Christmas

All I Need for Christmas

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All is Calm, All is Bright

This is one of those quiet humble Hallmarks that doesn’t try to break any crazy new ground. It’s a very usual type story with little in the way of real twists or surprises. No attempts to swing for the fences or set the Hallmark world on fire. But I really liked it and was engaged in the story and characters throughout. It’s the kind that about a half hour in, you find yourself surprised and say to yourself “This is really good!”

Both of the lead characters have equally important storylines. Maggie Mackenzie is a professional musician whose career is going nowhere. The band she was going to open for canceled her because they wanted a bigger act. To get her career back on the upswing, she needs to write some new fresh songs, so her manager gives her a phone with a series of music apps on it called “Archline” designed to help aspiring musicians with writing lyrics, sound and auto-tuning. Maggie is offended and views such things as phony, ripping off real musicians, and kind of cheating. While she’s at it, she also eschews  social media to promote her career. Since her big gig has been canceled, she decides to go home to Vermont where her parents own a Christmas tree farm.

Dan Jeannotte plays Archer, the developer of the popular app. He is one half of two estranged siblings who grew up with a very toxic father who has recently died. Usually in Hallmarks when a parent or grandparent dies, they reach back from the grave to help their beloved survivor find love and happiness. This father is so awful that he reached out to continue to pit his two adult children against each other and to foster their  unhealthy rivalry.  Piper’s two kids will get trust funds and any future children of Archer will not because Piper “won” by having her two kids “first”. His will also stipulates that whoever’s net worth is greater by Christmas, will get his seat on his  corporation’s board of directors. Piper is ecstatic and gloating because she just had 2 major settlements come in which will make her the winner. This tracks with how they were raised. As Archer tells Maggie later in the movie, “buckle up for this one.” As soon as the two were old enough to start earning money, their parents kept a record of their earnings to the penny and whoever made the most money by Christmas got a boatload of Christmas presents and the loser got nothing. When he was old enough, Archer was wise enough to get therapy and because of that had long since cut ties with his father.  “I couldn’t heal from the damage while he was still trying to inflict it.” Piper, on the other hand, stuck with dear old Dad and is still carrying around a lot of baggage because of that. Her kids are great though so she must be doing something right. Hallmark kid actor Azriel Dalman plays her son, and he is always good.

Seeing a photo of the one happy family Christmas they had in Vermont, he decides to visit the same huge cabin they stayed in and it just happens to be in the same town as the Mackenzies’ Christmas Tree farm. All proceeds as one would expect. Initially, Maggie is hostile towards Archer as she learns right away that he is the developer of the evil apps that she objects to so strongly. But she can’t help but see that Archer is not the devil but a nice decent guy despite his wealth and success. She shows him how to cut down a Christmas Tree (he has never had one before), and he shows her how his app can help whip the pretty awful children’s Christmas choir she has volunteered to lead into shape. Also her father is firmly on Archers side of technology. When he garners 240,000 followers shooting videos of his adorable pet pigs and life on the farm, her harsh attitude further softens. Meanwhile, on a whim he sends his sister a picture of the log mansion he is staying at and to his surprise, she shows up there with her two kids who have made it clear that they want a real Christmas with Uncle Archer and their own tree. The brother and sister have their struggles and ups and downs while striving to repair their breach. Of course, once we get past the inevitable final conflicts and misunderstandings, breakthroughs are finally made all over the place and we have hopeful resolutions for Dad’s farm, (which I assume was struggling, because…you know), the sibling relationship, the seat on the board, the romance between Archer and Maggie, and her career trajectory.

Their were several reasons why this one succeeded with me. First the acting of Dan Jeannotte as Archer and Emily Tennant, who usually plays the romantic lead and nice girl, as the troubled Piper was excellent. I really really liked Archer. He was so nice, normal, and steady,  handling all of the challenges that came his way with grace and humor. And both Piper and Maggie, were both pretty troublesome throughout most of the story. I liked Mallory Janson as Maggie as well. She’s a good actress and made a character that had some very irritating ways and attitudes somewhat tolerable. It was a nice peaceful kind of story, but with enough conflict, tension and anticipation to make it interesting. It was a reminder that as much as I appreciate comedy, surprises, out of the box characters and story lines, Hallmarks “old faithful” type stories can also have their charms. Predictability does not have to be boring.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

The Santa Class

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Campy Christmas Camp

Kimberly Sustad plays Kate North who has inherited North Star Academy, a school for Santas from her recently retired father. “What is a Santa School?” you may well ask. Well, it’s just what it sounds like. It’s for the training of those aspiring to be “picture perfect” Santa Clauses in order nab the most prestigious Santa jobs at the best malls, department stores, and parades. After her father retired, most of her clients have left for the competition (more on that later) and she, already only reluctantly trying to run this school, is left with 6 trainees which on the surface could only be described as pretty hopeless. We have a Jewish hippie Santa, a very intense  woman Santa with a chip on her shoulder (for some  reason), A Santa who speaks through a hand puppet-excuse me- “figure” aka “ “a talking piece of felt,” an elderly cool black Santa who wants to prove himself to his grandkids, a young skinny Santa who is only there to research his doctoral thesis on Santa Mythology, and an actor named “Paul Campbell”, up for a part in a Christmas Movie and played by my and many others’ favorite Hallmark actor, Paul Campbell.

