Holiday TV Movies & (Non-Rankin Bass) Holiday Specials - General Discussion

[memememe76]

The trope I hate the most is when the big city person goes to a coffeeshop in the small town and order some fancy latte, but the server says they only serve black coffee, blah blah. But i think that trope is being used less frequently these days.

[SusanM]

Not sure if this qualifies as a trope but in most of these movies you can set your watch by the fact that at the 90 minute mark there will be the Inevitable Misunderstanding or Major Dealbreaking Issue that will take about 15-20 minutes to resolve before we get the lead up to the happy ending.  Sometimes the resolution cuts it even closer and we don't get the happy ending until they are practically showing the credits.

[LuvMyShows]

Watched Lifetime's Blending Christmas specifically to see the Brady Bunch gang, and was pleasantly surprised at their acting (given the low expectations that I had), especially Robbie Rist (he played Cousin Oliver on Brady Bunch), who clearly also has some musical talent.  

SusannahM was correct in her comment above about the typical misunderstanding around 90 minutes that takes 15-20 minutes to resolve...this one had it as well.  This was only my second Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas movie...the other one was A Christmas Cruise, which I tuned into for Nick Viall from the Bachelor franchise.  And I really think that one every few years is the very most I can handle.  Between the predictability of the lead-couple-misunderstanding thing, and the extreme white privilege of the characters (Haylie Duff's character in Blending cried about how disastrously it had gone between the two families, when the only problem I remember is that  whichever  relative "Bobby Brady" played, was clumsy and fell down at an inopportune time), it's just too much for me.  

I do enjoy getting to see which aging hunk appears as the dad, in these types of movies. Blending had Greg Evigan, and the others I can think of are Gregory Harrison and Bruce Boxleitner.  Evigan definitely looked like he'd had some work done.

[JAYJAY1979]

I hate the anti big city trope as well as the owning a fake tree means you're evil.  

I would love to have a movie where the big city person comes to the small town...but all the annoying tropes are exposed as being trite (i.e. tree allergies, lactose intolerant,etc.).  And the small town learns to be open minded and then the lead goes home to the city with her new love interest (who is looking to leave their cult like town).

[twoods]

I really enjoyed The Christmas Proposal. It was pretty realistic that they tried to do a bunch of date stuff so they built some memories of them dating so it wasn’t so hard for them to lie to his family. It was refreshing and kept my interest. Plus, the chemistry between the leads was pretty good. Did not delete it.

[absnow54]

7 hours ago, twoods said:

I really enjoyed The Christmas Proposal. It was pretty realistic that they tried to do a bunch of date stuff so they built some memories of them dating so it wasn’t so hard for them to lie to his family. It was refreshing and kept my interest. Plus, the chemistry between the leads was pretty good. Did not delete it.

I liked it too! Although I think it was pre-empted in my market, because it didn't actually end at 10:30, so I don't think my DVR caught the end. Looks like CBS has another Christmas movie next week. I know Hallmark's entire business model is to crank out as many movies as possible during the Christmas season on a shoestring budget, but I appreciate that there are a few networks that only do one or two a year. You get the same formulaic stories, but with better acting and a nice production value. 

[shapeshifter]

Yes, "A Christmas Proposal" started half an hour late (which is par for the course with all CBS programming on Sunday nights) but if you have access to Paramount+, you can search for it by that title and stream it.

It had some good parts, but I didn't love it. I have enough family drama of my own without watching a fictional version, heh.

[Bruinsfan]

On 10/22/2021 at 12:49 AM, Vermicious Knid said:

Here you go, all 115 holiday movies announced so far across all channels. One Hannukah movie, one same-sex love story, kittens, an amnesiac, and about a dozen stories with royalty. Only four or five starring people of color.

They must have continued to update after you posted, because there are 142 there as of this writing and I was pleasantly surprised by the number featuring people of color. Some apparently half of—GASP!—interracial main couples. I think I even saw one with a Middle Eastern male lead. (I didn't look too closely, lest it turn out the plot is him being taught about the Christmas spirit and renouncing his heathen Muslim ways to be worthy of settling down with Ms. Holly Boughs or whomever...)

