion, Chicago”, there are over 67,000 of them in Chicago alone! Of course that is absurd. As is Annie’s “Peep-Look” result of 48,302 financial advisors named Dave in Chicago. Try Google next time, guys. At least Dave’s lack of success with The World Wide Web is explained by Annie’s real name being “Mary Anne”, not Ann-something. But if they found each other right away, there wouldn’t be a movie. And that would be a shame, because this was a worthy, if low-key, addition to Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas slate.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Melt my Heart this Christmas

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Unpopular Opinion Alert!

Once again, in my view, Hallmark’s Sunday Christmas movie unexpectedly outshone its big Saturday premiere movie. Yes, yes,  I know. The football one got a lot of notice and publicity, high ratings and mostly good reviews, and this one seemed like it was meant to be kind of a throwaway. It was not a Hallmark production but an often second-rate “in association with” one. The plot and the tropes had an old school throwback feel, with our struggling heroine being bullied and abused by an evil female boss, and our hero having a few run-ins with a stick-in-the-mud controlling grandfather. Why they didn’t make him his father, which would have been more age appropriate, I do not know.

 Holly (Laura Vandervoort) is an aspiring glass blower who runs into Jack (Stephen Huszar) when she is trying to sneak into his  prestigious family Christmas craftsman festival. They seem to have some kind of unspecified history because there is definitely some snarky animosity between them. The festival has been struggling a bit and if this one is not a huge success, “Pops” is going to sell the land and close it down. Sound familiar? Honestly this plot summary almost writes itself.  Luckily they have secured the participation of Bianca Bonhomme who is a great and famous glassblowing artiste. She is the headliner and will presumably be a big draw and guarantee the festival’s success and the continuation of their legacy. While Jack is throwing Holly out of the festival, they meet Bianca stomping past them saying she is leaving because her assistant quit and she cannot participate without an assistant. Holly, who idolizes Bianca, volunteers herself as a substitute in return for Jack letting her enter the show as an “emerging artist” and agreeing to give her a recommendation to an Artist’s Residency. The character of Bianca was a real hoot. She was AWFUL:  A real diva who is so demanding, capricious, and snotty that it was downright delicious. I love a good villain you love to hate.  But wait. Was that a little vulnerability we see beneath that Miranda Priestlyesque surface? We soon learn that she has turned away from her signature colorful style because a critic gave her a bad review calling her pieces “loud” and accusing her of using color to mask a subpar technique. She was devastated and as a result the pieces she is exhibiting at the fair are clear glass, boring, and not selling. And of course the critic who trashed her work is at the festival and is as anxious to interview her as Bianca is anxious to avoid him. Meanwhile Holly’s beautiful and colorful ornaments are selling like hotcakes under a phony name. Don’t look now but the unknown is the star of the show. So that’s the basic set up. 

I enjoyed Holly’s unexpected success and anticipated the big reveal of her true identity as well as Bianca’s inevitable crash and burn. At the same time, I was kind of feeling sorry for her, and hoping Holly could help her. The (eventual) Redemption of Ms. Meanyhead was signaled loud and clear and I was looking forward to that as well. And sure enough, the reveal and the crash and burn was epic indeed but was quickly followed by the two glassblowers having a heart to heart and making up. Holly helps Bianca see the light and return to her  bold signature style that was her true strength. The romance with Jack took second place to the dynamic between the two women and the glass blowing. That is not usually a good thing in a Hallmark, but I was fine with it because Jack was kind of a dim bulb and not only did not come to Holly’s defense when it was called for but piled on and started yelling at her himself. Not good. Especially since Holly almost singlehandedly saved the whole fair. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for heroes to act heroic and have more brains than a rutabaga.