Things are not going well. To add to her woes, we have the aforementioned competition, the Saint Nicholas School, “America’s Top Santa School,” which has been has been sucking the life out of North Star Academy for years. Back in 2013, North Star Academy’s business manager Blaise left to set up his own school, because Kate’s father, a legend in the business, was too focused on turning out wonderful Santas and not making as much profit as he could. Blaise has built a very profitable corporate-backed school and is now about to branch out into training Cupids, Leprechauns, and Easter Bunnies. Kate is on the verge of selling out to the owner of many malls who has offered to buy the school. He is actually nice and not a bad guy. Kate’s love interest is a hot shot Santa trainer (voted the best in America), played by Hallmark mainstay Ben Ayers, who was recently fired from St. Nicholas by Blaise because his high salary was eating into the board members’ Christmas bonuses. Kate and Dan went on a date once but Kate dumped him when she found out he worked for money-grubbing Blaise. Now fired Dan comes to Kate begging her for a job, and she agrees to take him on as her Santa trainer for the current session. Ben and Kimberley’s chemistry was excellent. She is such a presence that she needs a strong actor as a partner, and they both shine in these goofball roles.

Can we just say that  this movie is not thoroughly grounded in reality?  And this is not solely due to the fantasy element which is introduced when, driving back to Kate’s school,  they almost run over an old fat man in a red suit who is stumbling down  the middle of the road. It’s the real Santa Claus! But he has hit his head somehow and has amnesia. Kate and Dan know he is the real one because they both see his sleigh with his 8 reindeer flying away back home. They decide to take him back to her school to take care of him and help him regain his memory of who he is before it’s too late for all of the little boys and girls of the world to get their presents.

We are asked to just ignore a lot of questionable or nonsensical plot elements. The main thing is that the action is set during Christmas season right on up to Christmas Day. Shouldn’t Santas be trained during the summer or early autumn? There they are at Santa school when they should be already fully trained and working at being Santa Clauses. Even though the ending is happy and full of hope, we are not sure why. Nothing is really resolved. Yes, our team won the “Christmas Cup” from their rival, but it really doesn’t solve any of their problems. The money-rich corporate backed competition is still there, even though bad Blaise’s heart grew a few sizes thanks to a special gift from Santa Claus. I wasn’t convinced Kate still didn’t feel trapped running the school. Is Dan really worthy of her? And other stuff.

But it was fine! The presence and performance of Kimberly Sustad and the rest of the cast of characters more than made up for any gaps in logic. The whole plot line was kind of brave and really outside the usual box. It just barreled along and just kind of dared the viewer to question what was going on with the details. It was really funny with lots of jokes (some inside jokes for Hallmark fans), snappy dialogue, snarky banter, and interesting well acted characters. Trevor Lerner was perfect as Santa Claus, whose magic keeps popping out as needed. The romance between Kate’s academic sister Bailey (Doctor of European Folklore) and the the doctoral candidate Santa was cute. As a parting gift, Santa gives Kate a beacon in the form of a magic whistle which she is to use if she ever needs Santa’s help again. So that solves everything. We don’t have to worry or question that the future success of Kate’s business or her love life will be anything but but guaranteed. And I feel like there was hint of a sequel on the horizon. So maybe the loose ends will be tied up eventually.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Leah’s Perfect Gift

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Unfulfilled Promise

Young New York professionals Leah Goldberg and Graham Westwood are in love and in a committed relationship. In fact, Leah, although she laughs off the idea coyly, is expecting a proposal soon, likely during the holidays. She meets his nice (gay) sister for the first time and they get along great. On impulse, the siblings invite Leah to spend Christmas with his family in Connecticut and to meet their parents for the first time. Leah is excited to finally experience a traditional Christmas holiday with all the trimmings. That evening, Graham goes to Leah’s  family’s Hanukkah celebration. Her large family are warm and welcoming and a wonderful time is had by all. There’s lots of food.

On the way to Graham and Maddie’s luxurious home they give Leah a list of forbidden topics of conversation and warn her that their parents can be “a lot.” Indeed. They probably should have provided Leah with much more detail. In fact, a manual of behavior would not have gone amiss. Their father is pretty nice when he is not hinting around that he expects his children to eventually join him in the banking business (not happening), but the mother, played by Barbara Niven is a piece of work. Barbara Westwood is tense and inhospitable to Leah, who is a star in every way: Sweet, friendly, warm, and very intelligent and successful. As we learn, Barbara can not deal with change and thrives on routine and tradition. Leah’s mere presence as Graham’s unexpected new girlfriend, is enough to seriously upset her apple cart. She also is a perfectionist and very particular about everything. When decorating the tree, she uses a tape measure to divide the tree into quadrants to ensure each section has the same number of ornaments and those ornaments must be exactly 4 inches a part. You get the picture. Throughout the family’s checking off all the activities on Barbara’s Christmas Itinerary, Leah can do nothing right in Barbara’s eyes and she cannot disguise that fact. To make matters worse, there’s no food! No snacks to nosh on and Barbara is a terrible cook. The constant barrage of Barbara’s micro-aggressions towards Leah while putting on a smiley facade is like death by a thousand cuts. Leah goes from an eager to please and be pleased confident woman to doubting her own worth and often on the verge of tears. Graham and Maddie try, but are of very little help. They have lived with their mother’s quirks all their life and don’t seem to fully realize the effect she is having on poor Leah. They comfort her and assure her that it’s not personal and to just be herself, but Leah still feels like an outsider. I couldn’t wait for one or both of them to stand up to Barbara or at least do more to help Leah cope. And to top it all off Graham is being aggressively pursued by his old off and on girlfriend with Barbara’s full blessing.