I wasn't aware of The Bitch Who Stole Christmas, so that one is going on my must-see list along with Single All the Way.

[Shanna Marie]

On 12/12/2021 at 6:05 AM, ShelleySue said:

What do you think is the most overused trope?

The big event -- business gala, wedding, class reunion, product launch, office party, community event, etc. -- is on Christmas Eve night. Even in the movies that avoid the "big city woman goes to small town and discovers the joy of Christmas and the evil of her career" trope, we still usually get the Christmas Eve big event that's do or die. I can't imagine a business would think it was a good idea to launch something that night, especially since most newspapers and TV stations are on skeleton crews, so they're not likely to cover anything that's not major breaking news. Your clients aren't going to be thrilled with you expecting them to come to your business gala on a holiday. Good luck finding catering staff and booking function space on a Christmas Eve. You'll be paying holiday rates for your class reunion. Likewise, you're not going to get a church or a minister for a wedding on a day when a lot of churches are busy having services. You'd be lucky to find an Internet-ordained minister to do something in your home, but the big church wedding and country club reception probably isn't going to happen on Christmas Eve. Most of the big events in real life happen in the days or weeks leading up to Christmas, not right on the day. I get that they need the ticking clock, but can they not be just as stressed about an event happening Dec. 20?

On the topic of whether older movies are better or if they've changed, the other night I watched a movie called Naughty or Nice from 2012 on Prime. It was kind of shocking because it was the opposite of all the Hallmark tropes. The heroine had a career and something went wrong with it, but she was trying to get it back -- and that was okay. She didn't discover that she really wanted to bake cupcakes. She worked in what looked like a medium-sized city and lived in a modern suburb. She never went near a small town. There was no fake snow. I'm not sure where it was supposed to have taken place (the license plates were generic), but it looked a lot like the way Texas looks in December. The heroine's house was a fairly recent small suburban house, and it was appropriate to what she could afford at her age/career. The interior fit the house, with fairly small rooms. The kitchen looked like a normal real kitchen rather than something out of a cooking show. The heroine's boyfriend was a lawyer, and he wasn't evil. There was no small-town widower to tempt her. It had a fantasy element (the heroine ends up getting Santa's naughty list and is able to look up the secret sins of the people around her), so I figured it was a Family Channel movie I'd somehow missed, maybe Lifetime.

Imagine my surprise when at the end of the closing credits it said something along the lines of "a production of the Hallmark Channel." I think it's from around the same time as It's Christmas, Carol, which had Carrie Fisher as all the Christmas ghosts in one character walking around with a bottle of champagne that she was drinking out of (that one also took place in a city), so there was a time before Hallmark movies were "Hallmark movies" and they were a lot more fun. I even laughed out loud a time or two.

[norcalgal]

17 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

I think they're all overused and am thrilled (sort of) when there is something new and funny or endearing.

 

15 hours ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

I hate the anti big city trope as well as the owning a fake tree means you're evil.  

I would love to have a movie where the big city person comes to the small town...but all the annoying tropes are exposed as being trite (i.e. tree allergies, lactose intolerant,etc.).  And the small town learns to be open minded and then the lead goes home to the city with her new love interest (who is looking to leave their cult like town).

Agree with @Ms Lark that all the tropes mentioned are over used.  Way over used.

But the trope that really gets my back up is the "city gal goes to small town and gets the benefit of small town wisdom/values that she can't get in the eeeeevil Big City". I really hate what they're trying to say about people who live/work in cities. 

[DearEvette]

On 12/4/2021 at 11:06 PM, Dani said:

I tried to watch Saying Yes to Christmas but can’t understand why anyone thought a movie where a woman loses the ability to say no was a good idea. I feels like Lifetime isn’t even trying to make semi-decent movies this year. 

This immediately made me think of a FreeForm Christmas movie from about three years ago.  It was called 'The Truth About Christmas' and the lead character was meting her boyfriend' family for the first time but was 'cursed' by Santa that she could only tell the turth.  It was fun and very not-Hallmark in tone and trope.

I found the trailer:

 

[twoods]

Hot Mess Holiday was hilarious. I loved it. Now I want to watch their web series because I loved their chemistry.

