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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
It’s 5 years later, and we’re back with the three Brenner boys. On the surface, everything seems fine. Luke is married to Thomas’s mother Sophie and being a Dad. Thomas was the baby in Three Wise Men and a Baby who was foisted on the three brothers by a complete stranger to temporarily take care of. Which they did, and by doing so managed to heal a breach that had developed between them, learned to appreciate how great their mother was, and grew up a good bit themselves. Thomas’s mother, I’m happy to report, is now gainfully employed and being a success at her job. She is going to some kind of work conference and Luke is going to be taking care of Thomas on his own while she is away. Stephan, former pet psychologist, has now written a self help book for humans about conquering his own crippling anxiety. He is still seeing Susie, whom he got together with at the end of the previous movie. When we first see Taylor, he is pitching the new video game he has created to an investor on a video call in what appears to be an office in his own company.
But all is not what it seems. To make a long story short they still have a lot of work to do on themselves. Especially Stephan and Taylor. Luke, who has been promoted to Fire Chief, still pretty much has it all together although he is as tightly wound as ever. He has dropped some balls at work and at home but that’s parenthood for you, right? The corporate representative that Taylor is pitching his game to wants to buy the game for a large amount of money, not invest in it. Taylor refuses his offer because he views it as selling out. After the call, we see that Taylor is using a coffee shop as a front for an office and he and his props are kicked out. He goes home to his apartment and is met with an eviction notice for not paying his rent. Stephan has been neglecting Susie in favor of promoting his aforementioned book and their relationship is showing some cracks. As does his new calm and collected facade. Susie wants to get married like a grownup and Stephan is oblivious. Taylor, due to his being homeless, suggests that all three of them move back in with Mom as a Christmas treat for her and so they all can take care of Thomas while his mother is away. Of course we know that many challenges are on their way and by the end they will result in “the boys” getting back on the right track once again.
Since they have the parent and uncle thing pretty much nailed now, the challenges come in the form of Mom’s new boyfriend and them taking charge of Thomas’s school Christmas pageant. While visiting a rehearsal, they had accidentally destroyed all of the sets and props and served the children “poison” cookies so half of the kids quit, along with the director. Mom’s new boyfriend, who is a pastor and pretty much the perfect man and in all ways worthy of their wonderful mother, is very much resented by the boys and is not exactly welcomed with open arms into their Mom’s life. Taking charge of the pageant does not go well as all of the kids who had any talent are gone, and the boys think the whole thing has to be rewritten. They are determined not to let this pageant be a disaster that will scar the kids’ lives forever, but true to form, they screw it up even worse by calling in “the big guns,” Mark LeClark, the Christmas decorating champion from the previous movie. He is all about Christmas glitz, giant inflatables, smoke machines, and disco lights. In short, everything not in line with the true spirit of Christmas. After the set burns down thanks to a blowtorch and an overloaded circuit board (way to go there Mr. Fire Chief-maybe not so together after all), they finally listen to the advice that all the adults in the room have been trying to tell them and go back to the original simple plan. The pageant is a success and, to borrow a line from the show, “Christmas is Saved!” The play is called “The Grump Who Ruined Christmas” to avoid copyright infringement which was a humorous touch.
Besides this basic plot, there was a lot more going on in this movie, including Taylor finding romance with one of the volunteers. She is described as female version of himself including a predilection for constantly sucking on a candy cane. Only she is a much better more mature version of him and he learns a lot from her. The character and the actress were real bright spots, and it was an very clever idea for the love interest. She was funny and my favorite character even though she replaced Ali Leibert as Taylor’s girlfriend. There are a lot of pep talks in this. The “boys” give a lot of them and get a lot of them. They also get told off a lot by virtually everybody at least once, even Mark LeClark. At first I really wasn’t feeling this movie, as the growth we thought we saw in the brothers at the end of the first movie seemed to be more of a one step forward but two steps back situation. A lot of it was a rehashing, but the script was funny. Not really in a laugh-out-loud way but with clever lines and terrific visual comedy. So, well written (by Kimberley Sustad and Paul Campbell) and directed. Cute cameo appearance by Ms Sustad, btw. The obligatory heartwarming scenes were there of course, but I could have done with one or two less of those. No complaints about the acting of the three co-leads or the supporting characters, even the kids. Everyone was great, but Paul Campbell was a stand out as always. The true meaning of Christmas was learned once again. I hope we don’t have to learn it a third time because there just might be a third movie next year as the door was left open just a crack. Can we see some real steps forward with no backward ones? Can they be men and not boys? And can we keep Taylor’s girlfriend next time around? (If there is a next time.)
