Sister Swap: Christmas In The City | 2021 Christmas Movies

Christmas is almost here but there are still a ton of Christmas movies to watch. This is the time of year when I get beat down by watching so many of these movies but I am going to try my hardest to get as many of these reviewed as possible! So let’s get going with the second half of A Hometown Holiday titled Christmas In The City.

While her sister, Jennifer (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), is in their hometown of Hazelwood, Meg (Ashley Williams) stays in Salt Lake City to help Jennifer’s restaurant prepare for a local Christmas competition. Will Meg’s big ideas help or ruin Jennifer’s restaurant?

A Hometown Holiday was an adorable movie. Christmas In The City has a similar energy but doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor. I think the problem, as usual, stems from the conflicts in each movie. In Hometown, Jennifer had to deal with all of the issues that come up when trying to renovate an old building. In City, everything was pretty much done for Meg. She was only coming up with ideas to make the restaurant more festive. There was only one real issue she had to deal with and it was easily solved. The rest of the movie felt unnecessary.

I understand what Hallmark was going for when they made these two movies. Having two completely different perspectives shown at once. There are multiple times that we see the sisters cross over into the other’s movie. That was so cool and original. However, you can’t have one sister doing something interesting while the other wanders around thinking about what she’s going to do in the future. It would have been a little more interesting if Meg was doing her own thing in Salt Lake City instead of doing something that was already pretty finished.

I do recommend watching A Hometown Holiday. But I would say skip Christmas In The City unless you are very invested in seeing the other side of the story. You won’t lose anything by watching only one of the movies. I really wish the second one was better. It would have been so cool.

A Godwink Christmas: Miracle of Love | 2021 Christmas Movies

The Godwink Christmas series has been going on for awhile at Hallmark. For those that don’t remember, a “godwink” is a coincidence where God is trying to nudge you in a certain direction. Last year we had Second Chance, First Love. This year we are given Miracle of Love.

Joy (Katherine Barrell) just graduated with her masters in nursing. Not knowing what to do with her life, she signs up to volunteer at a week-long community service event called Advent in Oshkosh. There she meets Eric (Alberto Frezza), who is trying to become a writer. They spend the week helping a family rebuild their home while falling in love.

The Godwink movies are a perfect blend of religion and secular. They don’t bash you over the head with God but they also don’t discount God’s hand in every day life. I think it’s a nice way to try to bring both Christians and non-Christians together.

As for Miracle of Love, specifically, there is nothing groundbreaking here. The acting is fine. The story is fine. Everything is just fine. Like the other movies, there aren’t any real conflicts. Supposedly, these are based on true stories so there is never a villain or big obstacle to overcome. (Well, OK. Eric does get injured toward the end of the movie. That is the Big Godwink.) It’s just people trying to make good decisions in life. I do like that there is no manufactured conflict. However, it can turn the movie toward the boring side. Since there is little to nothing to overcome and you already know they are going to end up together (what Christmas movie ends where they don’t get together?), there isn’t a lot to get invested in while watching.

Much like last year’s movie, if you are into the “God has a plan for us” mindset, you’ll probably enjoy these movies. For everyone else, there isn’t a lot to keep your interest unless you really want to watch two people dance around whether or not they should date. These movies are basically the equivalent of people watching in the mall except you get to follow them home when they are done shopping.

A Royal Queens Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

It is a little annoying how uninteresting these movies are. Writers are trying so hard to churn out as many of these as possible that no one cares about whether these movies should exist. It is mentally exhausting.

Colin (Julian Morris) is a prince who wants to make some decisions for himself. Dee Dee (Megan Park) is an Army veteran who isn’t sure what she wants to do next in life. The two accidentally meet while Dee Dee is delivering some pastries to the New York hotel where Colin is staying. She shows him around New York City while he helps her with a children’s Christmas show.

Why are New York accents so terrible? Why did they have to have a dinner scene where Dee Dee’s Italian-American family ask Colin if he wanted “gravy” on his pasta in order to have Dee Dee explain that “Italians call sauce gravy!”? Why is a prince from a foreign country so skilled at jazz piano? Why is Dee Dee’s cousin the only one working at her bakery and how did she make 1500 pastries all by herself?

Yeah, there’s a lot of A Royal Queens Christmas that makes no sense. I can see how it ticks all of the right boxes: a prince, a military veteran with a dog, a tight-knit family, children singing. Somehow these things don’t come together to form anything interesting. Everyone seems to float through each scene with no real purpose. It would be nice if anyone cared about anything they were doing. Even when Dee Dee gets offered a job doing something she’s supposed to like, she doesn’t seem like she actually wants it. It’s like the director told everyone that the movie’s motto is “Yeah, OK.”

I would recommend skipping this one. The number of boring movies this year is starting to drive me crazy. Give me one really great thing about a movie so I can be like “watch it for this!” I don’t think it’s asking a lot to have one good thing. Christmas shouldn’t be so dull.