[chitowngirl]

Blending Christmas-I would think that the outfit that Uncle Andrew was wearing would be a bit ripe by the end of the movie considering he has been wearing it for days! 😆 

[JenMD]

6 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

On the topic of whether older movies are better or if they've changed, the other night I watched a movie called Naughty or Nice from 2012 on Prime.

I adore Naughty or Nice, it's just fun and silly and sweet, definitely in my top 5 favorite Hallmark Christmas movies.  It's one of those movies that I could pick apart for things that don't make sense or that having a budget would have improved, but because I find it so charming I don't really care.  I'm peeved that it's only on Prime/the Hallmark app right now.  Sadly, I seem to miss at least one favorite each year to things being exclusive to some service I don't have.

[Vermicious Knid]

Yeah, they indicated they were going to keep updating if there was more. Originally published October 21, last updated as of today December 13. There do seem be significantly more minority leads than before. Also noticed the descriptions are pretty much all paragraphs, except for the Hanukkah movie. Which is only one sentence. And it's wrong.

Anyone watch the kitten movie?

[Rebecca berkowit]

Watched Clusterfunke, it was so good it ruined me for all the others because it called so many of the tropes.  Loved Single All the Way.  (But if you are religious enough that you have a pageant like that, at a church no less, would you REALLY title it “Jesus H. Christ?” What would the pastor think?  I guess they couldn’t resist having Jennifer Coolidge say that.)   Watching this Brady Bunch thing now (blending Christmas?), and it’s just, like, terrible.  So much of it makes no sense, I mean even less sense than these things usually do.  They’re on a hike and they just all decide to make “snowmen” out of rocks.  Wha?  They’re piling up huge rocks and putting hats on them.  And then Cindy Brady gets sunburned, because instead of the sunblock, she mistakenly uses a bottle of “suntan lotion?”  Come ON!  Are they still IN the 1970’s?  Do they even still make “suntan lotion?”  And would you bring it to the Grand Canyon, along with sunblock?  Sooo many questions.   And the lead actor’s mother, when he tells her he has to take a Zoom call, keeps asking “what’s a Zoom?” Like, maybe that question was possible in March 2020, but now?   What is wrong with these people?  What’s a telephone? 

[Scarlett45]

I am sitting down to watch Ghosts of Christmas Past on Lifetime with Annie Clark (Degrassi). I think Annie is prettier with the dark hair- it’s sets off her complexion better IMO. 

And it’s set in CHICAGO (my home). I don’t know if they are just using Chicago B Roll or they actually filmed it here. 
 

PS- I love all her color blocked sweaters!

[Trini]

A Christmas Proposal:  So CBS is getting into the Christmas rom-com game now? I already liked the two lead actors separately, so seeing them together was great! This was cute, even though it had all the tropes (but that's expected).

[absnow54]

10 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I am sitting down to watch Ghosts of Christmas Past on Lifetime with Annie Clark (Degrassi). I think Annie is prettier with the dark hair- it’s sets off her complexion better IMO. 

And it’s set in CHICAGO (my home). I don’t know if they are just using Chicago B Roll or they actually filmed it here. 
 

PS- I love all her color blocked sweaters!

I wanted to like this one, but it was another dud for me. I thought the two actors had decent friendship chemistry, but the romance aspect felt pretty forced. I ended up flipping to Riverdqle halfway through. 

[GeorgiaRai]

One of the worst movies I love is "A Star for Christmas" (2012).  I can't even justify it! 😄 

[Irlandesa]

On 12/14/2021 at 7:05 PM, Scarlett45 said:

I am sitting down to watch Ghosts of Christmas Past on Lifetime with Annie Clark (Degrassi). I think Annie is prettier with the dark hair- it’s sets off her complexion better IMO. 

I thought this was a highlight for Lifetime this season.  That's not saying much because this year's Lifetime output is a very low bar.  They had some really good ones last year so I'm disappointed. 

But the actors gave their characters personality.  There were some fun quips.  It played out a bit like You've Got Mail a bit.  I laughed out loud at "I ghost YOU" guy. 

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

I thought this was a highlight for Lifetime this season.  That's not saying much because this year's Lifetime output is a very low bar.  They had some really good ones last year so I'm disappointed. 