In addition to the perfectly predictable yet comfortingly familiar plot, the whole experience was elevated by Laura Vandervort who played Holly and the Glassblowing storyline. Ms Vandervoort has always been a favorite. Jennifer Wigmore conveyed the insecurity and fear beneath Bianca’s hard exterior and added some humor and a lot of drama too. She gave depth to what could have been a cardboard character. The glass blowing was very interesting, seemed authentic to me, and the pieces were beautiful. **7 1/2 stars**

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story

/ Rebekahrox / 5 Comments
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For Bills and/or Buffalo Fans Only

Yeah. I didn’t like the first Holiday Touchdown about the Kansas City Chiefs either. From what I remember of that one though (I didn’t review it) this was marginally better. The two leads, Holland Roden and Matthew Daddario, were fresh faces and new to Hallmark. Or so I thought. It turns out the actress has actually been in several Hallmark productions and in the one I saw her in, I characterized her as “fine” and very pretty. So she was OK but didn’t exactly blow me away. And that is how I would describe the male lead in this one. He has a good resume and his sister Alexandra is very well known, but I found the two actors’ partnership pretty stiff in this one.

Gabe and Morgan have been besties their whole lives but Gabe has been secretly in love with her all that time while Morgan is clueless about his feelings and her own. Even though everyone they know is aware and complete strangers immediately see that he is head over heels smitten with her. This was a kind of cute running joke. Besides being clueless she is also the nicest doctor in the world. She organizes the decorating committee and comes in on her day off to give a pep talk to a little girl who has to have a shot but who is afraid of needles. Gabe is Vice President of Building the New Bills’ Stadium. Gabe is next door neighbors with Morgan’s very large and very confusing family (Tracy Pollan, who plays Morgan’s mother looks like her sister, for one thing.) Patty Murin, who I like, plays her real sister. Also in there is Uncle Tommy, played by Joe Pantoliano and Steve Shirripa is in there somewhere as well. If there were any jokes about the Bills’ fanbase being called “The Bills Mafia” and the two actors who both starred in The Sopranos, I missed them. Luckily the plot is as simple and straightforward as the family and neighbor situation is hard to unravel. Needless to say the whole kit and kaboodle are all rabid Bills fans.

Morgan and Gabe discover that Uncle Tommy has been getting mysterious small Christmas gifts for over 50 years ever since he returned from “Nam.”  He has no idea who sends them but he has sentimentally kept them all. The same person who sends the gifts is the same person who kept his widowed mother and two(?) sisters afloat with anonymous cash and groceries after he, the wage earner, was drafted. The potential couple decides that they will go on a quest to find the gift giver as a Christmas present to him. So, with Buffalo as the background, they go around following the clues, hitting many famous Buffalo institutions and sights, meeting many past and present Buffalo Bills, and showcasing much Buffalo Bills merch in the process. 

Somewhere in the middle of all of this Morgan finds out that Uncle Tommy has remained unmarried his whole life because he has been carrying a torch for “Mia” a girl who moved away from town while he was overseas. He made a half hearted attempt to find her but was unsuccessful. It must have been really half hearted because her (spoiler alert) sister still lives at their original address, as we find out. So Morgan and Gabe switch from trying to find the gift giver and anonymous benefactor to trying to find Mia. Luckily for the secondary love story (spoiler alert) they turn out to be the same person! Also unmarried, (not even an ex or dead husband!) she has always been in love with Uncle Tommy from afar, but was too afraid to contact him for fear he wouldn’t love her back. Hold up. Just think about that for a minute. For over 50 years she couldn’t even manage an “accidental” “fancy running into you” and see what happens? She calls it “self protection”, I call it lack of gumption. They both stayed single but “It wasn’t meant to be.” My eyes rolled so hard one of my optic nerves is still not back to normal. Second chance romances after decades have past are a common trope in books and movies. But there is always a good reason for it: A giant misunderstanding, one thought the other was dead, marriage of one or the other, etc. But a simple lack of agency? I can’t even. Inspired by Mia’s craptacular feebleness and her resulting blighted life, Gabe finally confesses his love for Morgan. Morgan doesn’t exactly know where to put this information, but (spoiler alert) don’t worry she figures it out by the end of the movie. Both love stories are resolved on the turf of Highmark Stadium. One during half time (don’t ask) and one at a pick up game with real life Bills’ players. I was a little baffled and disappointed as to why, after seeking the family benefactor/lost love the whole movie the big reveal to Uncle Tommy happened off-camera. Strange. This actually could have been a pretty decent movie. At least it kept my interest until it collapsed at the end.

