A Gingerbread Miracle | 2021 Christmas Movies

After so many good or at least decent Christmas movies, I knew it wouldn’t be long until we found another piece of trash. And A Gingerbread Miracle hits the bottom of the barrel.

Maya (Merritt Patterson) is a lawyer who is currently freelancing after an unexpected extended move back home. She is hired by Luis (Jorge Montesi) to help sell his Mexican bakery, even though real estate is not her specialty. Luis’s nephew, Alex (Jon Ecker), is also a lawyer but he actually loves cooking. When he finds out that Maya is helping to sell the bakery, he worms his way into helping her.

I almost feel like this movie doesn’t understand what certain words mean. They straight up tell us that the place Luis owns is a bakery but there isn’t a lot of baking going on. They made some “magical” gingerbread cookies that supposedly grant wishes but they also make actual food. I’m really not sure the writers know what a bakery is. We didn’t see any sorts of cakes or any other cookies beyond the gingerbread. Oh, and the guy that owns a French bakery wanting to buy the Mexican bakery saying “What’s the difference?!” What the hell.

The story also felt like it was trying to wrangle a bunch of different storylines but didn’t do any of them well. There’s a bit about Maya’s sister wanting to be a photographer but I don’t think we actually see her taking any pictures. Maya just tells is that she takes pictures. And now that I think about it, I don’t think we see any of the pictures. Just the characters talking about how awesome the pictures are.

On the career front, Maya interviews for a job that it never seems she actually wants. We don’t see her preparing for the second interview. We don’t even get to see her actual interview. There’s a shot of her sitting in a conference room waiting for someone who is running late. Then, all of a sudden, she has the job and she’s talking to the HR lady about the position, which is apparently very different from what she was told. Why would anyone work at a company who said they had a work/family balance but meant it was a work/family balance for top level management? It’s straight up lying to potential employees. Not a good way to start a work relationship.

Needless to say, A Gingerbread Miracle is pretty terrible. The cookies aren’t even pretty. I appreciate the attempt to add Mexican culture to the Hallmark landscape. This really isn’t the way to do it though.

Debbie Macomber's A Mrs Miracle Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Sometimes not watching Hallmark Christmas movies before 2018 bites me in the butt. For example, A Mrs. Miracle Christmas is the third movie in this series. However, the first two came out in 2009 and 2010. That was so long ago! Well, despite not being familiar with the franchise (or the books they are based on), I watched the newest entry.

Laurel’s (Kaitlin Doubleday) family is suffering from loneliness and grief this Christmas season. The baby she was fostering with her husband, Will (Steve Lund), was returned to his mother. Her grandmother, Helen (Paula Shaw), recently injured her wrist, leaving her to sit home alone. Since Laurel and Will both work full time, they hire Gloria Merkle (Caroline Rhea) to help Helen during the day. But Mrs. Merkle ends up helping more than just Helen!

Before I started watching Hallmark movies every year, I thought that this was what they were going to be. A religious-but-not-too-religious movie about lost faith and regaining the Christmas Spirit. As you know, a majority of the movies are not that. They are more about the romance then about actual Christmas. That said, this was a nice breath of fresh air in the world of Hallmark movies. It was almost like a Mary Poppins for Christians. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed it!

It can be difficult to pin down exactly why one likes a movie. I think that it was the downplayed magic of Mrs. Miracle that I loved the most. Her blue handbag (in the picture above) carries anything and everything. When grumpy Helen is looking for a reason to get rid of Mrs. Merkle, Laurel asks for references. Mrs. Merkle pulls out three giant stacks of references and reviews. In another scene, she pulls out a pair of ballroom shoes, even though there’s no way they would fit in that tiny bag! Add into that Mrs. Merkle’s low-key way of pointing the family in the right direction. In any other movie, the things she says would come off as cheesy or eye-rollingly annoying. But the way Caroline Rhea says these things…she makes me want to change the direction of my life!

