Christmas By Candlelight | 2024 Christmas Movies

I try really hard to go into all of these Christmas movies with an open mind. Sure, they may be cheesy but I go into these trying to find something good. I may find one bad movie a week or so. But sadly, after watching Christmas by Candlelight, I think we may be in the beginning of a block of bad movies.

Juliet (Erin Agostino) works in the marketing department of a big health and fitness company. Her boss, Hilda (Shauna MacDonald), wants her to find a Christmas product to promote to get more people to visit the company’s website. With only two weeks until Christmas, Juliet turns to candlemaker Tom (Harmon Walsh) to help her come up with some custom Christmas candles that will knock everyone’s socks off.

To start off, the plot is very bad. I don’t think any boss would tell someone to come up with a new product to sell immediately. It doesn’t work that way. Also, why is the marketing department in charge of finding products to sell? That isn’t their job. Their job is to sell the products someone else makes. And why would the boss randomly change the contract for a vendor without telling anyone? I’m pretty sure changing a contract after someone signed it is illegal.

Matching the awfulness of the plot is the one-two punch of a bad script with bad acting. Lines that no real person would say are delivered with the woodenness of a marionette. This movie makes me want to throw every Christmas candle I find.

Rating: They left enough candles lit that they can literally burn it all down.

Sincerely, Truly Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Well, the plot of Sincerely, Truly Christmas is not what I expected. And it’s pretty dumb. Sigh.

Christina (Paula Brancati) is an event planner for a large music streaming platform. Just before Christmas, she gets fired for insulting an up-and-coming singer that the company wanted to use for their Christmas song charity release. In order to get her job back, Christina must get Dan Copen (Howard Hoover), a Christmas one-hit-wonder who has become reclusive, to re-record his song for the charity release. It seems that the only way she can contact him is through Robert (Jake Epstein), a realtor who is having problems with his son. In addition, Christina made a badly worded wish that now forces people around her to tell her what they really want for Christmas.

I don’t really want to talk about this movie. I hate Christina. She wants to lives in some sort of la-la land where people always say exactly what they say or feel with zero consequences. She literally barges into her boss’ meeting without stopping to see if they were on a conference call or even what the meeting was about to openly say a singer is bad at singing. Please remember that she works for a music streaming service. Then she’s surprised and annoyed that she got fired. I swear Christina is a child.

The movie doesn’t get any better. It’s almost entirely Christina doing something stupid then feeling bad for herself when there are consequences. Let’s pretend this never happened.

Rating: I want this movie to be removed from my brain for Christmas.

To Have And To Holiday | 2024 Christmas Movies

Heading back over to Hallmark, we’re taking a look at To Have And To Holiday. A movie that feels like it wants to be religious but isn’t. I almost had to double check the channel on this one.

After her temporary job in a New York fashion house ends, Celeste (Madeleine Arthur) heads home for the holidays…and maybe longer. At the last minute, she decides to bring her new boyfriend, Jason (Robert Bazzocchi), with her. As the family chats over dinner, Celeste learns that the town chapel will be closing. Sadly, she admits that she always wanted to get married there. So Jason proposes to her. Unhappy with the new engagement, Celeste’s father, Pastor Mark (Eric Close), puts the couple through Marriage Bootcamp to try to break them up.

I know that we are supposed to hate Pastor Mark. He is supposed to be the bad guy. My problem is that he’s not just trying to break up his daughter’s relationship. He’s being a complete dick the whole time. Even his wife, Judith (Kate Drummond), who is also the MAYOR, calls him out on it. But it doesn’t get through his thick skull until almost the end of the movie. He literally throws little tantrums over things that he should be thankful for. He’s supposed to be a pastor. What the hell is he teaching the town during his sermons? Because it’s obviously not to be a good person.

As much as I want to pan this movie for the terrible plot, it’s actually a good enough movie. Bazzocchi is charming, Arthur is mostly adorable, and even the side characters have a bit of depth to them. I’m not sure this will make the top 10 list but there is a big possibility it will.

Rating: Just don’t beat the mailman at darts

Christmas In The Spotlight | 2024 Christmas Movies

A bit of a surprise this year - we have two Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce-themed Christmas movies. Lifetime is first out of the gate with Christmas In The Spotlight. Let’s see how they did.

