Christmas For Keeps | 2021 Christmas Movies

Now I remember why I stopped watching last year’s Christmas movies at the end of December. All of the channels start dredging the bottom of the barrel for their Christmas fare at the end of the season. They put on all of the good shows either Thanksgiving week or the beginning of December. The stuff that airs Christmas week is awful. Christmas For Keeps is no exception.

I’m not really sure why this is a Christmas movie. Here is the plot: A group of friends from high school get together after 10 years apart to celebrate their drama teacher that recently passed.

And that is it. The whole movie revolves around the stupid arguments they have and their attempts at figuring out what they want to do with their lives. Considering these people haven’t seen each other for ten years, they really should have gotten over most of this stuff. The only “argument” that is worth anything is Noah (Cardi Wong) vaguely arguing with his wife, Sarah (Ashley Newbrough), over her busy schedule as a medical resident and his want to start a cookie business instead of being a stay at home dad. And they don’t really argue about it! He is perfectly fine staying home with the kids. It isn’t until their friend, Mia (Marielle Scott), pushes Noah to sell his cookies that it becomes an issue. And, seriously, script writers - medical residents are busy people. Get off their asses for not having time to go to parties or socialize like other people.

Again, there is nothing interesting going on here. Go watch Seinfeld or Friends instead.

A Godwink Christmas: Miracle of Love | 2021 Christmas Movies

The Godwink Christmas series has been going on for awhile at Hallmark. For those that don’t remember, a “godwink” is a coincidence where God is trying to nudge you in a certain direction. Last year we had Second Chance, First Love. This year we are given Miracle of Love.

Joy (Katherine Barrell) just graduated with her masters in nursing. Not knowing what to do with her life, she signs up to volunteer at a week-long community service event called Advent in Oshkosh. There she meets Eric (Alberto Frezza), who is trying to become a writer. They spend the week helping a family rebuild their home while falling in love.

The Godwink movies are a perfect blend of religion and secular. They don’t bash you over the head with God but they also don’t discount God’s hand in every day life. I think it’s a nice way to try to bring both Christians and non-Christians together.

As for Miracle of Love, specifically, there is nothing groundbreaking here. The acting is fine. The story is fine. Everything is just fine. Like the other movies, there aren’t any real conflicts. Supposedly, these are based on true stories so there is never a villain or big obstacle to overcome. (Well, OK. Eric does get injured toward the end of the movie. That is the Big Godwink.) It’s just people trying to make good decisions in life. I do like that there is no manufactured conflict. However, it can turn the movie toward the boring side. Since there is little to nothing to overcome and you already know they are going to end up together (what Christmas movie ends where they don’t get together?), there isn’t a lot to get invested in while watching.

Much like last year’s movie, if you are into the “God has a plan for us” mindset, you’ll probably enjoy these movies. For everyone else, there isn’t a lot to keep your interest unless you really want to watch two people dance around whether or not they should date. These movies are basically the equivalent of people watching in the mall except you get to follow them home when they are done shopping.

Every Time A Bell Rings | 2021 Christmas Movies

Every Time A Bell Rings was actually released back in November on Hallmark’s streaming service, Hallmark Now. I thought I was going to miss it since I’m not subscribed to the service but they decided to release it on their Movies & Mysteries channel too. I’m glad they did.

Three adopted sisters - Charlotte (Erin Cahill), Emily (Brittany Ishibashi) and Nora (Ali Liebert) - return home for Christmas after being separated for years. When they arrive, they find their late father has arranged one last Christmas scavenger hunt for them to complete. Will the search for the Christmas Bell reignite the strong bond between sisters?

I absolutely loved this movie. Granted, there were a few blemishes but nothing that took away from the loveliness of the plot. Watching the three sisters not only rekindle their bond but also figure out how they want to live was nice. Sure, the writers had to put in some sort of obstacle for each sister but none of them are terribly important to the core of the story. They could have easily left out each of the conflicts to focus solely on the scavenger hunt and it still would have been a good movie.

It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to actually recommend watching a movie. But this one should be on your list to watch. Especially if you have sisters.

Our Christmas Journey | 2021 Christmas Movies

Our Christmas Journey really shouldn’t be a Christmas movie. It should stand on its own without having to battle against all of the romantic Christmas movies. Especially since Christmas doesn’t play a huge part in it anyway.

Lena (Holly Robinson Peete) is a single mom trying to raise an autistic son, Marcus (Nik Sanchez), and a talented pianist daughter, Mia (Hilda Martin). When the family, along with her mother - Robin (Aloma Wright), and her ex-husband - Rick (Lyriq Bent), goes to check out a facility where Marcus can learn to live independently. Lena has a difficult time letting Marcus leave the nest, much to the aggravation of Rick. Can Lena learn to let go?