If you are looking for a sweet, slightly religious, feel good movie, definitely watch A Mrs. Miracle Christmas. I can’t speak for the other two movies in the series but this one is worth your time and attention. I might watch it again when I need to cleanse my movie palate from other Hallmark movies.

The Claus Family | 2021 Christmas Movies

Netflix is playing games with me again. They listed The Claus Family as one of their 2021 Christmas movies. While it was added to Netflix on November 1, 2021, it’s actually a 2020 Dutch-Belgian film. You should not lie to me like this, Netflix. I’ll forgive you this time.

Last Christmas Eve, Jules (Mo Bakker) lost is father in an accident. As a result, he now hates Christmas. So when his mother, Suzanne (Bracha van Doesburgh), moves the family to Belgium to be closer to their grandfather (Jan Decleir), Jules is beyond sad. But his grandfather is the current holder of the family secret. Will Jules’s hatred of Christmas ruin the holiday for everyone or will he learn to be jolly again?

I loved The Claus Family. I watched it in the original Finnish language and it was magical. Probably the best Christmas movie I have ever seen.

The good parts: The acting was amazing. There wasn’t one bad piece of acting in the bunch. And that includes two young children. The story was actually intriguing. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, something different happened. I think I was expecting something more along the lines of an American comedy but this was more serious. Like a lighthearted drama.

The bad part: Suzanne has a sub-plot revolving around her working in a cookie factory. The factory isn’t doing very well but if they have one big sale, they can save the factory. So Suzanne tries to substitute her colorful Christmas cookies for the company’s boring bland cookies. It ends up with two conflicts - will she get fired and will the factory close. The problem is that none of this matters. It is there only to give Suzanne something to do so Jules can spend time with his grandfather. It has nothing else to do with the main plot. Actually, it seems that Suzanne barely even needs the job. I kept expecting her to quit the factory to start her own cookie company but that doesn’t happen. I would have preferred if they either eliminated the cookie factory plotline or gave it more importance. As it is, it’s just there.

I absolutely think you should watch The Claus Family. I believe there is a sequel coming out this year but I’m not sure if/when it will hit Netflix. It doesn’t matter because this one is good enough for an annual watching on its own. I would gladly watch it again. And I probably will.

A Christmas Treasure | 2021 Christmas Movies

Hallmark, sometimes I worry about your decisions. You took Jordin Sparks, the extremely talented singer, and cast her as a writer. Sure, she sings two songs in the movie but I think you only added those in so her fans wouldn’t riot. I shake my head at you, Hallmark.

Lou (Jordin Sparks) is a writer for a small town newspaper. However, she wants to write a novel. So she plans on moving to New York City for inspiration and a change of pace. Meanwhile, Kyle (Michael Xavier) has moved to Pine Grove to spend the holidays with his aunt and figure out what he is going to do next. His dream is to run his own restaurant. Will they be able to make their dreams come true?

A Christmas Treasure is a little different from most Hallmark movies. Instead of one person being firmly planted in their current city trying to convince the newcomer to stay, one is packing to leave while the other is just arriving. I do wish that they made the twist a little more interesting. Lou kept talking about how she wanted to move to New York and how much stuff she had to pack but we never saw her actually doing anything to further this move. No packing, no looking online for apartments (perfect place for an Apartments.com sponsor!), not even booking travel to New York. Does she even have a job in New York? How is she going to pay to live there? If she’s going to move, dive into that.

Instead, Lou spends a lot of time helping plan holiday events for the town. I know that her family has been in the town for generations so people look to them as leaders but no one in her family is really a leader. Her family runs the local paper. It’s nice that they help out so much but I don’t think anyone would think lesser of her if she stepped back because she was preparing to move.