But the actors gave their characters personality.  There were some fun quips.  It played out a bit like You've Got Mail a bit.  I laughed out loud at "I ghost YOU" guy. 

Yes it did feel a bit like a 21st century “You’ve Got Mail”. 
 

But I liked the fact that protagonist did work on herself and try to make amends, but didn’t need a personality transplant or anything. She was amazing at her job and the co-worker liked that about her. It felt very modern. 

[NYGirl]

Watch Blending Christmas yesterday and turned it off halfway through. I was excited to see the Bradys but they did not hold my interest.

The venue was so not Christmasy and for some reason that annoyed me.  I did not see the end and I did wonder if they made it snow on Christmas Eve.

I did not like the leads 

I did not like the premise .. I rolled my eyes at them all trying to recreate her childhood memories and go to her favorite resort.

Eh..I had better things to watch.  My DVR is filled with Christmas movies..

[ShelleySue]

I just watched A Royal Queens Christmas.  I fully realize that these movies are escapism and there is a suspension of reality.  Obviously.  But I after watching my umpteenth snowman building contest I want to invite the powers that be to make a snowman. Do these people have any idea how much snow is required to build one decent sized snowman? There was, what I would consider, to be a decent snowfall, but not a blizzard.  Yet people were all in the same area building ginormous snowmen.  There were no ruts. They weren't down to the surface below the snow. People were easily rolling the snow as if they were light.  Yes, in real life they were probably Styrofoam, but at least pretend that they are real, very heavy snow (after all these people are supposed to be acting). 

Also, I watch a lot of British shows, and if Exeter follows the British rules of peerage and titles, I'm not sure how Duchess Adrianna became a Duchess.  Duchesses are usually married to Dukes, unless there was some sort of special title granted. Women don't hold their own titles except daughters of certain peers who have courtesy titles (Lady so and so, not but Countess, Baroness,  Duchess). If I'm mistake I would love to be corrected because I'm always willing to be educated.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, ShelleySue said:

Also, I watch a lot of British shows, and if Exeter follows the British rules of peerage and titles, I'm not sure how Duchess Adrianna became a Duchess.  Duchesses are usually married to Dukes, unless there was some sort of special title granted. Women don't hold their own titles except daughters of certain peers who have courtesy titles (Lady so and so, not but Countess, Baroness,  Duchess). If I'm mistake I would love to be corrected because I'm always willing to be educated.

She could be from a non-sexist peerage that decided to remove the passing on of titles from male heir to male heir and instead passed it on to oldest child to oldest child.  Simple.

Before the Cambridges had their first child, they changed it so the oldest child could be the future monarch regardless of their gender. They could make that true of all peerages should they choose.  They just didn't.

 

[absnow54]

Secretly Santa on Lifetime was pretty cute. I know Ghosts of Christmas Past was being compared to You’ve Got Mail, but this movie felt 100x more like it with the rival apps supporting local businesses versus big box store. The actors had good banter and the son was pretty cute. 

[Guest]

9 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

Also, I watch a lot of British shows, and if Exeter follows the British rules of peerage and titles, I'm not sure how Duchess Adrianna became a Duchess.  Duchesses are usually married to Dukes, unless there was some sort of special title granted. Women don't hold their own titles except daughters of certain peers who have courtesy titles (Lady so and so, not but Countess, Baroness,  Duchess). If I'm mistake I would love to be corrected because I'm always willing to be educated.

It’s not the norm but there are a little less than 90 British peerage titles that do allow women to inherit. There are no current British Duchesses who inherited their title but there are a few Baronesses.

Plus there are a few European countries, like Sweden, that allow woman to have a title. 

8 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Before the Cambridges had their first child, they changed it so the oldest child could be the future monarch regardless of their gender. They could make that true of all peerages should they choose.  They just didn't.

Absolutely. Fortunately there is a push to make that change so hopefully it will happen sooner than later. Although it may not happen until there is a female heir apparent.

[ShelleySue]

15 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

She could be from a non-sexist peerage that decided to remove the passing on of titles from male heir to male heir and instead passed it on to oldest child to oldest child.  Simple.