Everything is barreling towards a great dramatic and exciting scene where the last straw is finally reached and Barbara finally gets the truth bomb dropped on her in an epic telling off. Would it by Graham, Leah, Maddie, or some combination of the three? I was all there for it,  And the snobby bad girlfriend had to be similarly dispatched, of course. I couldn’t wait. There’s nothing like retribution, repentance, forgiveness,  and reconciliation for Christmas! But nothing of the sort happens. At the culminating event of the Christmas fundraiser Graham mildly tells his mother that Leah is “good for him,” (which she already knew he was going to propose) and she needs to be “a little more flexible” with her. What? As if it was Leah’s behavior for which allowances needed to be made?! Barbara runs away to the cloakroom, starts to cry,  and is found by Leah. And all of a sudden Barbara has a total personality transplant. Out of nowhere,  she tells Leah she likes and admires her and starts calling her “honey,” and “sweetheart”. She is “shocked!”, I tell you “shocked!” that Leah could have gotten it into her head that she did anything wrong or that Barbara hated her.  And the girlfriend! She buttonholes Leah and out of nowhere and admits she crossed the line with Graham and apologizes! Is it possible that Graham finally stood up to her? Maybe. But if so we were cheated out of that scene too.

At the end, the Goldbergs and the Westwoods are together to witness the long awaited proposal of marriage on Christmas Day. Which she accepts. Graham promises to stand up for her in the future and to be her “rock.” Do we believe him? Who cares? It’s too late for the viewer because the movie’s over.

There were many good things about this movie besides the performances, but in the end I just couldn’t forgive the unfulfilled promise. Emily Arook absolutely shone as the overwhelmed but plucky Leah. She carried the movie and kept me watching and anticipating for her to be avenged. For once, Evan Roderick seemed right for his role. In the past he has played a spoiled brat not nearly good enough for the heroine, or seemed to be more of a little brother to the heroine rather than her romantic partner. But it is Barbara Niven’s performance that I was most impressed with. Yes, her character is rigid and awful to the point of scariness. But the veteran actress made her vulnerable as well. One had the impression that she didn’t have any control over her behavior. That her meanness was not a conscious choice but some kind of personality disorder for which, we would be assured at the end, therapy would be forthcoming.  At one point I briefly thought early onset Alzheimers might be a possibility, but that would probably be too depressing for a Hallmark Christmas movie.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Sugarplummed

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A Very Meta Christmas

Hallmark making fun of itself in their own movies seems to be a bit of a thing lately. They take all of the usual Romantic Comedy ingredients, fold in all of the cliches and tropes that are exclusive to Hallmark itself, and fill up a movie with them. If I was a cynic, I would be  a little suspicious that it’s an excuse to get another Christmas movie in the tank without having to think of an original plot. And they can still say, “ Hey, aren’t we clever? See how we are laughing at ourselves!? Our movies are filled with cliches but that’s OK!”  I thought this was the way this one was going and I felt the tedium coming on, but then it took a turn.  And I started to really enjoy it.

 We meet lawyer Emily (Maggie Lawson), her architect husband (Brendon Zub-love him) and her two teenage children. Although the family love each other, we see there are troubles a brewin’ . Emily is over-organized and tightly wound. She is determined to give her family “the perfect Christmas” (or else) so they can reconnect and become closer together the way it used to be. We see her husband is overworked by his bully of a boss who has been making his and all of his coworkers miserable since his divorce. “It’s like I’m working for Scrooge, but instead of 3 fun ghosts, he’s just haunted by regret.” Their son is struggling in a new school and feels like an outsider. Emily’s relationship with her daughter though is the most troubled. Nina has dreams of being a singer and going away to a performing arts school. Emily discounts her dream and insists she go to the university close to home and study for a more practical career.

Emily gets to the office and and her assistant is watching the famous  and beloved series of Sugarplum Christmas movies. Sugarplum saves a bakery, Sugarplum meets a secret holiday Prince, etc. They have a long conversation over the rules of Christmas movies, as seen on the “Harmony Home Network”, where following these rules will always result in a perfect Christmas for the cast of characters. Later that evening, Emily wishes on one of her mother’s old ornaments, a Christmas star, for the perfect Christmas to make her family happy and create special memories like her mother did for her. Christmas Magic happens and Sugarplum herself appears, a little discombobulated over being sucked out of her perfect Christmas movie world and into the real one, where she assumes things will work just as smoothly as she is used to. And at first, it does! Everything goes according to the rules in her very thick Christmas rule book (which she pulls out of her bottomless purse where all of her fashionable coats and matching accessories also live.)

