Magic

Santa Tell Me

/ Rebekahrox / 4 Comments

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.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Haunted Wedding

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

Scooby-Don’t

This one started out great but lost its way, got pretty confused, and floundered around aimlessly to the inevitable happy conclusion. It’s a shame because the premise was a fresh one for Hallmark, the two lead actors were good and likable as were the characters they played, and in the beginning, there were several cute lines in the script. It opened with a spoof of Ghost Hunter-type reality shows with which I am very familiar because a lot of reasons. Ghost hunting is our couple Jana and Brian’s hobby and the movie opens with them doing just that. They really nailed the usual lingo and crazy machines that all respectable ghost hunters would not be without. It turns out that on this occasion Brian has lured Jana into a haunted insane asylum to propose marriage. It was cute. I really liked their relationship and that they were so enthusiastic about the unusual hobby that they shared in common. 6 months later they arrive at the (3-tombstone rated!) Keystone Manor, a haunted inn that they have chosen as their wedding venue. And this is about where it all starts to go downhill.

The house is haunted by the bougiely named Angelique DeMorney whose revolutionary war-hero true-love was ambushed and killed the day before their wedding. The anniversary of their planned elopement is coming up on Brian and Jana’s wedding day and Angelique is determined that there will be no wedding in her house unless it is hers to Malcolm, her dead lover. Jana and Brian decide to find out whether Malcolm is out there somewhere in ghost form (he is) and reunite them so they can cross over into the great beyond together forever. After “research” they find him at a pub which used to be the old jailhouse where he died of his wounds. It turns out that Malcolm was an ancestor of Brian and they look exactly alike. This familial connection is why Brian and Jana can interact with the two ghosts. New-to-Hallmark Dominic Sherwood was effective in the dual role, distinguishing the slightly goofy Brian from the serious and sad Shakespeare-quoting Malcolm very nicely.

Hardly anything in this movie made sense. For over 200 years Angelique has not been able to communicate with or be seen by anyone until the arrival of Jana and Brian. They are her one chance to finally be reunited with Malcolm and they vow to help her do so. They are ghost hunters. Brian is an ancestor of Malcolm. What could be more coincidentally fortuitous?  Yet Angelique is spiteful and hostile off and on (mostly on) throughout the movie. She sabotages their wedding preparations and plays mean tricks like turning their wine into vinegar. This ghost has powers outside the realm of the usual poltergeist activities. She whines all the damn time. She would have been well served if Jana and Brian left and had their wedding at “The Radisson (like normal people)”.

Brian calls in a disgraced TV medium recently exposed as a total fraud. (Why does he do that?) It is immediately apparent that he is a big phony and is rude to Jana and her more scientific approach to boot. Why don’t they throw him out on his ear immediately? But they put up with him until his stupid scheme literally blows up in their faces.

Why does Jana continually bring up her former fiance who left her at the altar years ago and often in Brian’s presence? She and Brian are a solid couple but Jana starts to doubt him for no reason. The conflict did not make sense in the context of their otherwise loving and fun relationship. Plus it was hurtful to Brian. Brian accuses her of trying to purposely sabotage their relationship and he’s probably right. It was meaningless manufactured drama and unnecessary.

And most importantly of all, why do they send their parents on a hayride when Jana’s father has debilitating allergies?

The script is full of overused trendy catchphrases like “We got this!”, I finally felt “seen”, and “I really get you”. Some of which come out of 200-year-old Angelique’s mouth. The one they thankfully forgot was “It’s complicated.” I usually ignore this stuff but I am up to here with these lazy word crutches. The whole thing, once the ghosts got involved, was more like a Scooby-Doo episode than the promising self-aware comedy-romance it started out to be. It’s almost like they changed writers mid-stream. I’m not saying they did, but the thought occurred to me.

Skipping through a lot of scenes, it all ends with a double wedding of the humans and the ghosts with the ghost couple going off together into the light. I strongly suspect that once Malcolm gets to know petulant and bitchy Angelique a little better they will be heading for Heavenly Divorce Court.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

The Magic of Lemon Drops

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

The Roads Not Taken

**Spoilers**

Seems like there has been a lot of fantasy stories on Hallmark lately and this was another one. I was a little suspicious and the title did not set me at ease. But I really enjoyed it. It was well constructed with likable characters and sharp dialogue.  Lyndsy Fonseca and Ian Harding, the female and male leads were wonderful. In fact the whole cast and the characters they played were top-notch.  When Lyndsy does a Hallmark odds are (so far) that it will probably have a fantasy element. She has been nothing but appealing and likable. Stephanie Sly as The Best Friend, and Mariam Bernstein as The Eccentric Aunt were stand-outs. Ian Harding brought a real Paul Campbell vibe to his role which is about the highest compliment I can give him.  Honestly this role could have been written for Paul Campbell, one of my and many others’ favorite Hallmark regulars. Ian Harding played the love interest in Ghosts of Christmas Always. Enough said.

Lolly works with her father at their little restaurant, The Eatery. She is tired, sad, and frustrated. Her dreams of having her own fun and elegant restaurant in New York complete with love and her own family have almost faded away. John B. Lowe plays her father who  embodies my most disliked Hallmark type: A business owner who will sacrifice everything to save the business except take advice and make the changes needed to give his business a chance to survive. Not an auspicious start. To add to Lolly’s discontent, her ex-boyfriend is back in town. He is a successful doctor because he left her and their small town to pursue his own dream. He is a happily divorced and professionally satisfied single father now, and Lolly is full of regrets over their bad break-up which was her fault. When she voices her frustrations and doubts about how she can get her life back on track to her Aunt Gert, Aunt Gert, who is a truly wonderful character, ends up giving her 4 magic lemon drops.  If she eats one before she goes to sleep, her dream that night will be one whole day living a life she yearns for. When she wakes the next morning, she will remember the “dream,” which will help her choose the best path.  She gets 3 chances. The 4th drop, if she takes it, will allow her to pick one of the 3 lives she dreamed of, and her memories going forward will only be of that one life.

The first life she wants to experience is her professional and creative dream of her own restaurant in NYC. When she wakes up the next morning she reflects on the fact that despite having her Michelin-starred fantasy restaurant, her life was still full of creative frustration and financial troubles. She still had no love life, and in addition she was on the outs with her sister and her father. She is more confused and frustrated than ever, so the next night she wishes her wise and loving mother was still alive to support and advise her. That happens and it is wonderful but it also comes with unlooked for and unwelcome consequences. The last lemon drop is to peek into what her life would be like if she and Rory had not broken up, but are happily married with their own family. And it was lovely. But….

In between the nightly dreams of the alternate lives, We spend the days with Lolly as she starts a little side-hustle business of gourmet frozen fruit and herb pops (‘Lolly-Pops”) which gets off to a promising start. She mends her relationship with Rory and starts to see her Aunt Gert, her sister, her father, and even her late mother with new eyes. All these multi-layered stories weaving in and out of each other and each playing out in logical conflicting consequences yet with recurring themes in common could have been a hot mess. Just like that sentence. But it was done seamlessly. And I was not confused.  I was impressed with the detail incorporated into each dream life and its setting along with her “real” life interspersed in the daytime. Everything kept moving forward at a perfect pace and was tied together beautifully to the littlest detail. They even managed to incorporate a cute dog.

There was drama and surprises. Lessons are learned. And they are good ones. Life is a series of trade-offs both sweet and sour. Find your joy and happiness in what you chose. Best of all, the romance was compelling, fully developed, and mature without the usual silly Hallmark tropes. Gosh, I think I’ll have to give this one an almost 10.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

Junebug

/ Rebekahrox / 12 Comments

Inner Childish

I thought this one had some promise. Autumn Reeser has consistently starred in some of the better Hallmarks. Her presence alone insures a certain level of credibility. Not a huge fan of Aaron O’Connell but he was well cast and perfect in Made for Each Other. The plot had a fantasy element that I usually welcome. Juniper (Reeser) is visited by her 8-year-old self that only she can see. “Junebug” has come out of her childhood “wish box” to help her almost 40-year-old (birthday imminent) self out of a rut professionally and personally. But ultimately it was a big disappointment, I’m very sorry to say.