Bowyn Sykes (Jessica Lord) is a world-famous pop star. Drew “Gonzo” Gonville (Laith Wallschleger) is a professional football player with the Bombers. After Drew sneaks his niece backstage after a Bowyn concert to meet the singer, he posts on Instagram asking Bowyn out. With some prodding from her manager, Bowyn agrees to a low-key secret date. They try to keep their relationship secret but, eventually, people start to find out. Will their relationship last being in the public eye?

Yet another surprise - I thought this movie was actually decent. Sure, the crowds of people were obviously fake (I wish they spent more money on computer graphics) but the acting was pretty good, the script wasn’t cringey, and everything felt rather plausible. Was it a “true life story” of the Swift/Kelce relationship? No. It was never meant to be. But it did keep my attention and kept me entertained the whole time. What more could I ask for?

Rating: Touchdown!

The Merry Gentlemen | 2024 Christmas Movies

Netflix is very thirsty this year. First we had Hot Frosty with the muscular snowman coming to life. Now we have The Merry Gentlemen, a movie featuring shirtless male dancers. I’m afraid for the rest of this season.

Ashley (Britt Robertson) just got let go from her job as a dancer with the Jingle Belles. When she comes home to Sycamore Creek, she finds that the club her parents, Lily (Beth Broderick) and Stan (Michael Gross), own is very past due on the rent. If they don’t come up with $30,000 by Christmas, they will lose the space. To raise the money, Ashley decides to put on an all-male revue starring handyman Luke (Chad Michael Murray), bartender Troy (Colt Prattes), taxi driver Ricky (Hector David Jr.), and her brother-in-law Rodger (Marc Anthony Samuel).

As a dancer, this movie annoyed me. The Jingle Belles are supposed to be the Rockettes, complete with kickline. However, it’s painfully obvious that Robertson has zero dance experience and the director does absolutely nothing to try to hide it. Instead, she is put dead center of every dance, making the whole thing look amateurish.

This bleeds over into The Merry Gentlemen. Thankfully, Prattes has dance experience (he’s currently on Broadway in Aladdin) and David has martial arts experience (he was a Power Ranger). Those two are the saviors of the male revue. The other two move like it physically hurts them. I guess it’s a good thing they all work out so they have nice abs?

Sadly, even if you try to ignore the bad dancing, which is difficult since it’s the entire plot, the rest of the movie isn’t much better. The romance feels unearned. Ashley likes Luke because he is pretty and Luke likes Ashley because she taught him choreography? I really wish Netflix went in a different way with this. Hire some more actual dancers. I know this may sound stunning but there are dancers who can act. This would have been so much better if Ashley was a really good dancer and was able to take the “country bumpkins” and turn them into good dancers. But you have to cast people that can dance for that to happen. I am very disappointed.

Rating: The Rockettes would never

Three Wiser Men And A Boy | 2024 Christmas Movies

In 2022, Hallmark gave us Three Wise Men And A Baby. It was such a hit that they released a sequel this year - Three Wiser Men And A Boy. Can lightning strike twice?

The brothers - Luke (Andrew W Walker), Stephan (Paul Campbell), and Taylor (Tyler Hynes) - are back to spend Christmas at their mother, Barbara’s (Margaret Colin), house with her new boyfriend, Roy (Christopher Shyer), and former-baby-now-kindergartener Thomas (Miles Marthaller). When the director of Thomas’ school Christmas play steps down after some brotherly shenanigans, the three are forced to direct the play themselves. Each of them will have to overcome their own personal issues before they can bring success to their favorite boy.

Surprisingly, this is a sequel that works very well. While most of the issues the brothers had before were “how do we take care of a baby” type of problems, this time their issues are more personal. Taylor’s video game company isn’t doing well financially, Stephan has a girlfriend that wants him to propose but he is having anxiety around everything, and Luke is having trouble handling being older with more responsibility. It was nice to see the boys grow as people. A lot of movies don’t let their characters actually mature. That isn’t to say the boys are “mature.” They still spend plenty of time playing games and being goofballs. But they do acknowledge that their lives have changed and they need to accept the change. I kinda want another movie in the series but I’m not sure where they would go from here.

Rating: I’m ready for Three Wisest Men!

A Little Women's Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Great American Family has given fans of Louisa May Alcott a present - A Little Women’s Christmas. A modern retelling of the Little Women story with a few changes.

Jo March (Jillian Murray) is a children’s book author who is trying to move into the young adult genre. When her book idea is rejected, her publisher tasks her with finding a new story while she goes to visit her family at home for Christmas. Little does Jo know that her publisher has sent Fritz (Trevor Donovan) to keep an eye on her. Meanwhile, Jo and her sisters - Meg (Jen Lilley), Beth (Laura Osnes), and Amy (Julie Reilly) - try to figure out how to have the best Christmas without their parents or Meg’s husband, John (Jesse Hutch).

I am sad to admit that I am not a Little Women fan. I don’t think I’ve ever even read the book. So there were probably a lot of references and things that simply went over my head. However, that doesn’t mean it is a bad movie. Thankfully, the women playing the March sisters are all very competent actresses. At no point was I taken out of the story by bad acting. Instead, I think this movie just wasn’t for me. There wasn’t a lot of depth to the plot and it verged on being a little too religious. I’m chalking both of those up to being unfamiliar with the source material. I think that, if you are a fan of the book, you will most likely be a fan of A Little Women’s Christmas.

Rating: A little too sweet for me

Christmas On Call | 2024 Christmas Movies

When I saw the title for Christmas On Call, I thought I immediately knew what the movie would be about. I wasn’t completely wrong but I wasn’t completely right either.

Hannah (Sara Canning) is an emergency room doctor that recently moved to Philadelphia. While on-shift, she meets EMT Wes (Ser’Darius Blain) who invites to show her the town. As their romance blossoms, other first responders also try to balance their family and professional lives.

Living close to Philadelphia myself, I laughed at how often they said “Go Birds!” to each other. Oh, and the Donna Kelce cameo with the cheesesteaks? I’m not sure who wrote this but they sure did try to put all of the Philly stereotypes in there. Other people may not like it but it made me giggle.

As for the movie itself, it was fine. I liked that Hannah and Wes weren’t the only couple getting their romance on. However, it would have been nice to get a little more relationship out of police officers Danielle (Reena Jolly) and Sanjay (Erik Athavale). I know they had a relationship before the movie started but we didn’t get to see a lot of progression between them. To be honest, it felt like the writers were trying to shove as many relationships in as possible but, without making the movie longer, they just aren’t satisfying couples. They were shoved together because they happened to be in the same vicinity and had similar jobs. Sometimes more isn’t merrier.

Rating: There’s a reason medical dramas are successful tv series

A Novel Noel | 2024 Christmas Movies

You know, I still hate when the movies on Hallmark Mystery don’t have a mystery in them. A Novel Noel is another non-mystery on the Mystery channel. Why must they do this?

Harper (Julie Gonzalo) is a book editor that has lost her love for her job. When she gets an offer from Sawyer (Brendan Penny) to work at his bookstore in Maine for the month of December, she jumps at the offer. Hopefully, this will help her find her passion again.

I wanted to like A Novel Noel so much. There was so much they could have done to make this an interesting movie. They could have gone deeper into the cute Christmas events the town was running. Or they could have gone deeper into the secret-editor-helping-writers plot. She basically ignored all of the other writers, including the one that inspired her to start the writing group, to solely focus on Sawyer. Blech. Like every other Hallmark Mystery movie, it’s fine. I just wish there was more.

Rating: WHAT DID BETH WRITE?!

Holiday In Happy Hollow | 2024 Christmas Movies

Lifetime doesn’t seem to have a ton of Christmas movies on their slate this year. Holiday In Happy Hollow is just the second new movie they have released. My schedule is super full so I don’t really want them to have more movies but this seems…lackluster.

Gracie (Tamara Almeida) is a real estate developer working to build a new hotel in Happy Hollow. Unfortunately, she has just discovered five very small privately owned plots in the location they are planning to build. In order to start work on the hotel, she needs to find who owns these plots and get them to release ownership. With the help of town historian Jack Carrington (Cody Ray Thompson), Gracie researches the town’s Christmas traditions in the hopes that they will lead her to the landowners.

Happy Hollow was a fairly cute movie. It was interesting seeing some of the town traditions. However, neither Gracie nor Jack were particularly interesting characters. They seemed to just float some scene to scene with no real motivation. Sure, they said they are looking for the landowners but it didn’t seem like they really wanted to find them. In addition, the romance aspect felt very tacked on. This wasn’t a hate to love thing. It was barely a like to love. I don’t know…the movie just needed…more.

Rating: Whatever marketing person said the hotel should be named Happi should be fired.