P.S. It’s actually really annoying that Dee Dee’s cousin is named Zoe and everyone pronounces it Zo when it should be Zo-ey. Skip the entire movie for that reason alone.

The Holiday Fix Up | 2021 Christmas Movies

What? Women can do home renovations too? Why didn’t anyone tell me?

Sam (Jana Kramer) is a designer on a home renovation show. When she doesn’t nab the coveted Christmas special spot on the network, she goes back home to renovate an inn that was damaged in a recent storm. Jack (Steve Vinovich), the owner of the inn, pairs her up with her ex-boyfriend, Coop (Ryan McPartlin), to get the work done before the Christmas Eve Harborfest.

The Holiday Fix Up is yet another movie that is perfectly fine. Neither of the lead actors are amazing. They aren’t terrible though Kramer is dull and McPartlin is a bit wooden. I wish that there was some sort of magic that happened between them…but there isn’t. They aren’t quite the most unlikely couple in this year’s Christmas haul. But they are close.

Unfortunately, there isn’t anything in the movie that saves. it. There is a weird slow-motion snowball fight that maybe somebody somewhere likes. Personally, I don’t understand it. They could have just let the actors go and filmed that. It might have made it more interesting.

Should you watch it? Probably not. But you aren’t going to be mad if you do. You might wonder what exactly happened in the 90 minutes it took to watch (assuming you don’t count commercials) but I doubt you’ll get mad about the lost time. It’s a good procrastination movie. You know - “Oh, I should do the dishes but this movie is on….”

A Dickens of a Holiday! | 2021 Christmas Movies

Interesting. Apparently, A Dickens of a Holiday! used to be called The Christmas Stand-In. I’m not sure which is the better title.

When her Scrooge comes down with laryngitis, Cassie (Brooke D’Orsay) turns to her former classmate, Jake (Kristoffer Polaha), to take over the role. With Jake’s movie-star status, the play is bound to be a success!

The only real thing I can about about A Dickens of a Holiday! is that it is so bland. In the beginning, they try to make Jake look like a stuck up diva but that lasts about a half hour into the movie. Then they decided he was more of an everyman shoved into an action actor role. Either one of those tropes would have been fine. They just needed to pick one. It would have been fine if he was an egotistical maniac that Cassie had to talk down at every moment to remind him that the play is not about HIM. Or it would have been fine if he was a shy introvert who only pretends to be the big action man when a camera is rolling. He can’t be both.

Sadly, I have to file this movie into the Boring pile. There isn’t anything particularly interesting about it. The big conflict comes when Jake has to attend a Christmas party in order to win the movie role he wants. But the party is on Christmas Eve, the same night as the play. It’s confusing because he supposedly got the chance at the role because his assistant sent a video of him rehearsing to be Scrooge. If the movie director liked his rehearsal footage so much, why would he insist that he back out on the play at the last minute? It makes no sense. It also makes for a terrible conflict.

Like the other boring movies, flip this on while you’re doing chores. You can easily pop in and out of the plot without losing track of the plot. Maybe that will make it slightly more interesting.

Holiday In Santa Fe | 2021 Christmas Movies

It’s that time of year again! Mario Lopez Christmas movie time! I know you have all been waiting with bated breath for Holiday In Santa Fe.

Tony (Mario Lopez) runs a Christmas-themed décor shop with his father: Jose (Efrain Figueroa), and his sister: Maggie (Aimee Garcia). A greeting card company is thinking of purchasing the company so they send their executive, Belinda (Emeraude Toubia), to Santa Fe to check out the store.

Like most Mario Lopez movies, Holiday In Santa Fe is unoffensive. There are a few groan-worthy references to his previous Christmas film, Feliz NaviDAD, but the rest of the movie is perfectly fine. My favorite part of the movie is Aimee Garcia as Tony’s sister, Maggie. I loved Garcia as Ella in Lucifer and it’s nice to see her bring a similar sort of energy here. In my opinion, she carries the movie.

Like Feliz NaviDAD, unless you are a big Mario Lopez fan, there isn’t much here for you. He’s not a great leading man and Toubia is boring as a leading lady. I wish the movie featured the family members more. We didn’t get nearly enough of Jose’s crazy antics or Maggie goofing off with her daughter, Frankie (Gia Lopez). I would vote to keep this one in your back pocket for a boring night where there is literally nothing left to watch. You might be a little sad you wasted your time on it otherwise.

Every Time A Bell Rings | 2021 Christmas Movies

Every Time A Bell Rings was actually released back in November on Hallmark’s streaming service, Hallmark Now. I thought I was going to miss it since I’m not subscribed to the service but they decided to release it on their Movies & Mysteries channel too. I’m glad they did.

Three adopted sisters - Charlotte (Erin Cahill), Emily (Brittany Ishibashi) and Nora (Ali Liebert) - return home for Christmas after being separated for years. When they arrive, they find their late father has arranged one last Christmas scavenger hunt for them to complete. Will the search for the Christmas Bell reignite the strong bond between sisters?

I absolutely loved this movie. Granted, there were a few blemishes but nothing that took away from the loveliness of the plot. Watching the three sisters not only rekindle their bond but also figure out how they want to live was nice. Sure, the writers had to put in some sort of obstacle for each sister but none of them are terribly important to the core of the story. They could have easily left out each of the conflicts to focus solely on the scavenger hunt and it still would have been a good movie.

It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to actually recommend watching a movie. But this one should be on your list to watch. Especially if you have sisters.

A Fiancé for Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

A Fiancé for Christmas was so close to actually being a good movie. Why did they have to screw it up?

Sawyer (Amanda Payton) is an obstetrician who never has enough time to fit dating into her life. After watching everyone around get her married, she creates a fake wedding registry in the hopes it will make her feel better. Instead, her best friends find the registry and throw her a surprise engagement party. Too embarrassed to confess her secret, she enlists Landon (Adam Gregory), the brother of one of her patients, to pretend to be her fiancé. Soon the relationship becomes more than pretend.

At its core, this movie is so good. I have two giant problems though. One is Marie Osmond’s spastic acting as Sawyer’s mother. The other is, for some reason, they decided to make Sawyer very childish. Not only does she steal food off of other people’s plates, she also excitedly jumps around whenever anyone mentions cookies. In one scene, Landon says she can have a bite of his snowman cookie and she literally shoves the entire thing in her mouth. Who does that?! She also spends a lot of time pouting or pretend crying when things don’t go her way. If they had made her an actual adult instead of an overgrown child, I probably would have liked the movie much better. Remember, this child-woman is supposed to be a doctor!

The sad thing is that I enjoyed the parts where Sawyer and Landon were having fun and going on the pretend dates. But it is extremely difficult to overlook everything else. Sawyer has an unhealthy obsession with food. Everyone else jokes about it but it isn’t funny. I would bet that it’s triggering to anyone suffering from an eating disorder. THAT is how obsessed she is with food. (Side note: Her cat’s name is Tater Tot and she adopts another cat and names him Cannoli.)

I don’t know that I can recommend A Fiancé for Christmas. I want to but it feels irresponsible. My recommendation is to try to read some other reviews and make a decision after reading what other people think. I hope I’m not the only one that has issues with the movie.

Christmas With A Crown | 2021 Christmas Movies

Once Upon A Time there was a movie. And in this movie was a prince. And the prince didn’t have a stupid made up accent. Just kidding, all royals in all Christmas movies have to sound awful.

Cassie (Lisa Durupt) has returned to her hometown in the hopes of attending the winter festival. However, no one wants to organize it. So Cassie takes it upon herself to plan the entire festival alone. Luckily, tourist Nicolas (Marcus Rosner) has offered to help her. What Cassie doesn’t know is that Nicolas is a prince!

How many different ways can I say a movie is terrible? The prince, the queen, and their two servants have terrible accents. I’m not sure who made this decision but royals don’t have to sound like they have a stick up their butt. Nicolas does drop the accent when he isn’t with the royal people so he sounds normal for most of the movie. But the poor queen (who is played by the amazing Teryl Rothery) has to keep her stupid accent the entire time. I hate it.

Oh, but don’t think it’s only the royals that suck. Durupt is also pretty terrible as Cassie. She overacts every single line. I don’t understand why the director didn’t tell her to tone it down. Ugh.

Stay very far away from Christmas With A Crown. There are plenty of royal-related Christmas movies out there that you don’t need to waste your time or your brain cells on this piece of crap.

David and the Elves | 2021 Christmas Movies

We have another foreign Christmas movie brought to us by Netflix. David and the Elves is a Polish family-friendly flick. It is available dubbed or subtitled in a variety of languages. I watched this one in the original language with English subtitles.

David (Cyprian Grabowski) loves listening to the Christmas stories his father, Piotr (Michał Czernecki), tells him. His favorite story is about Albert the Elf (Jakub Zając), who is the most popular elf at the North Pole. But Albert’s magic is beginning to wane. In order to regain his strength through the love of humans, Albert takes a trip to Warsaw. While Albert has fun with David, he learns that he is not as popular with humans as he thought. Can David save Albert before he loses his magic, turns into a toy, and disappears forever?

While I thought this was an adorable movie, I can see how some people might think it’s rather slow paced. There aren’t any big impressive scenes and most of the movie is actually a bit sad. After the move to Warsaw, both of David’s parents spend a lot of time working, leaving David by himself. Albert starts out as a fun-loving elf who just wants to give everyone gifts but he gets very depressed when he learns that humans don’t believe in him. To me, that sadness makes the ending all the more happy.

David and the Elves isn’t a movie for small children. Not because of the content but because I don’t think the movie would hold their interest for very long. Especially in the US. Kids in the 8-10 age range might enjoy it though. They are at that age where the belief in Santa is starting to wane and kids on the playground are starting to make fun of the kids that do believe. And that is where this movie lives - that space in between belief and disbelief. Even if your kids don’t want to watch it or don’t enjoy it, I think a lot of adults will find it enjoyable without them.