Juniper dreamed of being a writer as a child. One compromise after another led her off that path but she is a big success as a well-respected editor for a boutique publisher of YA and children’s books. Now this seems like a pretty cool career to me, but what do I know? Juniper is vaguely dissatisfied and bored by her job. And also her stable predictable boyfriend. When Junebug appears she calls Juniper out on her boring wardrobe, her boring duties at work, and her boring boyfriend whose idea of a hot date is a home-cooked pasta dinner every Wednesday night. Again sounds nice to me, but when Juniper asks that he bring any other pasta other than their traditional penne, and he shows up with penne anyway, she breaks up her 3-year relationship with him. At work, her boss, Paula, has tasked the team with finding fresh new illustrators for their children’s line. Juniper, guided by Junebug,  finds one in a mysterious and hot muralist, Alex Ripley (O’Connell). Research reveals that he is an icon of the art world who shot straight to the top after his first show. But he disappeared when his second show was savaged by critics. Now he travels from city to city doing unsigned murals. Red flag. Inspired by Junebug, Juniper has decided to get back to her writing. After her meet cute with Alex (she destroys the mural he is working on and he is very nice about it) they decide to work together on a children’s book.

From then on the movie is all about Alex and Juniper talking about doing the book and dealing with Juniper’s writer’s block. They go on a road trip, eat raspberry swirl ice cream (a lot), walk on the beach, shop for clothes, flirt, and kiss chastely. (Very chastely considering they are two attractive single 40-year-olds who might be in love.) Not exactly compelling viewing. No, not a lot of excitement, but there was quite a bit of comedic potential in a 40-year-old sophisticate being followed around by her interfering 8-year-old self that only she can see. But nada. Other than a few quizzical looks and an occasional “Are you all right?” when Juniper is apparently having conversations with herself, it’s just wasted. It’s all just Juniper and Junebug talking boringly mostly by themselves.

The big crisis is when Alex and Juniper’s book is rejected by her boss as being too much of a risk for the company. But why? It made zero sense, unless her boss was just being nice and the book was really awful. She points out that Alex’s muralistic illustrations were “on too large a scale” for a kid’s book, which makes sense and seems like a fair criticism. I guess, because we never actually get to see his work.  But Alex is highly insulted and flounces off petulantly. “This is not why I make my work-To have someone tell me what market it’s right for!” Boo-de-hoo-hoo. Grow. Up. Juniper quits her job without notice the next day. “Is this because I passed on your project? No it really isn’t, Paula” Right. Juniper wins Alex back by hoisting a boombox in the air a la one of my favorite movies, Say Anything. Lots of tributes to that movie in this one. For the happy ending, Alex and Juniper, together for her birthday, open a box of their newly published (by another publisher or self-published-we never know) book. The cover is really bad. Maybe Paula was right.

I won’t be watching this one again, but I might give Say Anything another go. Now that’s a good movie with a lot of heart.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

P.S. I was just reminded by a user review on IMDb that there is a 25 year old movie that is very similar to this one, only done right, with real drama and bite. Its called If You Believe, and I highly recommend it. I thought there was something familiar about this.

Rescuing Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

Cute as the Dickens

This was just as delightful as I remember it being when I saw it last December on the Hallmark Now channel (free trial subscription). I remember thinking that it was one of the best Christmas movies of the season and wondered why it wasn’t on their network Countdown to Christmas 2023. I didn’t review it then because of that and because there are just so many reviews one can do in a week at the busiest time of the year. So it was no hardship to look at it again last night.

Erin (Rachel Leigh Cook) is somewhat of a Christmas scrooge. She only appreciates Christmas for the joy it gives others, particularly her own niece and nephew. She is picked at random for “Operation: Wish” conceived by two of Santa’s elves, Chuck and Debbie, to help humankind rediscover its Christmas spirit which has been lost in the wake of such crimes against humanity like social media and macaroni and cheese ice cream. She is driven to distraction by the two elves incessant emails to claim her last wish (the first two were for her Mom’s Christmas cookies and her old boyfriend to to come back and give her the credit she deserves for his new found success (long and entertaining story: She ends up throwing the asshole out of the house). Finally in frustration and a little scared because her two previous wishes came true by coincidence, she wishes for Christmas to disappear. When it does, she soon realizes her mistake and spends the rest of the movie trying to bring Christmas back with the help of the love interest, Sam, played by Sam Page. He did not endear himself to Erin at first when he showed up for their blind date in Reindeer Antlers. Of course now that Erin has wished that there is no such thing as Christmas and never was, his love for the holiday is not an issue. But yet, despite his initial incredulity over what she is blathering on about, he helps and supports her because he really really likes her. We know it’s true love when she calls him to bail her out of jail.  It was sweet and romantic.

Erin’s attempts to explain Christmas and how to celebrate it to everyone are very funny and thought provoking. A tree in the house? Pantyhose full of rocks? And who was this Mary Krismas again? She sets about trying to recreate it for her loved ones, Sam, and then the whole town. It is gold mine of visual humor. Red and Green aren’t a thing now that Christmas never was, so Erin has to make due with pink and chartreuse. When she sends her parents out to purchase the usual Christmas paraphernalia, they come back with leftover Halloween decorations,  pink feather boas, Hawaiian Leis, tennis balls, and beach balls (“You said to get ornaments like brightly colored balls!”). Is christmas even possible without twinkle lights? Will a fox do for a yard ornament? Because reindeer? Really?

Everyone who had a part in this movie was wonderful, but I particularly loved the quirky performances of Patrick O’Brien and  Bailey Stender who played Chuck and Debbie, the two elves responsible for the whole fustercluck who were eager to help Erin but had to do so with only the most discreet use of Christmas Magic.  The writers made the decision to keep religion and spirituality out of this movie entirely. And I see why they did that. But to me, it brought this one down just a bit. I would have appreciated even a cursory nod to the original reason for Christmas, since this was what the movie was kind of about. It was kind of an elephant in the room. Despite that, with Santa’s help, all ends happily with Erin finally realizing she loved Christmas for the joy it gave her, not just her loved ones, and satisfactorily paired up with Sam. (“Is romance always part of Christmas?”, he asked. “Of course, whole channels were devoted to it.”) In the end, even Chuck and Debbie got their wish and no longer had to deal with humans again.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

Betty’s Bad Luck in Love

/ Rebekahrox / 4 Comments

Bored with Betty

Regrettably, the cute title was the best thing about this one. Oh, it wasn’t bad. It just seemed a little pointless. Or maybe it was me not understanding the point.

The concept seemed promising. Betty as a young middle schooler is cursed by a classmate, Eleni Vrakos, for being friendly with a boy she had her eye on. The curse is that “disaster will befall you and every single one of your future boyfriends.” Laughable, but admittedly Eleni did look pretty scary and her mother supposedly ran a new agey occult-type shop. Plus there was that little gust of wind after the curse, so the viewer is led to believe there might be something to it. Whenever magic happens in a Hallmark, there is always a gust of wind. 

We are reintroduced to Betty 20 years later while breaking up with her boyfriend in a taxi because he almost stepped into traffic. She is a respected Risk Assessor and Actuary. We learn that all of Betty’s romances in the past have, indeed, ended with disaster. And she has decided to just give up on that side of her life. She has always blamed it on the long ago curse of her tween years. The thing is, it is all too vague for the viewer to really buy into Betty’s problem or empathize with her. We are never told what sort of “disasters” befell Betty and her boyfriends for the last 20 years or how many. Or was it just her boyfriends whose limbs and lives were in peril?   Or did she cut short any developing relationships out of fear of disaster, rather than actual disaster? Or is she just a flake? Or At what point did she start blaming the curse? We could have used a montage of a sampling of her past supposed love disasters to get an idea of exactly what Betty and her boyfriends had been up against. Did anybody die?

Encouraged by her mother and her best friend, Mya, Betty is tempted to try again when she meets Alex who is a handsome and nice new tenant in her building. A photojournalist, he leads a very adventurous life and goes to many dangerous places. Not an ideal choice for risk adverse Betty. The rest of the movie involves Betty wrestling with her fears for Alex if they get together, waffling indecisively and basically jerking the ever-patient and smitten Alex around. One day she goes too far by following him and his buddy on a camping trip and spying on him through binoculars. When she creates a ruckus over a raccoon she thinks is a bear,  he finally realizes she is too weird and decides to move on. Meanwhile, she buys a counter curse at a fortune teller shop for 149.99 plus tax. With hope in her heart, she wants to try again with Alex and he agrees. He is a glutton for punishment. The next thing we know, Alex is running into a burning building to rescue a trapped construction worker, and the building explodes. Of course, he is OK, and Betty believes the jinx is broken. They a plan a second date. But when he falls down the stairs, even though, again, he is OK, she breaks up with him at the hospital.

Searching for Eleni to remove the curse through half of this movie, she finally tracks her down. Nice suburban mom Eleni is totally confused when Betty basically accuses her of being the source of all of her love disasters for the past 20 years. She has no idea what she is talking about. Her mother was not a fortune-telling witch but worked in a bank! Eleni was an absolute saint during this encounter. It turns out it was not a real curse but just tween-age drama. Betty sees that all of her and her exes’ misfortunes have just been just random bad luck and not the result of a curse. Boy is her face red. She gets back with Alex again and they get married. In the last scene, she is going with him to the Amazon and playing gender-mixed rugby with him to show how cured she is. For the record, I don’t think men and women playing rugby on the same team is advisable.

 I just didn’t see the point of it all. Let fear rule your life until you find out the bad things that happen are not the result of being cursed, but just random? Seems a little specific. At one point she quotes Cormac McCarthy, “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you”. Sounds like words to live by, and Betty says she loves the quote. But she lives her life diametrically opposed to that way of thinking. And by the way, it is her friend Mya who is having disaster after disaster in planning her wedding and it is Betty who is encouraging her and not letting her give up. Continuing to blame “luck” for her past problems, rather than her choices or not seeing that accidents just happen sometimes seemed to undermine whatever message I thought that maybe this movie was trying to convey. The whole back-and-forth thing was tedious and made me very bored with Betty. I don’t think she learned a thing but might benefit from some professional counseling.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

The Secret Gift of Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / 25 Comments

A Gift Wrapped Christmas 2.0

In catching some of the previews for The Secret Gift of Christmas, I was struck by the similarities which appeared to be between it and one of my favorite Christmas TV movies, Lifetime’s 2015 flick, A Gift Wrapped Christmas. To start off with, here are the opening scenes in both movies:

Come on now. And their jaunty walks are identical.

In both, a cheerful force-of-nature type woman is a personal shopper, for those that can afford such a thing. Their clients are primarily business owners and corporate types who must impress their colleagues and clients at Christmas (and other occasions, presumably).  As the movie went on the similarities continued to be striking. Both shoppers (Bonnie and Gwen) take great pride in their work and are really committed to finding the perfect gifts that will amaze and delight. They are both hired by workaholic single-Dad widowers who do not spend enough time with their attention starved children. They are still dealing with the deaths of their wives and are closed off from moving forward. Both do not want the shoppers to go outside the box with the gifts and just want them to buy boring and impersonal under-the-radar type things like plants or mugs. In both movies their instructions are ignored and Bonnie and Gwen find gifts so special and perfect for the giftees that the result is great good will, effusive thanks, and big business wins for their handsome clients. At first very skeptical and resistant, they are won over. Both men even let the women revitalize their boring wardrobes. Not stopping there, the women both grow close to the men’s children and forge ahead to repair their personal lives. It isn’t long before their relationships with their kids are on the right track, and stuffy attitudes are melting away. Both Gwen and Bonnie both have supportive sisters who want more for them than just their work, and absent parents though for different reasons. And, needless to say, clients and the personal shoppers start falling in love. In both cases, this raises the ire of a jealous other woman and we have conflict and misunderstandings.

In the end, there are just enough differences between the two to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit. Although I am not a lawyer. Bonnie uses shopping to fill the void left by the death of her mother and she is estranged from her father. Gwen is just great at shopping for others and her mother is a free-spirited world traveler. At the end the couples are brought back together by different things. Gwen goes to her clients cabin to deliver his son’s most yearned for Christmas wish, a sled. And in the 2023 version, Patrick, Bonnie’s client, finds and returns a beloved Angel necklace she thought she had lost forever. Bonnie had some work to do on herself, as she was kind of on the verge of being a shopaholic. She learns that “presence” is more important that “presents”, thanks to a last minute appearance of a magic Santa Claus. Gwen was just a shining star and had no issues whatsoever to work on, to my memory.

A Gift Wrapped Christmas was a 10 for me and this new one was a 7. As good a job as Meghan Ory did as Bonnie channelling Meredith Hagner as Gwen, she couldn’t compare with Meredith Hagner’s portrayal in the first version. She was not a breath of fresh air, but a tsunami. The 2023 movie one did have Christopher Russell who was as handsome and authentically nice and sweet as ever. I was getting kind of worried I wouldn’t see him in a Hallmark Christmas movie this year. So I would have to give The Secret Gift of Christmas the nod for the male lead. I do want to acknowledge the excellent job by the actress who played CR’s daughter. She struck just the right balance between eliciting both our sympathy and our admiration. She was never a Debbie Downer about not seeing enough of her father, but always upbeat, frank, and wise beyond her years. All in all, for a story that was basically a copy of an old Lifetime movie, it was well done, and I enjoyed it.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

PS. I recently saw that the powers that be eventually did credit the story writer which, indeed, was the same for both movies. The script writers are different. This was not on IMDb when I wrote this review because I specifically looked for such a credit. IMDb credits often dribble in long after the premiere, which is unfortunate. So in the interest of fairness and full disclosure, I wanted to add this note to my original review.