This really was a sweet movie. I’m a little sad that it got stuck in the middle of all of the other Hallmark Christmas movies. (This was on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, which doesn’t get as much traffic as the Hallmark Channel itself.) It highlighted the difficulties a mother goes through when she has a child who is different from other children. Lena wants to protect Marcus from all of the harm in the world but at what cost to Marcus? He will need to learn how to live on his own. It can be difficult to let your child do things that you know might hurt them, even though it will help them in the long run.

I don’t want to talk about the movie too much because I do think that everyone should watch it. Maybe even watch it with a loved one. And you might want to make sure you have a box of tissues nearby. Just in case….

Time For Them To Come Home For Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Apparently, Time For Them To Come Home For Christmas is the FOURTH movie in this series! They already did Time For Me, Time For You, and Time For Us. I guess the next few years will have Time For Him and Time For Her before they run out of pronouns.

Paul (Brendan Penny) is a nurse at a hospital in Maine. Shortly before Christmas, a woman (Jessy Schram) is almost hit by a car. When she wakes up, they find that she can’t remember anything about her life. Paul, who is planning on driving to Columbia, South Carolina, to visit family, agrees to take Jane Doe with him in the hopes that her memory will return when she meets up with…someone…at the Christmas Tree lighting.

I don’t understand the appeal of Jessy Schram. She was in last year’s dud, A Nashville Christmas Carol, and she isn’t any better in this year’s Christmas movie. While she is a beautiful woman, her acting is wooden and I’m not sure she has control over her facial movements. Looking over her IMDb listing, she does have recurring roles in some big television series. That means that she does have acting talent in there somewhere. Maybe she wasn’t meant for Hallmark Christmas movies. Not everyone can achieve the right amount of cheesiness without overshooting into awfulness.

The story begins on a good note. She has amnesia and they are trying to figure out who she is. The only clue they have is a newspaper clipping about a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony with a man’s name written on the back. So she decides to just take off to South Carolina, which is about an 18-hour drive with no stops. And the police sheriff (Lochlyn Munro) lets her go? Even if she’s traveling with a nurse, it’s a terrible idea. Especially since they have no idea who she would be meeting there. Once they leave the hospital, everything falls apart.

Much like last year’s installment, this one isn’t particularly worth watching. I’ll actually reiterate my suggestion from last year: “Watch beginning and the last 30 minutes. Skip the rest.”

Five More Minutes | 2021 Christmas Movies

Whoever thought they should make movies based on songs, they were wrong. Very, very wrong.

Five More Minutes is based on a Scotty McCreery song. After the death of her grandfather, Clara (Nikki DeLoach) comes home to help her mother, Bonnie (Sherry Miller), run the family candy store. Clara, having troubles both professionally and romantically, wishes she could spend more time with her late grandfather in order to work through her issues. When Jay (Alexander Jones), the seasonal store helper, finds her grandfather’s journal, Clara finds the answers she needs in her grandfather’s past life.

I think this may be the worst movie on the Hallmark schedule this year. While the plot works well, the script is so stupidly schmaltzy that it is ridiculous. This is another one of those movies where almost all of the male characters are in the military and all of the female characters have spent their lives waiting for their military men to come home. I don’t have a problem with movies about the military per se. However, most of them make the characters so idealistic about the military that the audience can’t really suspend enough belief to get into the story.

The writers could have easily saved this movie if they left the grandfather as the only military character. This could have been a sweet story of what would have been and that could have pointed Clara in the right direction in her life. There was no reason for Logan (David Haydn-Jones), the love interest, to be a military man. It literally had no impact on the story. So leave him as the old high school sweetheart that Clara doesn’t want to fall in love with again. And stop making everyone so emotional. They can have feelings without having to smother the entire town with them.

Do I have to say it? Don’t watch Five More Minutes. It’s a terrible movie. Pick any of the movies out of the “Just OK” bucket to watch instead. You’ll thank me.

One December Night | 2021 Christmas Movies

Wait, wait, wait. Hallmark got Bruce Campbell to star in one of their movies? How in the world did that happen?

One December Night tells the story of the rock duo Bedford & Sullivan, made up of Steve Bedford (Bruce Campbell) and Mike Sullivan (Peter Gallagher). They had a falling out twenty years ago and now they are preparing for a televised reunion concert. However, they don’t get along very well. It’s up to their kids, Jason (Brett Dalton) and Quinn (Eloise Mumford), respectively, to convince them to do the show. Can they put the past behind them to save their future?

I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one. Both Bruce Campbell and Peter Gallagher are amazing actors. (You should absolutely see Gallagher in the first season of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.) But this is still Hallmark. They know how to ruin what should be a good thing. