Daniel Lissing

Renovation Romance (a.k.a Christmas Under Construction)

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It’s an Old Story

This movie which premiered on the Hallmark Channel last night is actually one from 2024 which has been running over on Hulu ever since. It reunites stars Daniel Lissing and Jessica Lowndes who were last paired together in an old christmas movie from almost 10 years ago called A December Bride that many remember fondly. If you are a Jessica Lowndes fan, don’t read my review. Although the talented Ms. Lowndes is beautiful if not stunning, I was not a fan of her acting back then and I still am not despite her conquering at least one of her distracting quirks. Daniel Lissing will always have a place in Hallmarkies hearts for his role of Jack, Elizabeth’s dead Mountie husband, in the popular series When Calls the Heart, a show that I have never been interested in personally. Anyway, the nostalgia factor of the pairing surely accounts for Hallmark acquiring this movie from Hulu for its kick-off to this year’s Christmas in July. It can’t have been anything else.

Chelsea and Jake, who have become “America’s Sweethearts” are the hosts of a reality show called “Renovation Romance” in which the pair guide a couple through their relationship challenges while renovating their home. After filming the last show of the season, Chelsea is looking forward to a vacation with Jake to repair some cracks in their own relationship. Jake is not as enthusiastic and when their boss, Don, proposes to cap their season off with a Christmas Special, he is all for it. Chelsea relents because of a huge check to her favorite charity and because she is a people pleaser. Enter Janice, Cooper, and Cooper’s “country cabin” that he inherited from his grandpa. Their relationship is confusing. I thought they were engaged because the idea is that Cooper wants the renovation so they can live in it together, but later in the movie Don wants Cooper to propose to her live on the air. Anyway, Cooper wants to maintain his grandfather’s old world rustic charm and Janice wants to make it sleek, modern, and re-sellable. Chelsea and Jake have their work cut out for them as the couple’s differing taste in architecture extends to their lifestyle choices as well. Cooper is the proverbial country mouse and Janice is the proverbial city mouse. And the proverb is sited in so many words. In case we don’t get it. To make the project even more complicated, the Cabin is decorated for Christmas within an inch of it’s life even though some demolition will be involved. There are a lot of bows which turn out to be very significant at the end. In the middle of the movie they decide that the cabin needs even more Christmas and they add even more Christmas trees and bows. There are at least 15 trees in one room of the cabin at final count.

After the first episode of the show, Jake and a disgruntled Janice suspiciously go off to New York together on supposedly separate business which leaves Cooper and Chelsea to film the renovation project and work on Cooper and Janice’s relationship all by themselves. This was as awkward as it sounds with them flirting shamelessly, having lots of laughs and chemistry together and being deliriously happy without their partners all in front of the camera. After a lot of Christmas-y shenanigans, carpentry, heartfelt discussions, longing gazes, and futile attempts to communicate with their supposed loved ones, Jake and Janice finally return from New York. Don has decided that nothing would be better than a live reunion and reveal of the newly renovated cabin capped off by the previously mentioned marriage proposal! To her credit, Chelsea puts the kabosh on that notion, but a few minutes before the live show, Chelsea decides to break up with a more than willing Jake. During the live filming, Janice, although she is pleased with the cabin, decides she is not so pleased with living there and breaks up with Cooper even though she still loves him but has to live in the city. For some reason at this point, Daniel Lissing decides to look totally heartbroken even though we know that his character Cooper could not have been more pleased and relieved since he is totally in love with Chelsea. It was a very odd acting choice. To save the show, Jake decides that this is a fine time to propose to Chelsea live on the air even though she has just broken up with him. Now this dumpster fire, in the right hands, could have been absolutely hilarious, but the whole thing just comes across as cringe. Foregoing her people pleasing ways, after a tense inner struggle, Chelsea turns him down, turns to the camera, and gives a fine speech to their live audience all about knowing that they would prefer honesty to having everything wrapped up with a big happy, but phony, bow. She walks off and then ruins the whole thing by kicking herself off camera for being an idiot for sacrificing the ratings by all of her silly honesty and authenticity and wishing she had just gone along with Jake’s proposal on the air! But don’t worry, Cooper swoops in with words of wisdom and a big kiss. And just to put another big bow on it, all of the drama has resulted in the live special being a massive hit after all so she’s happy again. Do Janice and Jake get together? No bows tying up that story, I’m afraid.

Almost everything in this movie missed the mark with me by a little or a lot. But frankly, I think the worst thing about it was the Christmas Decorations. Also, at the end, the cabin looks exactly the same as it did before the so-called renovation.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Single on the 25th

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Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving

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

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

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

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

Rating: 8 out of 10.

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.

Catering Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / 3 Comments

Very Pleasant

This was a very nice romance. I liked the dynamic between Molly (the caterer hired for the biggest event held in the small town) and Carson ( the leading citizen’s nephew put in charge of this charity gala). Molly is just starting her business which has been her dream since childhood. The name of her catering business is called “Molly’s Menu Magic” which I mention because that is a very silly name. It sounds like it was named by a 4-year-old and doesn’t exactly convey sophistication and expertise.  What was she thinking? Carson is an internationally famous and successful event photographer who is home for Christmas and is helping his Aunt, who hopes that he will take charge of the family foundation when she retires. Carson is smitten by Molly right away, but she rightly is not interested in getting involved with a guy who travels the world 11 months of the year. She wants to concentrate on building her business.

Influenced by Carson’s recommendation, Aunt Jean hires Molly even though she is not as experienced as the most prominent caterer in town. The rest of the movie is Carson trying to get close to Molly and worm his way into her affections. Molly likes him and nicely doesn’t avoid him (she can’t-he is basically her temporary boss) but she is cautious and professional at all times. Daniel’s pursuit of Molly might have come across as a little inappropriate and stalker-ish given the power dynamic, but thanks to Merritt Patterson and Daniel Lissing’s portrayals, it does not. He comes across as very nice, a little vulnerable, and trying to be helpful, and Merritt is very together and has the situation well in hand.  It creates some welcome romantic tension.

One thing I really liked about this was that we don’t have any of the usual catering disasters that threaten the heroine’s future livelihood.  Everything goes smoothly thanks to Molly’s skills and talent. There is a crisis, but it has nothing to do with her and she solves it for them. Molly and Carson get closer against her better judgment and the plot is kept moving by Molly trying to duplicate a lost fudge recipe beloved by Aunt Jean, a cute turn by an as-yet uncredited actress as Molly’s young assistant, and Carson’s growing appreciation of the mission of his family’s foundation (thanks to Molly.) We also have a sweet secondary romance for Aunt Jean. The romantic crisis comes when Carson’s beautiful agent shows up right before the Gala to whisk him away for a fashion show in Berlin confirming Molly’s worse fears. All is resolved with Daniel trading in his glamorous career for a more fulfilling one, and Molly’s business really taking off. Also, I think Daniel and Molly just might make a go of their relationship!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

**This will be my last review of any movie showing on GAC. It has been brought home to me just how pernicious this network is behind its soft words. I was not aware of how closely affiliated the ownership group is to our former president and the PACs that fund and support him and his agenda. I suspect that they may have even been connected to the dark money that funded the January 6th insurrection.**