September 26, 2024

Round and Round

/ Rebekahrox / 5 Comments

A New Spin

**Spoilers**

As an unabashed Tribute? Homage? Knock-off? of the classic movie, Groundhog Day, this one really works. One can hardly do a time loop movie without embracing and acknowledging that film, and it is referred to often. In fact, it is why our victim, Rachel, knows what is happening to her. And how she describes her dilemma to others. “It’s like I’m in…Groundhog Day! I’m in Groundhog Day!” The movie was full of other pop-culture references as well, which was fun. The fast-paced script sparkles with self-aware humor and clever dialog. But this version of a time loop movie has enough twists and divergences to take it off on unexpected and entertaining paths. It goes its own way.

Rachel is an assistant editor at a major publishing house but who once dreamed of being a writer herself. She is in a relationship with an assistant professor at Columbia University. But the first time we see him he is on the phone with her lying to get out of spending the seventh night of Hanukkah with her and her family at their traditional party celebrating the night her parents met. Loser. On the way to the party, Rachel is crashed into by a cute guy spilling all of the traditional jelly donuts she was tasked with bringing to the party. When she gets to her home, there he is again! I think we have a winner. Her grandma Rosie (Paula Shaw) has brought Zach along from the assisted living facility where he teaches art as her driver. (But really to set him up with Rachel). In the course of the evening, Grandma Rosie gives her an antique dreidel that has been in the family for generations. She tells her that “it brings light into the lives of those who spin it.” But when Rachel spins it during the dreidel game the curtains catch on fire. Due to the faulty wiring of their strand of dreidel lights, or so says the fire department. The next morning, Rachel wakes up and immediately realizes the day is repeating itself, setting her on a mission to break the cycle. In doing so, she enlists the help of Zach who is a fantasy role play nerd. He believes her after she predicts everything that is going to happen at the party. He in turn enlists the help of his buddy Seth who is even more of a fantasy nerd. Each day she gets Zach and Seth up to speed and on board to help her. Kind of like a 50 First Dates situation. On the third repeat day, they start to try to find the “inciting incident” that triggered the time loop.  As “experts” in the “field”, Zach and Seth point out that there must be something off in her life and she has to fix it in order to resolve her little problem. In the course of their mission, Rachel dumps her bad boyfriend, shares a Young Adult Fantasy novel she wrote years ago with her new friends, opening herself up to the feedback she has been afraid of, and Zack and Rachel fall in love. Seth is with them through it all and meets his own unlikely soulmate.

Finally, on the 7th night of Hanukkah, Grandma Rosie, and later her family, share a secret with Rachel. With all of the changes Rachel has made in her life and the understanding she has gained, this time when she spins the dreidel, the curtains do not catch on fire and the cycle is broken. But she and Zach have a misunderstanding that part them. The next day is the 8th and last day of Hanukkah, and Rachel must resolve the problem with Zach. We learn that Rachel is not the only one who has been hiding her light under a bushel.

This movie was, for me, the perfect mix of romance and story and full of funny, lovable, and well-crafted characters. The whole cast did an excellent job including the leads who are new fresh faces for Hallmark and veteran actors Paula Shaw and Ric Hoffman as Rachel’s father. It was a warm and wonderful little gem and one that will only improve upon re-watching because of the fun script.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Catch Me If You Claus

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

Catch This One!

Catch Me If You Claus was a funny and whimsical Santa movie. Santa’s son Chris (last name, Vanderschmidt-the Kringles are long gone) is on his rounds when he is tackled by Avery in front of her hearth. She thinks he is the “Santa Crook” who has been burgling the good people of Dayton Ohio this Christmas. She ties him up with her strands of Christmas lights and for some reason doesn’t believe him when he tells her who he is. “Why are all the hot ones crazy?”

Avery’s ambition is to be a television news anchor like her famous mother and she is about to catch her big break on Christmas morning because the regular anchor is home sick. Trying to turn Chris into the police, she is mistaken for his accomplice and ends up being chased by the police while she is chasing the real Santa Crook. They are both being chased by the real bad guys who are really behind the nefarious doings. She and Chris end up kidnapped and tied up by the head baddies. It’s beginning to look a lot like, not Christmas, but that she may miss her chance to finally get the break she needs for her career and make her mother proud. And will Chris be able to finish delivering presents to all the good little boys and girls or will Christmas be cancelled? Word has reached his Dad that Chris is way behind schedule and he is not happy. Will he have to take over the reins from Chris or can Chris, like Avery, live up to his venerable parent’s successful legacy?

Luke Macfarlane and Italia Ricci, who play Chris and Avery, were a great team with excellent rapport and chemistry. As for the romance, this movie features one of the longest and (and sexiest!) kisses that I’ve ever seen in a Hallmark. And after their individual missions have been accomplished, off they go to Bali! This may or may not be a “happily ever after” (not sure how that would work) but it is definitely a “happy for now.” In addition to the sweet romance, there is mystery, adventure, intrigue, and lots of comedy of many varieties. Luke is as charming as ever and I hope he sticks around Hallmark for years to come. Even if it its just to peep his head in from time to time. As long as they can offer him roles and scripts that are as delightful as this one, I think maybe he will.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Everything Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / 14 Comments

Don’t Peek Behind the Curtain

This one was not a real disappointment because, for some reason, I wasn’t expecting much. The leads were likable, not a Hallmark that I pre-judge negatively because of the actors. I’ve always had a soft spot for Cindy Busby and she did her typical Cindy Busby thing in this one. And Corey Sevier is always good. Unfortunately, the plot was rather a throwaway one, and I didn’t think Cindy and Corey had great chemistry. Although at least in this one there was not a big age gap. And yes, I can buy the 40-year-old actors being 32. I don’t think Hallmark had a lot of faith in this one. The production values were sub-par and the title is vague and seems lazy.

Lori Jo quits her job in the first scene because her bratty boss who has a man bun tells her she must work through the holidays and she has Christmas plans that are 10 years in the making. She is going to Yuletide Springs, the ultimate Christmas town, to put a special ornament on their town Christmas Tree. This is a trip she had always planned with her Grandmother, who unfortunately has recently died. She is doing this for Gran. She convinces her friend and co-worker, Tori, who is much more practical and down to earth to go with her.  What we have here is a road trip. And it’s kind of blah.

On the first day out,  LJ meets her Christmas-loving soulmate, a garage-owning mechanic who rescues the pair when their car breaks down. A magic Santa Claus figure also enters the picture and he gives the trio each a little gift that will prove to be mysteriously useful in the next few days. Through a series of his seemingly magical manipulations, Zack, the garage owner meets up again with LJ and Tori even though they are much further down the road from where they left him in his garage. This was confusing and I really needed a map. They have been diverted by Magic Santa whose name is Kris Kringle (nothing subtle there!) to another town on the way to Yuletide Springs. There, Tori meets her lovematch, Jason, and they visit an attraction called the Enchanted Forest, where the first gift comes into play. Jason decides to join them as Zack drops out because he has to go back to work.

Skip skip skip. They eventually get to Yuletide Springs, which is somewhere out west (I need a map!!) and LJ breaks the special ornament while hanging it on the special Christmas tree.  Another gift comes in and the situation is saved in another seemingly magical and fateful way. Also, Zack shows up in Yuletide Springs. The movie ends in a strange way. All through the movie, we are wondering if this Kris Kringle is the real Santa or just a magician. When they reach Yuletide Springs, Kris is there and established as the town Santa. By this time all 4 are convinced that there is real Santa magic going on, but then we learn some information to the contrary. He is a retired professional illusionist named Chris Bronstad. They are confused and disappointed. Especially Tori who has been the “logical explanation” girl throughout the whole movie. But all those magical occurrences that happened on the way to Yuletide Springs can not be explained by a magician’s tricks and illusions. It ends with some dissonance that is rather awkward. And you know what? It could have been fixed by having Chris’s surname mean something like magical or mysterious elf or saint or something in Swedish. But wait, that elf at the very end. Haven’t we seen her before? I’m still confused, but as Chris/Kris says at the end, “Don’t peek behind the curtain.” Mmmmm…that doesn’t fly with me. I probably won’t be peeking at this one again. But not horrible.

Rating: 6 out of 10.