Before the Cambridges had their first child, they changed it so the oldest child could be the future monarch regardless of their gender. They could make that true of all peerages should they choose.  They just didn't.

 

 

7 hours ago, Dani said:

Plus there are a few European countries, like Sweden, that allow woman to have a title. 

I absolutely love this!  I try to learn at least one new thing a day. Thank you.  Now all that we have to do is petition the fictional country of Exeter to allow kings to be unmarried.  I was wondering what would happen if his father died while he was unmarried.  Maybe it was just a tradition and not a law.  We'd have to check the Hallmark rules of Monarchy.  It would be the same book that decrees all European countries have British accents.

[LuvMyShows]

On 12/14/2021 at 12:20 PM, Rebecca berkowit said:

Watching this Brady Bunch thing now (blending Christmas?), and it’s just, like, terrible.  So much of it makes no sense, I mean even less sense than these things usually do.  

On 12/16/2021 at 10:35 AM, NYGirl said:

Watch Blending Christmas yesterday and turned it off halfway through. I was excited to see the Bradys but they did not hold my interest.

Oh, but the very best part of making no sense was that the Thelma Hopkins character, who many of them interacted with and even left a gift for the female lead, turned out to actually be the ghost of the founder of the resort, who died 30 years earlier!

[Bruinsfan]

5 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

 I was wondering what would happen if his father died while he was unmarried.  Maybe it was just a tradition and not a law.  We'd have to check the Hallmark rules of Monarchy.  It would be the same book that decrees all European countries have British accents.

If it's on Hallmark, I'm sure there's a law against being unmarried past a certain age in general. That must be why entire towns will move Heaven and Earth to fix up any single people who return to visit—it's off to Gingerbread Jail if they don't rectify the situation quickly!

[norcalgal]

10 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

It would be the same book that decrees all European countries have British accents.

Aaarrrggghhhhh   this "rule" is so stupid because there are other European countries with royalty or nobility that have understandable accents when speaking in English.

A German accent, or Swedish or Belgian accent is not incomprehensible Hallmark/Lifetime/etc.!!!  ya hear me!

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

Aaarrrggghhhhh   this "rule" is so stupid because there are other European countries with royalty or nobility that have understandable accents when speaking in English.

A German accent, or Swedish or Belgian accent is not incomprehensible Hallmark/Lifetime/etc.!!!  ya hear me!

I don’t think it has anything to do with how well American audience can comprehend an accent. It’s more about giving them a vaguely foreign accent to make them sexier but nothing that is too foreign.  The vocal equivalent to ethically ambiguously. 

[bankerchick]

Given the acting chops of most of these actors, it's probably all they can do to come up with something British-y sounding.  It might be a bridge too far to ask them to try a believable German or Swedish accent.

[twoods]

Mistletoe in Montana was okay- a little slow but I stayed for Melissa Joan Hart and Duane Henry (I’m glad that he kept his real accent and didn’t try to play with an American). I kept wondering why they were the only family at the ranch- how does a place sustain with only one guest at a time? 

[Bruinsfan]

I watched Single All the Way, and it was fun. Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers, Kathy Najimy, Barry Bostwick, and Luke McFarlane all turned in good performances. The actress playing the older sister, however, shouted all her lines with the wide-open eyes of a crack addict, and I don't know what the hell Jennifer Coolidge was doing.

The family was way too involved in the love life of Urie's character, particularly the meddling nieces. Speaking as a gay man, if the issue of romance hasn't come up over 9 years of friendship, moving out of the friend zone is not an option no matter who tries their hand at matchmaking. And McFarlane had to be playing the most understanding guy ever to listen to Urie talk about Chambers through 4 dates and not run for the hills.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Bruinsfan

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

I watched Single All the Way, and it was fun. Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers, Kathy Najimy, Barry Bostwick, and Luke McFarlane all turned in good performances. The actress playing the older sister, however, shouted all her lines with the wide-open eyes of a crack addict, and I don't know what the hell Jennifer Coolidge was doing.