Of course at the conclusion of this movie about the marriage of two young people almost derailed by their two competing cultures everything ends in happiness, peace, acceptance, and compromise. But is that really what it’s about? To my mind, it is more about a young modern Indian-American woman who has struggled to please her demanding and overprotective father all of her life, who finally stands up for herself thanks to her love for her Irish-American fiance and her desire not to lose her family while marrying her man.
Asha and Jake become reacquainted when he has to go to the emergency room where she is working as a Nurse Practitioner during the Christmas holidays. They had gone to high school together where Asha was the scholarly math whiz and Jake was a popular English major, homecoming king, and top athlete. He is currently a successful sports journalist. It is pretty much love at first sight in the emergency room, cue courtship and dating montage, which ends in a marriage proposal almost a year later at Christmas time. They are a sweet and likable couple played by Ben Hollingsworth and talented and beautiful Anuja Joshi as Asha. They are both excellent with great chemistry.
Now engaged, they are going back to their hometown to Meet The Parents. Trouble is foreshadowed by Asha’s alarmed reaction to finding out that Jake did not receive Asha’s traditional father’s permission to ask for her hand in marriage. Yes, how could he not have known to do that, how could they not have met the parents before since they grew up in the same town, etc. But details details-I didn’t care. Also foreshadowing trouble with dear old Dad is Asha’s story that, pushed to be a M.D. all of her life, she had to pretend to fail the MCAT’s in order to keep the peace and pursue her real dream of Nursing. So we learn that, although bullied by her controlling (but loving!) father, she is strong and has found a way to live her own life. Throughout the movie, Asha struggles with wanting to stand up to her father Samuel’s behavior despite her respect for his struggles and sacrifice. Anuja Joshi’s deft performance ensures we empathise with and understand her dilemma instead of being frustrated by her inability to put her foot down. When she introduces Jake to her otherwise warm and welcoming family, her father does not disappoint in the trouble and strife department. I will just summarize every micro and macro (mostly macro) aggression by just saying that he is rude and obnoxious to poor Jake at every opportunity.
When Asha is introduced to Jake’s divorced parents, there are challenges but nothing compared to what Asha’s father inflicts on Jake and indirectly, Asha. The big conflict is about wearing or not wearing shoes in the family home. Both Jake Sr. and Molly are sometimes awkward, only a bit demanding, but always well-meaning. Our couple’s situation is surprisingly layered. Despite all of the stress, there is a lot of family warmth and humor in this movie. Jake’s Mom and Dad are a little quirky and very free and easy, while the Singhs are a large close family but immersed in tradition and structure. We learn, thanks to Jake’s father’s uncomfortable probing that the couple are not on the same page regarding having children. He is worried about that and doesn’t want them to make the same mistakes he and Molly made. It turns out that Jake’s mom is a former rival of Asha’s father in the town’s house decorating contest. He has won the prize many years in a row but only after Molly effectively abdicated her throne after her divorce from Jake’s Dad. She is now the queen of the local Christmas Pageant instead. We see that there might be some social divide between the two as, when they meet some of their former school mates, they express surprise that the High School big shot and the under-the-radar Nerd are engaged. There is a financial gap between the two families as well, with the suburban Singhs apparently much wealthier than the more urban O’Briens.
The Singh’s devout Christianity is an important part of this story. Their religion is unusual for Indians and has brought challenges both in India and in the immigrant community. Asha’s mother was raised Hindu but fell in love with her husband’s faith and converted. When Asha and Jake are late to church and the father’s traditional reading of the Christmas story his anger brings all of the tension and misunderstandings between the two families to a head. Samuel, his Christian spirit left by the wayside, verbally attacks Jake and his family. Jake stands up to Asha’s dad (finally) to defend his family, and Asha runs off to do some thinking. It is quite a scene, but nothing compared to what follows. I’ll just say that repentance and forgiveness are front and center, and Asha really steps up to the plate.
Manoj Sood is wonderful as Samuel, the head of the Singh family. I hated his attitudes and his behavior, but somehow couldn’t quite hate him. Okay, I did strongly dislike him. But he manages to convey warmth and love beneath his harshness to his beloved daughter’s fiance. At the end, his remorse and pain at his own behavior was touching and authentic. The actor’s range was truly on display. The whole cast was great, but the detailed multilayered script, packed with many subtle and revealing details, drama, humor, and warmth was the star. And the romance and mature relationship between the two lovers were pretty great as well.
