The Holiday Dating Guide | 2022 Christmas Movies

When someone claims to be an expert on dating, run away. Especially if they are single themselves. Ugh, let’s look at The Holiday Dating Guide anyway.

Abigale (Maria Menounos) is a dating coach who is trying to get her new book, The Holiday Dating Guide, published. In order to make it happen, her publisher wants her to find a date to bring to their big Christmas Eve party in twelve days. She happens to meet Michael (Brent Bailey) at a coffee shop and sets her eyes on him. Will she be able to pull it off while following her own rules?

This was such a terrible movie. The plot is that Abigale made all of these stupid rules for dating then, when she actually attempted to date someone, realized how stupid the rules were and broke every single one of them. Meanwhile, she was actually coaching someone to follow her stupid rules. Rules like - don’t see someone two days in a row. Seriously.

No, do not watch The Holiday Dating Guide. There is nothing redeeming in this movie except for maybe the dog that is only in the first 15 minutes. You can turn it off after that.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movie

When I read the title ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas, this is not what I expected from it. I try not to expect anything from Christmas movies but I thought this would be like a performance of the story or something. It’s not.

Madison (Torrey DeVitto) is an actress who wants to become a director. Her first attempt at directing is a local courtroom play debating who wrote ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas. Was it Major Henry Livingston Jr (Richard Waugh) or Clement Clarke Moore (Shaun Austin-Olsen)?

Hm. This movie wanted to be so much more than it was. It wanted us to care about the lead couple, Madison and Connor (Zane Holtz) but it didn’t give us enough to make us want to care about them. It wanted us to either love or hate the terrible lead actress in the play, Lena (Sophie Bastelle) but there wasn’t enough to feel strongly about her either way. It wanted us to care about who wrote the poem but only grazed on the reasons each man was offered as a suggestion. I wanted to be drawn into this big conspiracy mystery of who was the real writer. Instead I got a waffling play with no real ending and ghosts as witnesses.

Should you watch it? Eh, it’s not terrible but it’s not good either. Turn it on for some background noise maybe but it’s definitely not worth your attention.

Aisle Be Home For Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

I apologize for my lack of reviews yesterday. I had some holiday festivities that kept me away from my television. No worries, though. All of the Christmas movies will be reviewed. We’re almost at the end! But first, Aisle Be Home For Christmas.

Michelle (Jennifer Freeman) and her ex-boyfriend, Drew (Garrett Watson), get stuck in a superstorm during a major snowstorm on Christmas Eve. Without cell service or internet, they make the best of things with the rest of the stranded people - store owner Angela (Erica Duke), employee Courtney (Jessica Ruth Bell), and shoppers Tristan (John Henry Richardson) and Richie (Ryan Rohtla).

This sounds like a great premise, right? They are stuck in a store with everything the could need or want. There’s food and toys and all sorts of supplies. But everything they do it so boring. They make gingerbread houses but they don’t make it fun. They sit and talk. We don’t actually see them make the houses. We see the houses afterwards but at no point do they actually make the houses themselves. We do get to see Angela spray some whipped cream into some cocoa and Courtney play a guitar but that is about it. BORING.

Do not watch this. I was hoping there were going to be some fun montages of them playing with toys or making pillow forts or something like that. No, they just talk. I hate it. I’m starting to think that maybe the worst Hallmark movie is better than any Great American Family movie.

Sappy Holiday | 2022 Christmas Movies

You know, when a movie has a love triangle, both of the suitors should be viable options. Sappy Holiday doesn’t do that. Let me tell you about it.

Joy (Vanessa Sears) is a sous chef in New York. She is working hard to get a promotion to executive chef. Her boyfriend, Gabe (Colton Royce), invites her to his family’s mansion for Christmas in order to propose to her. Driving to the mansion in a snowstorm, Joy spins out her car and crashes into a snowbank. She is saved by James (Jon McLaren), who takes her to his family’s maple farm while she waits for her car to be fixed. However, Joy finds her true happiness at the maple farm.