The core of the movie revolves around this time capsule that was buried 100 years ago. And it would have been great if that was what the movie was about. On the contrary, there are all of these side stories that don’t have time to really evolve into something special. There’s Lou reading her great-grandfather’s journal while trying to find inspiration for a book. Plus Kyle and his aunt Marcy (Lossen Chambers) trying to find the perfect Christmas recipe for a contest among the restaurants in town. Oh, and Lou’s best friend is pregnant. And Kyle is trying to find a new job as a fancy chef. And don’t forget we have to squish Lou and Kyle into a relationship so they have to spend a lot of time together for some reason. It’s just a big too much.

Should you watch it? The actors are all wonderful, even though the script doesn’t really give them a lot to work with. They should have cut out a couple of the side characters and a few of the holiday events to focus on Lou moving and Kyle helping his aunt. That need to be the conflict. Not whether or not the best friend can sing the solo at the concert. Who cares about that? We all know Jordin is going to sing it. Duh. Watch it for the cast but don’t be surprised if you are disappointed by the plot.

Next Stop, Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Last year, Hallmark remade The Wizard of Oz into a Christmas movie. This year, they took the basics of Back to the Future and turned it into Next Stop, Christmas. They even got Lea Thompson and Christopher Lloyd as basically the same roles.

Angie (Lyndsy Fonseca) is a doctor who is unable to come home for Christmas, despite her family’s pleas. Her normal train commute ends up taking her back in time 10 years to 2011. Now she has to figure out what she needs to fix in the past in order to get back to the future.

Yeah, see? It’s basically Back to the Future. She even has to get her parents, Evelyn (Lea Thompson) and George (Matt Walton), back together. And Christopher Lloyd plays the train conductor that takes her to the past. Hallmark is trying to play on our nostalgia.

One of the things that annoyed me the most about this movie is Angie’s family. First, they are begging her to come home for Christmas. She is some sort of surgeon (we see her performing surgery) and she is on-call. Her mother blatantly says that this is the second Christmas that she hasn’t come home. Do they think hospitals stop because there’s a holiday? Not to mention that she is probably the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to surgeons at that hospital. We learn that 10 years ago she was in med school. We don’t know how long she has been in med school but let’s say almost finished. So another year there plus up to 7 years in residency. She may have only been a “real” surgeon for a year or two. She doesn’t get a say on when she can and can’t work. Her family needs to learn that. Fast.

When Angie is in the past - meaning that she has never missed a Christmas at home - her family is whining that she doesn’t communicate with them enough. Her sister wants her to call or visit or text or whatever. Which is understandable but YOUR GIRL IS IN MED SCHOOL. Cut her some slack. Maybe instead of waiting by the phone for her, pick up the phone yourself and text her to see if she is surviving.

I get the overall message of the movie. Relationships of all types take work and the people that really love you will always be there for you no matter what. But, man, these people suck a lot. Poor Ben (Chandler Massey) keeps getting passed over romantically for self-centered Tyler (Eric Freeman) and I don’t understand what Angie sees in Tyler. They have nothing in common. I’m not even sure they like each other all that much. It’s also annoying.

I guess if you are looking for the True Love Conquers All type of movie, this is definitely one of those. I’m not sure that I enjoyed the movie but I did like seeing Lea Thompson again. Even if her character was a sad sack.

Love Hard | 2021 Christmas Movies

Love Hard is the first Netflix Christmas movie I watched this year. Let’s jump right into the review to see how it holds up against the Hallmark juggernaut.

Natalie (Nina Dobrev) has terrible luck in love. She has been able to turn her awful dates into an online column. When her friend, Kerry (Heather McMahan), opens Natalie’s dating app to look for men all over the country, Natalie matches with Tag (Darren Barnet). Unfortunately, Tag lives on the other side of the country. Throwing caution to the wind, Natalie flies across the country to surprise her new beau for Christmas. But all is not what it seems

I haven’t watched Nina Dobrev in anything since The Vampire Diaries in the early 2000s. I can’t say that I was a big fan of her acting there but she seems to do OK here. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t have to do as much emoting. If she’s not angry, she’s flirty. It’s not a big stretch.