This movie I had major problems with. The actors were fine. The male lead was very attractive and I liked Fiona Gubelmann better than I thought I would. It was beautifully filmed and the Irish scenery was lovely and evocative. The plot was standard stuff that could go either way between a fairly decent movie or a disaster depending on the details. This was not a disaster, but full of distracting headscratchers that pushed the needle close to disaster territory. The basic plot on which all hangs is Rose (Fiona) going to Ireland to flip a house she bought on a whim on the internet. She is a successful real estate investor and designer and who enjoys her freedom and lack of roots. She meets Sean, the handsome and sexy real estate agent/possibly mayor/most eligible bachelor/official preserver of historical cottages/anti-flipping police. Handsome and sexy he might be, but despite his banter and jokes, one senses a certain complicated mysterious darkness there. Of course he is the love interest. Fiona sets about restoring the house, bumping heads with Sean about every improvement she wants to make. Seemed like a pretty standard issue Hallmark plot, but whoever wrote this seemed determined to bewilder and perplex.
First off, Sean was clearly meant to be an admittedly rough diamond: Outwardly hard to get along with but with a heart of goo. (He has a nice mother, who welcomes Fiona with open arms for one thing.) But what about his sleazy sales tactics? Fiona based her purchase on a photo of the cottage which was charming if spartan by the sea with wonderful views. When she gets to Ireland, it turns out the pictures are several years old and the cottage is literally falling apart with tarps over the roof, water damage, falling beams, boarded up windows, with outdoor refuse everywhere inside as well as out. It was shabby behavior and false advertising. And sorry, I didn’t buy his smirking excuses: I told you to read the fine print, I told you not to buy it, etc. He claims the property itself is worth 3 times what she paid for the house. Which doesn’t do her any good because he would never sign off on demolition of such a historical hovel treasure so a buyer could start from scratch. What a weasel. Such unethical behavior on the part of a Hallmark hero is a first. I think I can say without qualification that his “Ma” would not approve. This is behavior typical of the “bad boyfriend,” our heroine gives the heave-ho to, not the good guy.
And why did a successful savvy professional house buyer purchase a cottage 5000 pounds over the asking price in another country sight unseen without reading the fine print anyway?
Even though he sold her a bill of goods by despicable means, he compounded his duplicity by refusing to work with her to make the property sellable. He wouldn’t even approve her paint colors. He apparently relents a bit behind the scenes.
And what about that renovation? We have a scene of her working like a dog for what could have been days or could have been weeks or could have been 1 day, trying to make the place habitable. It is in such bad shape she has to stay at a local inn for her own safety. She is literally sweeping bushes out of the main room and scraping mold off the walls one day and the next she is living there. With no heat, electricity, or running water by the way. It is still a wreck on the outside but in a matter of anywhere from a day to a week it is completed inside and out complete with red trim around the (newly installed) windows, flowers in the window boxes, furniture, art, and a fully decorated Christmas Tree. The timeline is very vague to say the least, but one day Rose goes to Sean’s nice mother’s house for dinner with tarps still on her roof and boarded up holes where the windows are supposed to be, and is given a mince pie. The next scene the house is beautifully restored. It could only have been a day or two because when she next meets the mother again, “Ma” asks her how she liked the pies.
While staying at the picturesque hotel, she develops friendships with two other women. One woman’s story is fairly well developed with a beginning, a middle, and an end. But the other younger woman is just tagging along for the ride, which would be OK except that she drops the bombshell that she is actually a famous pop star (“a legend”, no less) hiding out from “the fame”. Can we have her movie please? Why drop an intriguing hook like that and just do nothing else with it? Oh, and by the way, when she first meets Rose she tells her that she is also in the midst of having her cottage renovated and she expects it to take 18 months. That’s months, not weeks. See above where Rose has hers completely renovated in the blink of an eye and with no hint of an actual worker coming near the place.
She puts the house up for sale asking the same price she paid despite all the money she must have plowed into it. Not surprisingly, she finds a buyer for the now charming little house right away who plans to gut it and flip it. Rose is very disconcerted. When she tattles on the buyers to Sean, he has no problems with those plans-talk about flipping. Suspicious much?
Throughout the movie, Sean and Rose are flirting, bantering, and falling for each other. They also have some serious talks about how damaged they are by their so-called tragic pasts. When they go on a solitary picnic she leans in for a kiss, surprising me because Hallmark Heroines rarely make the first move, and he recoils from her like she suddenly developed scales or a pig snout! I guess he was as surprised as I was over such behavior. After no explanation, other than “Sorry”, he gives her a bro-hug. I mean…I get that the vulnerable soul probably didn’t want to get sexually involved with a transient who would soon be moving on. He has been single for years to avoid another heartbreak. But the only previous heartbreak we know of was when he broke up with his childhood girlfriend after college. That must have been at least 15 years ago and it was a mutual parting of ways because she didn’t want to move back to the village. It was very fishy. Red flags aplenty with this guy.
Rose is portrayed as emotionally damaged as well which is why she won’t settle down and put down roots. But I just didn’t buy it. Something about guilt that her mother had to give up her love of travel to be her mother? Neither of the protags supposed issues keeping them from being together really made any sense to me.