**Spoilers**

She replaces the artificial tree with the perfect real one, which she cuts down herself from Emily’s grinchy neighbor’s yard. She uses a magic snow globe to cause a snowfall inside the son’s school which proves very popular with the students and helps him bond with his classmates. She solves a dispute between one of Emily’s clients, the owner of an old ski lodge/Christmas tree farm and a developer who wants to knock it down and put up a resort. Sugarplum takes one look at the couple (played by Fiona Gubelman and Victor Webster, Hallmark regulars in amusing cameo performances) and knows they are destined to fall in love and come to a compromise solution on their own. And they do! Right before our eyes! Lots of other stuff happens, and Emily is well on her way to her “perfect” Christmas. Except her family is still disconnected and stressed out.

But then things start to go awry for poor Sugarplum and Emily. Sugarplum meets a handsome man by an elevator (another cameo-this time by Carlo Marks) and romance beckons, as it does when elevators are involved in Rom-Coms. Until he serves her with a summons for criminal trespass (the Christmas tree incident). The rapprochement between Emily’s  client and the developer turns out to be nothing but a ruse to get her to sell her land to him. And finally, Sugarplum is thrown in jail for starting the snowstorm and snow ball fight in the school lobby and causing damage to government property. Also, the police are very suspicious because “Sue Garplum” doesn’t exist according to the internet and she might be a terrorist(?) because her fingerprints all look like snowflakes. Apparently Sugarplum’s Christmas magic is fading due to all of the heavy lifting needed bringing magic to the real world. It’s just getting worn out. Can anything revive it? Hmmm. I wonder. Maybe Emily learning the true spirit of Christmas? In the meantime, it’s a good thing she is a lawyer.

After a slow start, this turned out to be one of the most entertaining, funny, and clever of  2024’s Christmas movies. At first, Janel Parrish as Sugarplum seemed too over the top cheerful and perky. She was getting on my nerves and I was getting antsy. Emily’s blindness to what would truly make a warm and wonderful family Christmas was frustrating. She confides that her favorite childhood memory with her late mother was the Christmas all of their presents were stolen, the tree caught on fire, and they ended up spending Christmas day in a motel. But it was great because they were together! She won’t listen to her own words! Her assistant, seeing Emily’s holiday stress, advises her to quit chasing perfection and live in the moment.  Emily cynically tells her she sounds like a Christmas movie and discounts that advice, which turns out to be the lesson of the whole movie. But then things got great.  I think it all turned around for me when Emily, fully invested in Sugarplum’s magic, makes gingerbread cookies even though she doesn’t have any ginger. But that doesn’t matter because in Christmas movies all cookies are delicious and perfect even if they don’t have all the ingredients! “I didn’t have any ginger so I just threw in a whole bottle of gin!”,  she boasts. Luckily, Sugarplum “couldn’t drink another bite.” because last thing we need is a drunk Sugarplum.

Being a Hallmark movie, Emily finally gets the message, the faded magic returns, and everything comes together for her and her loved ones in all phases of their lives. But it’s all about the journey to the inevitable happy ending, isn’t it? For Emily’s family, all is resolved very poignantly at the school Christmas Pageant starring Emily’s singing daughter.  But there’s more! The final scenes back home, with some unexpected visitors, were funny, surprising, and are what really tied the bow on top of this almost perfect gift of a movie.  Right down to the kiss under the mistletoe.

All of the actors in this did well but Maggie Lawson and Brendan Zub were perfectly cast and I was glad to see them again as Hallmark leads after such a long time. Kyra Leroux was also as stand out as Emily’s rightly resentful and talented daughter. The imperfections in her singing at the beginning turned out to be perfect in the end, reflecting the moral of the story. This movie was a solid 8 1/2 or 9 but those last scenes were just so fun.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

The Finnish Line

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Finishes Ahead of the Pack

Yes, the title is a bit of a groaner, but the movie is not. Other than the wonderful A ‘90s Christmas and  a couple of others, the Hallmark slate has been disappointing the last couple of weeks. Two were overly hyped and promoted which set me up for even more disappointment (though I should have known better.) Hallmark’s most popular stars are fine and dandy, but not if the story and script aren’t there. One was just another “Hallmark pretends to be the HGTV channel” reality show which I couldn’t even finish, and another I can’t comment on, because though I did finish it, I don’t remember a damn thing about it even after reading the summary. This one didn’t hold much promise. It was another Scandinavian one, the second of the season so far. It featured an Iditerod type race between our heroine and a cartoonishly evil villain who cheated her father out of the same race many years ago. (There was a cute reference to The Princess Bride about that-I won’t explain.) It’s the type of Hallmark that too often uses an exotic setting or an out-of-box plot-line as a crutch so they can skimp on good writing and character development and still put out an acceptable effort. Boy was I surprised!

Fresh and funny banter and dialogue were there from the get go. Kim Matula as the main character, Anya, put on a great performance of a likable character. Right there with her was Nichole Sakura who played her best friend Elyse, who was more than a human prop but also a fully realized character. She was given plenty of screen time, and a secondary romance of her own which was sweet and engaging. As usual lately with many Hallmarks, the primary romance was not the main focus, but thanks to the performances, dialogue, and the rapport, I was invested. The races were exciting mostly because of her rivalry with the evil dirty trickster and some dog crises. Anya even almost dies after almost falling off a cliff saving the bad guy’s dogs and sled. “I can’t beat you if you’re dead!” she shouts at him. When taunted and insulted by the bad guy, she gets off some sizzling comebacks and doesn’t turn the other cheek like a more demure heroine would do. Thank-you!

The movie would have been excellent set in Canada with fake snow (as usual), but there was plenty of Finnish (and Icelandic) landscape and scenery along with little nuggets about Finnish way of life. Ginger cookies and blue cheese are a thing. And the Finnish are comfortable sitting silently with a party of friends: No needless chatter is required to fill silence because in Finland, silence isn’t awkward. I think I’d like it in Finland. Going by the credits, other than 3 of the main actors, the rest of the cast is Scandinavian, which of course lent some authenticity, on top of all the other good things.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

A ’90s Christmas

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“There You Go.”

This one didn’t get a lot of promotion that I saw, and it was on at an odd time Friday night. Also, it didn’t have a lot of popular Hallmark stars except possibly Chandler Massey who has never not been adorable. But since it was time travel, (how could it not be, since Chandler was in it?) one of my favorite plots, I decided to give this first priority with a view to reviewing it the next morning. And what a good thing, because it turned out to be my top favorite Christmas Movie so far this year.

Lucy is a workaholic divorce lawyer who has just received the letter confirming an offer to become a partner in her Chicago firm. She has worked so hard for this goal that she has  cut herself off from her family in Milwaukee and has no friends to celebrate with. Intending to work right through Christmas, she goes to a nearby diner, foregoing the staff Christmas Party, to have some celebratory pancakes. There, she has two encounters. The first is with a guy that used to be her next door neighbor which we learn she used to be close to. They have a catch up, and Lucy is surprised he had given up his dream of being an actor. He wonders why she is alone in a diner and not with her family. He leaves commenting sadly that she is the “Same old Lucy.” She turns around a little confused and now sitting across from her is the waitress. It’s a magical waitress to whom she insists that she is very happy with her life and wouldn’t change a thing. She leaves the diner and the “waitress” is also her Uber driver, played to perfection by Katherine Burrell. She asks to be taken home, dozes off, and when she wakes up, she is back at the family home in Milwaukee and, as she soon learns, it is 25 years ago, in 1999!

What follows is Lucy trying to get back to her present life in Chicago and the promotion she has been working so hard for.  The Christmas that Lucy is sent back to was pivotal in her life. Her father had died earlier that year and that made her a different person. She is now back to the first Christmas without him. Her Mom has not yet embraced her grief, wanting to be the strong one for her two daughters. She distracts herself by keeping busy busy busy and trying to make this Christmas perfect. Lucy, at only 19, was  wrapped up in her own  grief and did not help her at the time, nor her sister, who is struggling with keeping her homosexuality under wraps, as well as her own grief.  Now, with the wisdom of her 44 years in her 19 year old body, she sees what a mess her mom was and how much help her closeted lesbian sister needs. But whenever she does the right thing and tries to help them, she is changing the future and that lessens the chance that she can get back to her old life. Whenever she acts differently than her oblivious 19 year old self, the letter offering her a partnership starts to fade away. Like the family photo in Back to the Future.  Meanwhile, Grace, the Uber driver who took her back in time is tut-tutting and issuing disapproving noises whenever Lucy changes things that make it harder for her to recapture her 2024 life. It all hinges with Lucy staying the course and taking the full ride to Northwestern University like she did in 1999, rather than follow Matt (Chandler) to Columbia University which she would have to pay for. I really liked the love story in this. The two 19 year olds were in love, but with the death of her father, Lucy pulled away from him, afraid to be close to him as with her sister and Mom. The tension of Lucy repairing her relationship with Matt and them falling deeper and deeper in love, Lucy tempted to follow him to Columbia instead of guaranteeing her stable successful future, combined with the viewers rooting for Lucy to choose Love, Family, and Matt instead of the dry and lonely life she is living in her 40s makes this movie a great one. When will she realize she is working against her best interests by striving to recapture her Chicago life?

The details of the set decoration and references to ‘90s history and culture were spot on and clever. There was some really good humor in this movie (Y2K anyone?). One of my favorite lines was Lucy asking Grace, “ What happens if I can’t remember every little thing I did back then? What if I sneeze and I didn’t sneeze before? Does that create a ripple in time and now the air fryer doesn’t exist?” The acting of everyone was terrific, especially Chandler who was very endearing as Matt, Kate Drummond who did such a great job in this year’s To Have and To Holiday, and Alex Hook as her struggling sister. Another bright spot was Lucy’s science fiction loving best friend, Nadine,  with whom she had grown away from, but the only one she tells in 1999 that she is from the future.

The last 10 minutes of this were some of the most moving I have ever seen in a Hallmark movie. From the point of Grace’s reaction seeing that Lucy has finally taken the alternate path and gotten it right at last, (despite her warnings to the contrary throughout the movie), to our glimpses into Lucy, Matt, and her family’s life as it turned out to be, thanks to her time-travel, I was choked up.

My only quibble with this movie was seeming to have Lucy follow Matt to Columbia despite getting her whole college paid for at Northwestern. I didn’t think that was a great message. But I looked at the ending twice, and I think a case can be made that she did make the fiscally responsible choice rather than follow a boy to his school, but was still able to stay close to him thanks to what she learned.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

Naughty or Nice

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Or is it Nice or Naughty?

**Spoilers**

In 2023 and so far in 2024, I have neglected the Lifetime Christmas movies in favor of Hallmark. Perhaps I forgot that Lifetime’s “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” has produced  some of my favorite movies, often with Hallmark stars. Case in point is A Snowed Inn Christmas starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Andrew Walker. I had never even seen this ancient 2011 movie, Naughty or Nice, until just a couple of days ago, and it was just excellent. Well, it turns out that it was a Hallmark production after all but I could have sworn I found it on Lifetime-On-Demand. Dang. I guess not. More research is needed. Why is this gem not on Hallmarks regular rotation? But anyway, I will still be re-visiting the Lifetime channel this year for sure.

Unhappily named Krissy Kringle who, just as unhappily, lives on Christmas decoration-obsessed Candy Cane Lane (“They changed the name after I moved here!”), often gets mail addressed to Santa Claus. She has a very nice boyfriend but is having a very bad day. She has had to take a job as a Christmas Elf because she shockingly got fired from her important marketing job. Krissy is already somewhat of a Grinch and this temporary job has not helped. The only bright spot to her new circumstances is her new friendship with an equally cynical co-elf named Marco, a co-hater of their petty tyrant of a boss.  When she gets home from work and starts going through all the mail (throwing the Kris Kringle letters in the trash) she comes across a large fancy book titled Naughty or Nice. She soon finds out that when she says someone’s name out loud in front of the book, it opens and turns to their personal naughty page. She starts using the book to find out the guilty secrets of those who have crossed her in order to put things right exact revenge. She starts with her and Marco’s current boss who has been stealing the petty cash meant to buy the elves their daily lunch. She blackmails him into decorating her barren yard with all of the extra department store Christmas bling to get the neighbors, particularly one called Debbie, off her back.  Then she finds out she was fired due to the skullduggery of her office mate she thought was her friend, and that her neighbor, mean and snooty Debbie, has been stealing everyone else on Candy Cane Lane’s decorations to ensure she wins first prize in the annual contest. Finally, when her nice boyfriend, Lance, breaks still another date to work late, Marco talks her into checking him out in the Naughty or Nice book. What she finds out causes her to break up with him in a rage humiliating him in front of his boss and work colleagues. It was quite horrifying. Krissy has gotten her revenge, but now she is miserable.

Her conscience getting to her, she talks things over with her mother and father (Meredith Baxter-Birney and Michael Gross!). Her mother reminds her that there is always two sides to any coin and encourages her to talk to Lance and get his side of the story because she knows him to be an honorable guy who really loves Krissy. Inspired by her mother’s words she goes home and turns the book upside down which reveals the Nice but Naughty side. Nice twist, that I probably should have seen coming.  Now she learns that several of the people whose shameful secrets she exposed and humiliated are really good hearted people who have done tons of nice things but who got off track a little. This includes neighbor Debbie and Lance, her boyfriend. But is it too late to make things right? Debbie has been run out of the neighborhood by a Christmas Lynch Mob (“Kill the Beast!”), and her boyfriend won’t speak to her.

This movie was just delightful thanks to the comic performance of Hilarie Burton Morgan and the many clever lines, that were probably quite original for 2011, and funny situations. At one point Krissy complains to her father, “He cheated on me with a girl that stabbed me in the back, got me fired, and took my job!” Dad rightly mumbles that she sounds like a Country-Western song. There were a lot of laughs but then it turns around and touches your heart and delivers a powerful for-Hallmark-lesson that good people can sometimes do bad things. No one is perfect. Do not be so quick to judge but be quick to forgive.

Krissy even gets her old job back, thanks to Lance and an important assist from the newly redeemed Debbie. The movie predictably concludes with the appearance of the owner of the book. The Hallmark-Perfect ending!

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Debbie Macomber’s Joyful Mrs. Miracle

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But She’s Not

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Angel in disguise, Mrs. Miracle descends to earth again to fix the lives of us humans. This year played by Rachel Boston, she takes on the persona of a real estate appraiser who enters the lives of three estranged siblings mourning the death of their grandmother, the chairman of the board of a large real estate firm. Her mansion is full of valuable antiques that  “Ann Merkle” is there to appraise and get on the market. Not a “Mrs.” in the movie. Each of the two brothers and one sister want to take over the chairmanship of the company. Charlotte is a single mother of a little boy who has some anxiety and perhaps other issues. She is a former lawyer who is recovering from a bad marriage and wants to prove herself. One of the brothers flies in from London where he is a financier and almost engaged to a nice woman. The youngest brother is a ne’er do well who is indebted to a threatening character, possibly mob-related, who is going to remove his fingers and other things unless he is paid. He wants the chairmanship for the money. They are at odds with each other due to an unfortunate business debacle mostly the fault of the youngest brother. Thanks to the magic, machinations and truisms of not-Mrs. Miracle they re-discover their love for each other and the importance of family just in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, Charlotte successfully navigates a second chance romance with the former stablehand, now estate manager. And the right person is chosen for the chairmanship.

Rachel Boston represents a new take on Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle character. The series is based on her books. The first Mrs Miracle (Mrs. Miracle and Call Me Mrs. Miracle-both terrific) was perfectly played by Doris Roberts who embodied the role for two years until she died. A decade later, (in A Mrs. Miracle Christmas ) the role was taken up by Caroline Rhea who was, in my view, just as great. Her movie added a new character, Mercy, who was a treat as Mrs. Miracle’s daughter, who, in a heart tugging touch, was also an angel. In between, there was a movie called Mr. Miracle, which didn’t work for me. This year, Mrs. Miracle, in a totally unneeded refresh, is a much younger woman. See above poster.

Rachel Boston embraces the role and her typical Rachel Boston (over the top cheerful, energetic, and animated) take on the character could have worked. But she was too overwhelming. She sucked all the air out of room. And this was partially the fault of the script. This Ms. Miracle was much too bossy and too intrusive into the business of the family she was sent to guide. Unlike the previous Mrs. Miracles, she comes across as a real busybody. Always hovering around night and day so very handy with her wise observations, unasked for (but good!, it must be admitted) advice, a sympathetic ear, and direct orders. She can not be ignored or avoided. They do ignore her magical purse however, never questioning how she can pull out crisp legal papers and folders, large toy horses, bunches of huge carrots, etc. like Mary Poppins and her carpet bag. Her references to dancing with Ted Williams, how they baked cookies in the 1890s and other references to her immortality earn a few quizzical looks, but are never challenged. They didn’t even google her. Ms. Boston’s performance and the script was totally lacking in subtlety, mystery, or the dawning sense of wonder of the other Mrs. Miracles. I think what happened was that Hallmark decided to go with a younger more energetic character, decided on Rachel Boston, and wrote the script with her in mind. It’s not the first time RB has played an angel. I don’t really blame the actress, but the casting, script and the direction. They would have done better to cast one of the many talented older actors to carry on the role. Wouldn’t Jane Eastwood, Teryl Rothery, or Barbara Niven have been great? Among many many others. Hallmark has motherly and grandmotherly actresses coming out the ying yang. For that matter, why didn’t they just recast Caroline Rhea? If they wanted a younger vibe, they could have expanded her young daughter Mercy’s role, perhaps laying the groundwork for a spin-off series. I’m ok with Hallmark going younger in their choice of actresses for many of their movies, but in this case, it just didn’t work as well as it could have. The movie as a whole was just OK, but to be fair, Rachel Boston did have her moments.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

To Have and to Holiday

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Bad Dad

This movie. I really shouldn’t have liked anything about it. It starts out with the couple in question hanging out celebrating early Christmas in a luxurious apartment in midtown Manhattan that had to have cost at least $10,000 a month. The guy is in “marketing” and comes from a normal family so there is no way. It is very common in Hallmarkland that people live in homes that are way too expensive for their means but this was more absurd than usual. Later in the movie the guy actually comments that they are going to find a bigger place! They are in love and she is going home for Christmas to be with her family. They are serious about each other and when he suggests he go home with her (his parents are traveling) to meet her parents she joyfully jumps at the chance. And so it begins. Her mother is the mayor of the small picturesque town and her father is the pastor of a local church. Loved the mother. We know we are going to have trouble with the father because Celeste, our heroine, tells Jason, our hero that he has trouble with “change”. When they once got a new couch, it was 6 months before he would sit on it. I think that was supposed to be funny, but I found it very disturbing. When we see him talking to his assistant pastor who once dated Celeste, he confides that his daughter just gave up her apartment and quit her temporary job so he has every expectation that her Christmas visit will extend to infinity and beyond. He also invites him to come over that night, hoping that their romance will rekindle providing extra incentive to move back home.

When Celeste shows up with (surprise!) Jason, her mother welcomes him warmly, the father is polite but reserved. At dinner that night, the coolness continues (So where were you thinking of staying tonight, Jared?). When Celeste learns that her beloved church will be going through renovations, she is heartbroken because her dream had always been to be married in the building she grew up with. All of a sudden, Jason gets down on one knee to propose marriage so they can be married this very Christmas Eve in the church of her childhood memories even though they have only known each other for three months. In front of her parents he has just met without even a ring or any discussion with anyone. Jason is a person of impulse. Dad is not happy, but he remains calm. Mom is thrilled. Next on the agenda, if they want her Dad to officiate, is his “Marriage Boot Camp” that he puts all his prospective brides and grooms through to determine whether they know each other well enough to have a chance at a successful marriage. The series of challenges, games, tests, questions etc. that Pastor Dad puts the couple through sucks up most of the rest of the movie along with some wedding prep. Of course, Dad hopes that they will realize that they shouldn’t be getting married so soon and best case scenario, break up for good. But they pass them all with flying colors.

Now make no mistake. Pastor Dad was just awful throughout this movie. He was childish, petulant, overly possessive of his daughter, selfish, and rude. But he had enough flashes of reasonableness and niceness here and there to keep him from being a complete villain. So he didn’t ruin the movie for me. Honestly, he didn’t seem like much of a threat, because no one was on his side, including his very nice assistant pastor, especially when Jason’s sweet parents show up unexpectedly. His wife was certainly not and she was a force to be reckoned with.  Also that couch thing seems to suggest that he had some psychological problems that may have been beyond his control. Also, I kind of saw his point. Three months is too soon for marriage, especially considering how spur of the moment it was.  I thought the couple was really cute and I really liked both of them. The boot camp that was meant to drive them apart only made their relationship stronger. Liked that too and the increasing frustration of the Dad.  He finally crossed the line when he overheard his daughter accept a dream promotion in New York City from her old boss which meant that she definitely would not be moving back home. He really loses it at last and for some reason blames Jason which made no sense. What followed was a dressing down by both his wife and his daughter until he was thoroughly ashamed of himself.

The ending was kind of lame. Because he was so preoccupied with breaking Jason and Celeste up, he ignored a leak in the church ceiling, which caused the roof  of the church to partially cave in. The whole purpose of the quicky wedding was to do it in the church so now the wedding was off. Is it possible that Pastor Dad subconsciously ignored the leak so that this very disaster would happen? Hmmmm. Nah. Hallmark’s not that subtle. Having had a change of heart and all, in three days the good pastor “rallies the townspeople” and arranges for the wedding to take place in the local country club. A better ending would have been for them to get married in the church anyway with heavenly sunbeams shining through the accidental skylight upon the happy couple. Or even a light dusting of snow falling picturesquely around them. That would have been a lot more Hallmarky.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Christmas on Call

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911

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This one premiered a couple of days ago, but I didn’t have a chance to watch it on the day. It is one of my favorite types of Hallmarks: an ensemble piece with many stories going on at once. But it is very different for Hallmark. It is about first responders at Christmas time: emergency room doctors and nurses, EMTs, Firefighters, and Police. It is set in Philadelphia and is very Philadelphia-centric even though it was not filmed there, but in Canada as usual with Hallmarks. A lot of Phillyness is incorporated into the movie including Cheesesteaks, nods to Rocky, The Mummers Parade, and the Eagles (Go Birds!). Philadelphia is almost a character in the movie (And ladies and gentleman, for tonight’s performance, the role of Philadelphia will be played by Winnipeg. Or, “Winnipeg IS Philadelphia!”, if you prefer.) Lots of shoutouts to the sites and culture. Even Jason Kelce’s mom, Donna, makes a cameo appearance playing a deli owner who serves our main heroine Hannah her first Cheesesteak.

She is an emergency room doctor who has recently moved to Philadelphia from Seattle. She meets an EMT wheeling in an accident victim and there is an immediate spark between them. Hallmark gets a diversity gold star, which have been few and far between lately, for featuring an interracial romance. Actually, they really lean into it because there is a second one between two police officers. So yay.  Also, the Hannah and Wes relationship is kind of a stand out because of the physicality of Wes, the EMT. He is huge! 6 foot 4 and built like he could have played offensive tackle for the Eagles himself. Hallmark guys are usually not that big. Anyway, I really liked the out-of-the-box choice and the match up. His character is practically a saint.  Anyway this one weaves the individual stories of the emergency workers and the people that cross their path with lots of Christmas celebrations, duty, and do-goodery. While Hannah and Wes try to find time in their demanding schedules for their incipient romance we get to know two police officers who had a romantic encounter, a misunderstanding, and a second chance to reconnect. In between, we meet a nurse who is missing her daughter in the military, two neighbors feuding over Christmas decorations, a lonely asthmatic who needs more than just medical help, A new EMT who is not confident in her abilities and whom Wes is mentoring, A fire chief whose family is supportive despite the time demands of his dangerous job, and a son worried about his widowed mother once he goes off to college. The big climax with 15 minutes to go is not a conflict or misunderstanding, but a brave rescue of the fire chief from a burning building by Saint Wes who is also trained as a firefighter.

All of the stories, though not really connected with each other are smoothly incorporated into a pretty cohesive unit. Although the pace is speedy, I never felt that any of the stories were given short shrift. There was never a dull moment. There was also a lot of heart and a little humor. Sara Canning is a Hallmark regular, but used too sparingly, in my view. I have always liked her. Another stand out was Reena Jolly who played Danielle, the prickly police officer who gets a second chance with love. If you love Philadelphia, you really shouldn’t miss this. Or even if you are neutral, like me. Philly-haters should also watch and take comfort in the fact that it wasn’t filmed there.

Rating: 7 out of 10.