Instead, my favorite character was Josh, played by Jimmy O. Yang. He had this adorable nerdy air around him that worked well. He was able to pull off the self-hatred that comes when you don’t belong with the popular group and no one sees you romantically. I think the only other person that pulled off their character perfectly was Althea Kaye as Josh’s grandmother.

Once again, this is a decent movie that is fine for an evening watch but it’s nothing amazing. On the contrary, Tag is very annoying and Natalie is heading into annoying territory too. The best way to watch Love Hard is a relaxing evening where you want something on the TV in the background while you play your favorite game on your cell phone. I’m not sure the movie deserves much more attention than that.

Christmas Sail | 2021 Christmas Movies

When I turned on Christmas Sail, the first thing my husband said was “Did Hallmark corrupt Katee Sackhoff now?” I don’t blame him for the sentiment. Sometimes Hallmark books these fabulous big name actors and puts them in a terrible movie. Let’s see if Katee made a good decision to work with Hallmark.

Liz (Sackhoff) has been estranged from her father, Dennis (Terry O’Quinn), since her mother died. When a Christmas tree falls on Dennis, Liz gets a call to come home to help him recover.

So the answer to the big question - Yes, Katee made a good decision to work on this movie. It’s easy to see how a less talented actress could have upped the cheese factor on the role but Katee managed to give the role the right amount of cheesiness. (I mean, Liz likes boat-related puns. She is a cheese-filled lady.) And, thankfully, she doesn’t have to carry the movie by herself. Emma Oliver as Liz’s daughter, Hannah, is an absolute delight. Of course, Terry O’Quinn has mastered the grumpy old man trope but he’s also mastered the grandfather with a heart of gold. Finally, Patrick Sabongui as Luke the love interest. He is probably the weakest of the main characters but he does manage to keep Luke from being forgettable or annoying.

While Christmas Sail was a very good movie, it’s not a must-watch-every-year movie. And that is OK. A movie can be perfectly good without being epic. I’m glad that there are a few of those already this season.

Christmas in My Heart | 2021 Christmas Movies

I always expect the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel to show movies with mysteries. Sometimes they do. Most of the time they don’t. Christmas in My Heart is another example of that movies without mysteries.

Beth (Heather Hemmens) is a professional violinist who comes home for the holidays after the recent death of her mother, the local music teacher. She ends up tutoring new violinist Katie (Maria Nash), the daughter of the reclusive country singer, Sean Grant (Luke Macfarlane). The power of music heals all of their broken hearts.

For once, this is a movie with musicians that actually contains music. We see Beth playing the violin and auditioning for the local orchestra. In addition, Katie plays her violin, Sean writes a song and sings it to Beth, and even Sean’s mother-in-law, Ruthie (Sheryl Lee Ralph) directs the local church choir and even sings a bit herself. So much music!

Another great thing about this movie is the message of being yourself. There are quite a few interracial couples in Heart. Both Ruthie and Katie are black so we have to assume Ruthie’s daughter/Katie’s mother was also black. Unfortunately, we don’t see a lot of her to get to know her. On a similar note, Beth is black and her father is white so we have to assume that her mother was black.

At first it seemed weird to have all of these interracial couples in a Hallmark movie but there were a couple of scenes that made the reasoning clear. The first scene is when Ruthie comes over to do Katie’s hair. Katie makes a comment about how her hair needs to be slicked back because that is how it looks “good.” Eventually the girl confesses that she only said that because she saw it on social media. The second scene is after Katie and Sean watch Beth play in a professional quartet. Katie notes how she has never seen anyone that looks like her playing the violin professionally. Representation matters but good representation matters even more.