Anyway, despite Rose planning to move to Scotland after buying another house sight unseen and behind the scenes, she decides not to sell her Irish cottage. There is a lot of “behind the scenes” going on in this movie. Triggered by digging out her old photo of her mother and wondering where it was taken, she changes her mind and decides home is Sean, not a place, and as long as they are together they will be home. Being alone is the trap, not having a home. No more info about the old photo or where it was taken. It is up in the air whether they are going to Scotland or staying in the village though.
They seal the deal by taking the traditional Christmas plunge into the Northern Sea together. Fully clothed in their sweaters and coats. Which is the last scene and my last “What the Heck?!” moment of many not mentioned.
Hallmark Christmas meets Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
For a long time, I wasn’t all that much of a fan of Erin Krakow, but in her last several movie she has really won me over. When the script has been good, she has delivered her lines with aplomb, and handled both the comedy and the little dramatic moments with expertise. At times she has been downright hilarious. I don’t notice her resting face, which I think of as “wholesome placidity” too much anymore. And she really won me over when, in the last Hallmark she was in, she washed off all of her makeup before going to bed. The last few Saturday night #CountdownToChristmas premiers have been very good, and this one was no exception. The script was amusing with some good lines and good physical comedy, a little mystery and tension, and a bit of paranormal activity, otherwise know as Christmas Magic. The acting was excellent from the whole cast. Although I am not a “Heartie” (fan of the long running Hallmark series, When Calls the Heart) I know that the reunion of Elizabeth, played by Ms. Krakow, and her late and, lately, very lamented Mountie/husband, Jack, played by the male lead in this one, Daniel Lissing, has been much ballyhooed.
Olivia is an interior designer who works behind the scenes on the “Style Home Network.” Classic Hallmark female profession. She is tapped to host a Christmas Special, and if she pulls it off successfully, she will get her own series. Again, classic. However, to her dismay they are putting the creator of a raunchy reality show, “Model Home”, (about many fashion models living together in one house) in charge. His name is Chris, and they immediately get off on the wrong foot and rub each other the wrong way from the get go. Enemies to Lovers. Check. He has the bright idea of choosing Olivia’s dilapidated childhood home for the big makeover, and Olivia reluctantly goes along with it after much protest. While doing some preliminary work on her old home with her sister, i.e. drinking wine (favorite Hallmark drink other than hot cocoa), they see a strange glow coming from a kind of cupboard and hear the tinkling of bells. When they investigate, they find an envelope addressed to Olivia and inside a childhood letter she wrote asking Santa for the name of her one true love. Also enclosed is a blank sheet of paper, and to her shock words start magically writing themselves in gold saying that her true love’s name is “Nick.” Santa is writing back 25 years later! Remember Harry Potter opening Tom Riddle’s diary and seeing the writing spookily form by itself? That’s exactly what it looked like! Or the writing inside the One Ring to Rule Them All. Or Dolores Umbridge’s blood quill writing on the back of Harry’s hand, for that matter. Olivia declares it poppycock, and throws the magical letter in the garbage! Can you imagine? That’s when I knew that this, despite the cliches, might go purposely just far enough off the rails to be interesting. Because seriously? A glowing tinkling self-writing letter right out of Chamber of Secrets only from Santa, and she throws it in the trash? (Twice?!)
Right off the bat, she “meets cute” with three guys named Nick, two of which are big Hallmark stars in their own right. This is another thing Hallmark has been doing lately. All three are instantaneously smitten, lucky for her. One is a pediatric surgeon with Doctors Without Borders who once had to tame a reindeer to get medicine to sick children (really), and the other is a master carpenter whose work Olivia has always admired. The other one is a hot fireman calendar dude (never a serious contender.) While she is dating all 3 secretly (because now she believes one of them is her soulmate-she just needs to figure out which one) she and Chris get to know each other better and start to fall for each other. But Chris’s name is not Nick so that’s a problem, especially since she has realized that none of the three Nicks is really right for her. It all comes to a disastrous head on live TV during her Christmas Special.
Virtually everyone in the supporting cast seemed to have a lot of fun with their roles, especially Benjamin Ayers and Christopher Russell as Nick A and Nick B. Jess Brown as Olivia’s sister had some nice moments as did Russell Roberts as a subtle Santa figure. When Hallmark shows they don’t take themselves too seriously by injecting some self-deprecating humor and inside jokes into the proceedings, it always plays well with me. And this one includes a healthy amount of that with the Magic Santa, the names of the male characters, their professions, the meet-cutes (coffee spillage!), and all sorts of little details. **Spoiler Alert** Chris’s real first name is Nick. Chris is his middle name. **End spoiler** No cliche is left by the wayside, but in a fun way. I give this one an “8” and that’s 7 in a row, if I round one up, which is some kind of record.
