Open By Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Sometimes I don’t understand how Hallmark picks which movies to go on which channel. You would think that movies with a “mystery” type of plot would go on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. But they don’t. Open By Christmas is an example of that.

When Nicky (Alison Sweeney) comes home for Thanksgiving, her parents tell her that they are selling her childhood home to move into a smaller house. As Nicky helps them pack, she finds an old unopened Christmas card in one of her high school textbooks. The card professes love for Nicky but it doesn’t have a signature. It’s up to Nicky and her best friend, Simone (Erica Durance), to figure out who slipped the card into the book so long ago.

This really could have been a good Christmas mystery movie. But instead of spending the majority of the movie trying to sleuth out who wrote the card, they spend more time focused on Simone’s fiancé, Jeremy (Michael Karl Richards), surprising Simone with a new house. They spend so much time on it that you would think that Simone is the main character in the movie. (And, seriously, who surprises someone by buying them a house? Don’t do that. It’s financially awful.)

As for the mystery itself? We only get a few hints as to who the writer could be. Thanks to the message in the card, Nicky and Simone surmise that the writer was on the basketball team. Nicky’s mom did some online searching and figured out that the person that wrote it is left-handed. Finally, Simone’s future mother-in-law actually recognizes the handwriting! But it doesn’t actually lead to the correct answer. It would have been nice if there was some more detective work shown. After all, it’s supposed to be the main plot of the movie!

Alas, the movie promises a lot but delivers little. This is yet another movie that is fine as background noise but if you actually pay attention, it’s lacking in substance. I know that Hallmark churns out a lot of movies. It would be nice if they could hire some good writers for once.

An Ice Wine Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Lifetime finally jumps into the Christmas fray this year with An Ice Wine Christmas. Let’s see if they start off strong.

Camila (Roselyn Sanchez) is one of the top sommeliers in Philadelphia. However, her heart really lies with the Ice Wine Festival and harvest in her hometown of Evergreen, NY. When Camila finds out that Henry (Richard Fitzpatrick), the owner of the vineyard, is retiring, she does everything she can to make him change his mind. Henry turns to Camila’s sister, Beth (AnnaMaria Demara), and scientist Declan (Lyriq Bent) to figure out how to predict the annual frost in order to harvest the grapes for the ice wine. Whose prediction will be correct - Camila or Declan?

I don’t think I understand why wine-making ends up in Christmas movies. Are they trying to hone in on the “moms drink a lot of wine” trope? Newsflash: Drinking wine and making wine are two different things.

Anyway, An Ice Wine Christmas tries to throw a couple of different plots together and I’m not sure how well they work. As always, there is a Christmas festival to plan. They make it sound like this is both an annual event and an event that hasn’t happened in awhile. They also make it sound like Henry planned the whole festival himself in previous years but now it’s too much work for a committee of 6 people. Please pick one. Either way, the movie spends the least amount of time focused on the festival as possible. There are vague conversations about decorations and Camila convinces Declan to fix the town’s bell….because he can weld? I feel like you need more skills than just welding to fix a giant bell. Even when the festival is going on, they are like “Hey! Here’s Ice Wine! It’s delicious! Christmas!” What is the point of the festival if it isn’t going be festive?

But the main plot in the movie is trying to figure out when the frost will come so they will know when to harvest the grapes. And, apparently, they need tons of volunteers to come out in the middle of the night to pick the harvest. Now, as I have said, Henry has been doing this for years. He knows how to predict the frost. He has been doing it successfully the entire time and he taught Camila how to do it so it is something that can be taught. So why, all of a sudden, is Henry like “Nope, we gotta find a new way. This won’t work for Beth.” WHY? (Well, so they can bring in Declan and he can fall in love with Camila, duh.)

Finally, there’s the “Teaching Christmas” plot. Declan’s family doesn’t celebrate Christmas in a traditional way so Camila takes it upon herself to teach him about the spirit of Christmas. Except she doesn’t really teach him anything. She tells him some stories about her past Christmases but there’s nothing that would make someone be like “I get it! Traveling the world for Christmas is a trash idea. We should all be at home decorating trees and cookies together!”

I want to classify An Ice Wine Christmas as “not bad, just boring” but that doesn’t feel right. No, it’s not a bad movie. Yes, it is boring. I think the reason it’s boring is the reason it doesn’t belong in that category. They want to do too much but don’t focus on anything. There’s a festival but all we really see from it is a silent auction, a few Christmas lights, and ice wine. A festival should have more festive things. Add some carolers or a children’s choir (no, there are no children in this movie) and it would have upped the enjoyment of the festival. Even the ice wine harvest is dumb. Why is your most important harvest of the year completely relying on volunteers showing up? Shouldn’t you have employees - even temporary seasonal employees - to do this?

Ah, just skip it. There isn’t anything worth watching here. Unless you are really curious about ice wine, I guess.

Father Christmas Is Back | 2021 Christmas Movies

I know that British comedy is different from the rest of the world. But just because you put John Cleese in the cast, that doesn’t mean it’s automatically a comedy.

Father Christmas Is Back is about the Christmas family coming together for the holiday. Caroline (Nathalie Cox), her husband Peter (Kris Marshall), and their two children (Amelie Prescott and Oliver Smith) are hosting this year. Coming to visit are Caroline’s three sisters: Joanna (Elizabeth Hurley), Paulina (Naomi Frederick), and Vicky (Talulah Riley) plus Joanna’s new boyfriend: Felix (Ray Fearon). Then there’s the women’s mother: Elizabeth (Caroline Quentin), their uncle: John (John Cleese), their absent father: James (Kelsey Grammer), and James’s girlfriend: Jackie (April Bowlby). They are all staying at the ancestral castle of Peter’s family. Comedy ensues?

Somehow, I think the writers were planning on this to be some sort of black comedy. Because there definitely isn’t any sort of actual comedy here. Everything seems so serious all of the time. Maybe we were supposed to laugh at the fact that Paulina has been working on a thesis for the past 10 years on the reason the Beatles broke up? Maybe we were supposed to laugh at Vicky’s promiscuity? Or maybe we were supposed to laugh at how terrible Joanna was to everyone around her? Seriously. Tell me where the funny parts were. I think the only reason this got classified as a comedy is because the tone isn’t serious enough to make it a drama.

Overall, the acting wasn’t terrible. Granted, I’m not a huge fan of Kelsey Grammer so I would have liked it better if they had cast someone else in his role. And I would have liked them to use John Cleese’s comedy skills more. He’s a comedy legend and they barely gave him any lines beyond making fun of James abandoning his family.

Oh right - the main plot point - the REASON THIS MOVIE IS NAMED WHAT IT IS - is because James abandoned his family when the girls were fairly young. And now their father - JAMES CHRISTMAS - is back. I can’t groan any louder.

But that plot point isn’t played up for laughs or anything. It just is a fact of the movie. Well, I guess there is one slightly funny part where James and his older brother, John, attempt a fist fight but the never actually touch each other. Yeah, don’t slide past that fact - Kelsey Grammer and John Cleese play brothers. I still can’t groan any louder.

Unless you are a super fan of one of the actors in this movie, skip it altogether. There is no other reason to watch it. I wish there was because the acting is quite good. It’s the rest of it that sucks.

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.