So, the love triangle is Joy, who is nicknamed JJ by James, James and Gabe. Gabe is an utter tool. Every time Joy talks to him, he is a dreadful person. He puts his mother’s wants over his girlfriend’s needs. Even if Joy didn’t find James, she should have dumped Gabe anyway.

No, I don’t think you should watch Sappy Holiday. It’s slow, it’s boring, and none of the men are particularly good. Joy should quit her job and both men and figure out something better to do. She deserves much better than any of them.

Hanukkah On Rye | 2022 Christmas Movies

I feel bad putting Hanukkah On Rye under the Christmas movie banner because it’s not a Christmas movie. But, alas, we only get one Hanukkah movie per year.

Jacob’s (Jeremy Jordan) family runs a Jewish deli in California. Looking to expand the business, he travels to New York City to sign the lease for a second location on the east coast. He meets Molly (Yael Grobglas), whose family runs the oldest Jewish delicatessen in New York City. When their grandmothers sign each of them up to be paired with a soulmate through a Jewish matchmaker, the duo are unwillingly paired with each other. Will opening a competing deli ruin their budding love?

Jeremy Jordan is an amazing actor. I don’t think I have ever not liked one of his projects. Little did I know that Yael Grobglas would be a perfect pairing with him. A lot of times in Hallmark movies, it feels like the actors are just reading lines. These two feel like they ARE the characters. It was so perfect.

I don’t want to give too much of the story away, even though there aren’t really any surprises here. But I do think you should watch it. This may be one of the best holiday movies on the Hallmark roster this year.

A Christmas To Treasure | 2022 Christmas Movies

A Christmas To Treasure has told me that I want more Christmas movies about friendship and adults rekindling childhood friendships. Can we throw the romance part out though?

When they were kids, Austin (Taylor Frey), Everett (Kyle Dean Massey), Tipper (Katie Walder), Michelle (Nikki McKenzie), Clay (Norman Towns), and Ricky (Roberto Aguire) often had treasure hunts led by their neighbor, Mrs. Marley. After Mrs. Marley’s passing, her house is put up for sale to a real estate developer. Everett wants to buy the land but doesn’t have enough money. That is when a final treasure hunt shows up in everyone’s mailboxes. Will the group band together to solve the puzzles or will they just give up?

I thought this was a pretty cute movie. My only gripe is that I would have liked them to spend a little more time on the treasure hunt itself. Each of the participants had to find “their” key but it was extremely easy for them to find once they got to the location. It would have been nice if it was a little more difficult. With a riddle or something maybe. I would have gladly sacrificed the Austin/Everett love story for it.

Beyond that, it was a cute movie. I would file this under the “Recommended” umbrella. It wasn’t amazing but it was really good, especially for Lifetime. I wonder if I could convince my husband to get a candy cane suit too…

Must Love Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

While I was waiting for this weekend’s group of movies to air, I popped back over to CBS to watch Must Love Christmas. I think this is the first year I have ever watched a network television Christmas movie. They are very similar to the Hallmark stuff.

Natalie (Liza Lapira) is a Christmas romance novelist. She is also a recluse currently suffering from writer’s block. In order to help her finish her newest book, her editor, Gloria (Lossen Chambers), teams up with her publicist, Ryan (Adam Beauchesne), to force her into a book reading at the bookstore that first sold her books. Unfortunately, Natalie and Ryan get caught in a snowstorm that strands them in Cranberry Falls, where Natalie ends up in a love triangle between her high school crush, Caleb (Nathan Witte), and a journalist writing an article about her, Nick (Neal Bledsoe).

This was a decent enough movie. It seemed like they tried to throw a little bit everything into the plot, which makes it a little chaotic. As a result, I found myself going between paying attention to the movie and playing games on my phone. The acting and the writing and everything was fine. There was just a lot going on.