The family was way too involved in the love life of Urie's character, particularly the meddling nieces. Speaking as a gay man, if the issue of romance hasn't come up over 9 years of friendship, moving out of the friend zone is not an option no matter who tries their hand at matchmaking. And McFarlane had to be playing the most understanding guy ever to listen to Urie talk about Chambers through 4 dates and not run for the hills.

I still haven't watched this. Would you say it's level of "fun" is "must see" more than "don't"?

[Cetacean]

7 hours ago, twoods said:

I kept wondering why they were the only family at the ranch- how does a place sustain with only one guest at a time? 

Never try to apply logic to these generic offerings.  How does a store stay open all year (and in one story employ half the town) that just sells Christmas stuff unless it's Bronners in Michigan?  How does a tiny toy store make it when places like Toys Backwards R Us crashed?  A pumpkin ranch?

And how come none of the beloved family businesses targeted by a big bad corporation is a tire store?  Or a plumbing supply?  Or a printer?

Sweetness and light for two solid months before Christmas is really wearing thin.

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, Cetacean said:

Sweetness and light for two solid months before Christmas is really wearing thin.

Ha.  I'm ready for murder!  I'm glad two of my favorite French mystery shows are coming back.  They're procedural mysteries but also not super dark so they're a good transition.  I'll just be ignoring my family at the holidays.

[IntrovertRed]

Oops, wrong thread.

Edited December 18, 2021 by KLJ

[EtheltoTillie]

I’m liking the Brooke Shields Castle movie. Love the knitting theme. Cary Elwes is good. 
Single All the Way was a bit goofy. And Jennifer Coolidge, who is usually too much, was too more. She seemed to be on something. 

[Bruinsfan]

Usually she's an entertaining amount of too much. This time it was like she mixed booze and medications and wandered onto set when her nurse wasn't looking.

17 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I still haven't watched this. Would you say it's level of "fun" is "must see" more than "don't"?

It's somewhere in the middle. I don't regret taking the time to watch it, but a fair amount of the plot annoyed me. Admittedly, other people sticking their noses into someone's love life unasked makes everything go red with fury for me; it might not bother others as much.

[Clawdette]

Can someone sum up the ending of The Christmas Proposal for me?  I just got around to watching my DVRed version today and the extended time that I set did not record.  The female lead's best friend had just arrived for the party.  If I had to guess, I'd say the "uncle" decided to go with the male lead's proposal and the father either decided to stay on at the firm or for the two boys to share control.  And, of course, the leads became a couple.

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, Clawdette said:

Can someone sum up the ending of The Christmas Proposal for me?  I just got around to watching my DVRed version today and the extended time that I set did not record.  The female lead's best friend had just arrived for the party.  If I had to guess, I'd say the "uncle" decided to go with the male lead's proposal and the father either decided to stay on at the firm or for the two boys to share control.  And, of course, the leads became a couple.

Recap of the last scenes of A Christmas Proposal (available with Paramount+) in a spoiler tag for those whose DVRs cut off early for this 2021 TV movie‘s CBS premiere airing:

Spoiler

Yes, “Uncle Billy” accepts the deal.

During girl talk while they’re getting ready for the ball party, Maria’s friend urges her to confess her true feelings to Julian. When Julian comes by to share the good news about Uncle Billy, Maria starts to tell him about her True feelings for him, but then (of course) doesn’t.

Later, at the ball party, the father is mad that Julian proposed the deal with Uncle Billy “behind [his] back without consulting” him or his brother, but is glad for and impressed by the deal. Dad announces his retirement and names Julian as the new head of the firm.

Julian's brother Bennett’s suspicions are seemingly confirmed when he sees Julian giving Maria a blank check to start her food truck business “so all [her] dreams can come true” which sounds to me like it could just be a Christmas present (or the work of a Fairy Godmother), but Bennett confronts Maria thinking he’s discovered she’s the call girl from Pretty Woman an Uber driver hired for The Girlfriend Experience and not a girlfriend with a dream of becoming a food truck operator, which the rest of the family overhears and are shocked and saddened by, causing Cinderella Maria to run away.

Julian tells his family he’s not sure what his and Maria’s relationship is.  Bennett’s face reflects regret at apparently having misjudged the nature of their relationship (and at some point Julian said Bennett will be co-chairman of the firm). Julian runs after Maria, but only finds a glass slipper crumpled picture of a food truck.