But where there is a positive, there must always be a negative. To offset the amount of amazing music and black representation in the movie, we’re given a lot of death. Not only do we contend with the death of Beth’s mother but we also learn that Katie’s mother/Sean’s wife/Ruthie’s daughter died three years prior as well. Everyone seems to be coping well except Sean. The reason he’s a recluse is because he moved to the town where his wife grew up. He also keeps putting off decorating for Christmas. I suppose using death as a reason to “come home” is natural but they really could have used a different reason. We didn’t need a slew of dead moms.

Every other Hallmark movie will have some big boots to fill after Christmas in My Heart. It was a really good movie and I might have enjoyed it more than I should have. I definitely think people should watch this one. I’m not sure it’s good enough for an annual watching but definitely every other year.

Coyote Creek Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Aaaaand we’re back to the “A simple conversation would have fixed all of this” trope. Why are adults in Hallmark movies so afraid to talk to each other?

Paige (Janel Parrish) is an event planner in Denver. Every year, her parents throw a big themed Christmas party at the inn they own. However, they decided to skip the party this year. Paige insists on planning it anyway. Then she finds out the real reason her parents were downplaying the holidays. They are thinking about selling the hotel to Dylan (Ryan Paevey) and his brother. Will Paige truly be happy returning to her job in the city?

I’ll start off with the good -Coyote Creek Christmas is pretty cute. Azriel Dalman as Dylan’s son, Noah is one of the better parts of the cast. He’s also the only one that gets a pass from having an actual serious conversation with anyone. Which is funny because he talks more like an adult than any of the actual adults. That is, if any of the adults even wanted to talk to each other.

Here’s a list of the conversations that should have happened but didn’t: Rick (Cameron Bancroft) and Linda (Linda Minard) should have asked their daughter if she wanted to take over the inn that has been in their family for generations. If she said she didn’t want to run the inn, then they should have told her they wanted to sell it. Quinn (Naomi King) should have come out and told Mia (Adriana Ravalli) that she liked her in the beginning instead of making awkward googly eyes at her. And maybe Dylan should have told Paige that he was there to evaluate the inn for purchase but it shouldn’t have been on him to tell her that her parents were selling it in the first place.

Sadly, I didn’t hate Coyote Creek. The characters were annoying but there was just enough in the plot to make it bearable. This is the type of movie you watch when there is nothing on television but you need something that doesn’t require a lot of brainpower. Snack on some peppermint fudge while you watch it. I think it will make it a little better.

The Christmas Promise | 2021 Christmas Movies

Is this based on a book? This movie feels like it was based on a book.

Nicole (Torrey DeVitto) lost the love of her life, Alan (Matthew James Dowden), in a snowy car accident. A year later, she is arranging to sell the house and business they owned together. She hires Joe (Dylan Bruce) to finish the renovations on the house so it can be put on the market. With the help of her grandfather (Patrick Duffy), Nicole learns how to deal with her grief.

One of the reasons I asked if this is based on a book is that the title makes no sense. As far as I can tell, there was no promise in The Christmas Promise. It’s even a stretch to say that she’s promising to live her life instead of wallowing in grief. There is just no promising going on here.

Despite the lack of promises, it is a cute movie. It would have been nice to actually see a little more of Nicole’s grief. She will frequently say she is sad but she doesn’t look very sad. They could have easily done a voiceover of sorts where she maybe cries herself to sleep or if she got lost in thought looking at his spot on the bed or something. The way her grief is played works, it just doesn’t work very well.

I did like that Joe backed off when he realized how he was kind of manipulating her emotionally. There’s a section where Nicole is texting a mysterious person who now owns Alan’s phone number. She doesn’t realize that it’s Joe and when Joe realizes that he’s been texting Nicole, he removes himself from the situation. This is probably the one and only time I won’t chide a movie for avoiding a simple conversation. Joe was right - Nicole might have thought he was playing with her emotions.

Promise is going to be a difficult one to recommend. Mostly because it is heavily dependent on death and grief. If something like that isn’t going to make you feel bad, then go ahead and watch this. But if a movie about grief is going to make you feel miserable, skip it. It’s good but not that good.