So, I don’t know how to rank this movie. It was perfectly fine but a little overwhelming to me. I guess give it a watch, just make sure you keep your phone nearby in case you find yourself overwhelmed as well.

Holiday Heritage | 2022 Christmas Movies

This year, we got the first movie from Hallmark that highlighted Kwanzaa, Holiday Heritage. I am so happy that Hallmark has become more open to different cultures. But was it any good?

Ella (Lyndie Greenwood) is a graphic designer living in Boston. When she comes home to Mary’s Town, PA for Christmas, she finds that her mother, Micah (Holly Robinson Peete), and grandmother, Tess (Darlene Cooke), aren’t getting along. With the help of her ex-boyfriend and now-mayor, Griffin (Brooks Darnell), she tries to get her family back together by bringing the Kwanzaa celebration back into their lives.

I fully admit that I didn’t know a lot about Kwanzaa before watching Holiday Heritage. It was really nice that, instead of just showing montages of lighting candles and other traditions, the movie explained the reason for each night. In addition, Ella used each night’s traditions to try to get through to Micah and Tess. I’m glad Hallmark spent time to really focus on Kwanzaa instead of the Big Romance. I hope this is a good sign for the future.

Yes, yes, yes. Go watch this one. The movie wasn’t anything amazing but it is amazing that Hallmark is reaching beyond the “traditional” white woman Christmas movie. I am so excited to see what Hallmark has planned for the future. Watching more of these diverse movies shows the channel that, yes, we do want to see more of this.

Record Breaking Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

When I saw the title for Record Breaking Christmas, I assumed we were going to have another movie about a singer. Nope. This one is about world records, like The Guinness Book Of World Records.

Leah (Michelle Argyris) is an adjudicator for the World Records Bureau who specializes in judging Christmas record attempts. A nearby small town is attempting to break six world records. Leah and her trainee, Jin (Danny Vo), travel Saint Drexel to validate whether not the records have been broken.

Record Breaking Christmas was a cute movie. Argyris may be one of my favorite Christmas movie leading ladies, even if she isn’t always in the best movies. She has a way of making her characters relatable without making them annoying. I think the leading man, Andrew Bushell, usually gets pushed to the friend category in Christmas movies but he held his own as the lead here.

While I’m going to file this one under “Watch,” I would have liked to see a little more of the record breaking attempts. We see a lot of them when they are already done and we don’t even see the results of others. (They just reference them in a throwaway line.) Since the records are the main plot of the movie, I would have liked to have seen the town working together more on the actual record attempts. The Hula Hoop one would have been a blast to see!

Crown Prince Of Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

This movie, Crown Prince Of Christmas, took so many shortcuts. I actually had to rewind a few times to make sure I saw what I saw.

Madison (Cindy Busby) is a waitress at a hotel in New York City. She is also a singer, though she suffers from terrible stage fright. When her family pressures her into having a date for Christmas, she convinces her best friend and co-worker, Sebastian (Jilon VanOver), to pretend to be her boyfriend. Only her mother and sisters mistake Sebastian for a visiting prince. But maybe they aren’t the ones that are mistaken.

In case you weren’t aware, these Christmas movies are frequently filmed during the summer months. All of the snow is fake and the actors are wearing puffer coats in August heat. To hide this, Crown Prince Of Christmas filmed their outdoor scenes in black and white then colorized the main couple. You can see the leaves on the nearby trees since not all of them are evergreen trees. It was honestly distracting.

There were also some other moments that the ADR was weird. (I talk more about ADR in my review for Merry Textmas.) I think that they left out all of the background noise when the lines were re-recorded so that background noise appears and disappears randomly. It is also distracting.

Sadly, the movie itself wasn’t terrible. If it wasn’t for the awful editing, I would probably recommend checking it out. Unfortunately, they couldn’t bother putting any real money toward the production of the movie and it is obvious. Feel free to check it out if you need a good giggle. Otherwise, leave it alone.