Next morning Maria and her bf are dishing, with Maria refusing to answer Julian’s calls. Then Julian shows up with a glass slipper food truck with a giant red Christmas bow on it. Julian and Maria express their true love for each other (which Julian’s family, waiting out of sight, overhears), and they live happily ever after as the camera pulls out to show the food truck has the name “Pita Pan” painted on it in delicate script, because we can’t have too many fairy tale references in a Hallmark Christmas movie.

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by shapeshifter
clarity

[EtheltoTillie]

22 hours ago, Cetacean said:

Never try to apply logic to these generic offerings.  How does a store stay open all year (and in one story employ half the town) that just sells Christmas stuff unless it's Bronners in Michigan?  How does a tiny toy store make it when places like Toys Backwards R Us crashed?  A pumpkin ranch?

And how come none of the beloved family businesses targeted by a big bad corporation is a tire store?  Or a plumbing supply?  Or a printer?

Sweetness and light for two solid months before Christmas is really wearing thin.

In the Christmas Proposal movie, they were targeting a hardware store!  

[Cetacean]

1 hour ago, GussieK said:

In the Christmas Proposal movie, they were targeting a hardware store!  

Let me guess, it was a beloved town business that had been there for centuries.

[chitowngirl]

Single All the Way-I didn’t notice a hot chocolate/cocoa reference, but once again, Big City=bad, Small Town=charm and must uproot my life to move back 😆 Overall, I liked it. 

[twoods]

I forgot which movie I saw recently but the lead went on a mini tirade on how they should be able to drink coffee instead of hot chocolate during Christmas without getting the side eye from people. 

[Bruinsfan]

3 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Single All the Way-I didn’t notice a hot chocolate/cocoa reference, but once again, Big City=bad, Small Town=charm and must uproot my life to move back 😆 Overall, I liked it. 

To be fair, since apparently the only available gay man within driving distance is now off limits, James was set up with the means and motive to move to L.A. Where a sweet personal trainer/trending instagram model who looks like Luke McFarlane is going to have a better time of it all around.

[norcalgal]

On 12/19/2021 at 1:58 PM, twoods said:

I forgot which movie I saw recently but the lead went on a mini tirade on how they should be able to drink coffee instead of hot chocolate during Christmas without getting the side eye from people. 

Oh shoot - I can't recall the name of the movie either, but I watched it too and when the female character made that crack about coffee instead of hot chocolate, my mind immediately went to this forum!  

I normally side eye characters who fall in love so quickly, but I bought it in Christmas by Chance. Even though the two leads only spent a week together, I felt they spent quality time getting to TRULY know each other, so I was OK with their romance, and also because no one actually said I Love You to the other.  This is one movie I'll probably watch again. 

Also, the girlfriend in the movie was a somewhat "mean girl" type but in the scene where she and the male lead FINALLY have an honest talk about their relationship, I could see her for where she was in her life. So except for her attitude toward the rescue dog, I didn't think she was truly OTT in her "mean girl-ness".

[Irlandesa]

Jake Epstein was peak Jake Epstein in the Candy Cane Candidate.  So I loved watching the movie for that reason. I hope to see him in more movies next year.  They should all star Jake. 

However, the premise is kind of silly.  A mayoral election on Christmas Eve?  And the woman just jumping in the race because the guy gets under her skin even though she has been gone for a long time?  And she doesn't need to do anything like get a bunch of signatures? 

The two had chemistry but sheesh she was a pill.  And I hate to say that because I tend to think people are way too hard on the women in these movies when the men can be just as terrible.  But here? She was mean to him for the first 45 minutes just because.

And yet, some of it made sense.  It was for no good reason but the reason (wanting him in spite of not wanting to want him) kind of came through even though that didn't make her easy to handle.

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I forgot which movie I saw recently but the lead went on a mini tirade on how they should be able to drink coffee instead of hot chocolate during Christmas without getting the side eye from people. 

Christmas Takes Flight had a moment where the guy had a *gasp* coffee.  His "growth" was shown when he ordered cocoa later on.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Irlandesa