Besides the football players there were some cute cameos (Andrew Walker as a bartender, and Hunter King and the ubiquitous Tyler Hynes the stars of last years tribute to the Chiefs). And Santa Claus was the same one as in last year’s Holiday Touchdown. Also Luke Russert, son of the late beloved journalist extraordinaire and Bills fan, Tim “Go Bills!” Russert (sniffle). Despite a stellar season, The Chiefs lost the Super Bowl last year and The Bills have been unexpectedly struggling a bit so far this year. I wonder what team Hallmark will settle on for next year’s Holiday Touchdown movie. The line is not forming.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Three Wisest Men

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments
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“Nothing like a trilogy to make people happy.”

It is the Christmas after the last movie and two of the three brothers have not shown much of the hoped for growth and wisdom which we are promised by the end of the second film. But there is some progress! 

The “worst” brother, Taylor (Tyler Hynes), has flourished in his career and is being offered a partnership in a successful tech company in Silicon Valley. But we know by his perpetually pained expression (a Tyler Hynes trademark) while the head honcho is offering him the moon and stars to come on board, that he still has “issues”. Taking the fabulous opportunity would involve moving out of state and out of his mother’s (huge and luxurious) basement.  But there is hope. He is still with new girlfriend Caroline, “the love of his life,” who was such a bright spot and force for good in the second movie. The actress, Erin Kurpluk’s, star has not dimmed in this one.

Stephan (Paul Campbell) and Susie are planning their wedding, but he still lives in his Mom’s guest house in her backyard. This is a magic guest house. It morphs from small and sort of modest to ginormous and luxurious from one scene to another. Unless there are two “guesthouses” in her backyard. This kind of lack of attention to detail that Hallmark is famous for does not have any affect on plot or character but it is very distracting. As is the borderline weird product placement. Stephan’s wedding plans are not going well thanks to his skittish behavior and shilly-shallying over decisions. Also his prospective father-in-law is visiting for Christmas and they do not get along.

 Luke (Andrew Walker), the third brother is just fine, if a little tense, being the fire chief, the father to Thomas, the titular child of the first 2 movies, and husband to his pregnant-with-twins wife. He’s nervous about his impending fatherhood, which a very ranty and unpleasant birth coach in the first scene did not help. She needed to go back to birth-coaching school.

To get the ball rolling, the boys learn their mother Barbara a.k.a. “Gigi” (Margaret Colin) is selling her huge house which not only throws Stephan and Taylor’s living arrangements into disarray but spurs the boys to make this Christmas, their last in the childhood home, “The Best Christmas Ever.” Thus, the lion’s share of the time remaining is devoted to a rather random string of over the top hijinks, shenanigans, and frenzied activity/disasters which added nothing to the actual story (was there one?) and provided all too few chuckles, unfortunately. 

However. There were a few high spots that kept the movie in watchable territory. The well-written dialogue (by Campbell and Sustad) flows smoothly thanks to the rapport of the actors playing the three brothers. Jerry, the talking cockatiel, was pretty funny, and I liked the callbacks to the previous two movies: Mr. B of the Christmas Pageant, Mark Laclark, and Kimberley Sustad’s cameo as the wry local doctor, for 3. Even Fiona (Ali Liebert, yay), Taylor’s girlfriend in the first movie, pops up in a pivotal role. At first I thought they had forgotten about Roy, Gigi’s new boyfriend in the second movie, but his mysterious absence is finally mentioned (I may have missed something) and he returns in a climactic scene. I liked Roy. There is a heartwarming scene or two where Taylor acknowledges his fear of change, and Stephan finally makes it all better with Susie. Best of all, her rude Dad gets told off by a disgusted Gigi very satisfactorily and he is suitably abashed and apologizes. At the end, the trilogy is wrapped up with the two problematic brothers making mature decisions about their future, and Luke welcoming twin daughters to the fold. This ended up being a good wrap up of the trilogy. As Dr. Kimberley Sustad says, “3 is the magic number.” And enough is enough.

Rating: 7 out of 10.