Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
I hope you don't find it too hard to sleep tonight
Finally a solid run of movies! And just in time to take my mind off the impending election! I have several recipes lined up for my stress-baking Tuesday night, and I’ll probably end up watching a Hallmark movie to take my mind off things.
A Carol for Two
Hallmark heard my complaints about the lack of singing from the Broadway actors it casts and made this whole movie about singing! Violette (Ginna Claire Mason, who has been in 2 Hallmark movies and previously starred as Glinda in Wicked) leaves behind her Quaint Town to move to The Big City and start rehearsals in the ensemble of a new musical. Only when she gets there, she finds out the investors pulled out and now she has no job. Luckily, her aunt Carol (is this a Pun Title? Maybe) used to work on Broadway and Carol’s old friend Hazel owns one of those restaurants with singing waiters. Enter Alex (Jordan Litz, new to Hallmark movies and currently Fiyero in Wicked), an aspiring playwright and songwriter who works at Hazel’s place. He’s pretty rightly pissed when Nepo Baby Violette gets a coveted spot in the Christmas Eve show, but then Hazel makes it a duet with Alex. A carol for two, you say?
Alex’s flaky cousin Brad develops a crush on Violette and convinces Alex to be his Cyrano (and fake-date his friend June for double dates) as Alex and Violette work on their duet. Cousin Brad has a cartoonishly evil ex-girlfriend that Alex is desperate for him to get over, so he is willing to go along with the plan. But of course, he starts falling for Violette and Brad benefits from Alex actually paying attention to her and coming up with nice things for Brad to do. The real loser here is Violette, who is confused why Brad is acting like two different people and is presumably too nice and naive and midwestern to sense that something shady is up.
As far as realistic portrayals of New York City go, it was nice to see Alex and Brad (and Violette and fellow singing waitress Rae) sharing a studio apartment to save on rent rather than living in a Friends-style apartment. However, major Pet Peeve alert: this movie is weirdly Straight And White for a story about aspiring Broadway actors. I personally choose to believe that Hazel and Carol were girlfriends back in the day. Overall, I had fun with this one! The singing was excellent, the chemistry was good, the jokes were funny.
What does Christmas mean? Christmas is a time for family, even annoying family like Brad.
Last minute plans/impending deadline? Violette and Alex only have a week to get their duet ready!
Dialogue highlight? “I was just a guy from Scranton who’d rather be in Wicked than be on the football team.” (There is also a Kristen Chenoweth name drop)
Rating? 4 out of 5 candy cane dusted yule logs
Final verdict? I think I’m finally getting into the Christmas spirit! They do say that the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.
Our Holiday Story
This movie’s main characters went to the How I Met Your Mother school of telling their couple origin story. When Chris gets to his girlfriend Jo’s parents’ house before she does he gets roped into helping them get ready for their Christmas party and listening to the long-winded story of how they met. In flashbacks, Dave (Warren Christie, 3 Hallmark movies) and Nell (Nikki Deloach, 22 Hallmark movies!!) stumble through something resembling the plot of Serendipity while Jo spends most of the movie occupied with her trip home.
Let’s start with the flashback storyline. In the Quaint Town of Arbor (location: somewhere along a train line to Hartford) Nell has just started working as the comptroller and Dave is a member of one of the town’s founding families. As Eleanor and David, they are put in touch over email in order to plan the town’s Christmas festival. As Nell and Dave, they had a Meet Cute on the train but got separated before they could exchange numbers. There’s a bit of a reverse You’ve Got Mail thrown in here as well, as Nell and Dave keep running into each other and Eleanor and David struggle to communicate over email. Dave is a Manic Pixie Dream Guy (definitely a Christmas Enthusiast) while Nell is very practical (she’s not a full Christmas Grump, but she tells Dave she likes Christmas in moderation). This makes for good flirting chemistry but terrible business chemistry. We know they eventually work it out, but not before they drag it out as long as possible. The present day mainly serves as a frame story, with a little bit of development in Chris and Jo’s relationship. Chris comes from a family of Christmas Grumps, and like Nell he is ready to be absorbed into Dave and Jo’s cozy and whimsical way of life.
What does Christmas mean? Christmas is a time for family traditions. And fruitcake.
Last minute plans/impending deadline? Chris just wants to make sure Jo arrives before his parents do on Christmas morning.
Dialogue highlight? “You can’t do math on magic” is one of Dave’s lines that make him sound extremely like Natalie Portman in Garden State.
How white and straight? Very very.
Pet peeve? These kind of near-miss wrong-timing plots always kind of annoy me. But in a charming way!
Rating? 3 out of 5 handcrafted Santa thrones
Final verdict? This was cute!
Holiday Mismatch
The real love story of this movie is the friendship between Barbara (Beth Broderick, 4 Hallmark movies) and Kath (Caroline Rhea, 1 Hallmark movie), who I referred to as Zelda and Hilda in my notes because they have basically the same personalities as their characters in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Barbara is a no-nonsense newly retired accountant, while Kath runs the town’s Chamber of Commerce holiday planning committee with a sense of whimsy and many excellent colorful crocheted sweaters. They clash immediately when Barbara volunteers for the planning committee. Both of them want to set up their kids — Barbara’s son Shane and Kath’s daughter Lauren — on a date, but balk when they realize who the date’s mom is. What they don’t know is that Shane and Lauren have decided to fake date (only Until Christmas) to get their moms off their backs. Horrified at the prospect of being in-laws (this is a bit much after one date) Barbara and Kath decide to team up to break up Shane and Lauren. As you might expect, Hijinks Ensue.
What does Christmas mean? Christmas is about giving, not receiving. It’s also about learning to set boundaries with people you love.
Chemistry check? You already know Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea have chemistry. The actors who play Shane and Lauren are alright, too.
Quaint town? I already forgot what the generic town name is. But they have a Christmas festival!
Dialogue highlight? “We deploy Christmas joy” is Kath’s motto for the committee
How white and straight? Shane’s brother Aiden falls into the stereotype of being a gay man who loves messy gossip and immediately spills the beans about the fake dating scheme.
Pet peeve? Shane owns a theater where he stages (and stars in) an improv version of A Christmas Carol, and if I were Lauren I would not need any maternal meddling to stop dating that man.
Rating? 3.5 out of 5
Final verdict? This one was not overly complicated, and I really liked that.
Next up: Trivia at St. Nick’s, Santa Tell Me, and ‘Tis the Season to Be Irish. Perhaps it will be the season to be Irish. Every day, moving abroad and trying to find a spouse to get non-American citizenship sounds more and more appealing.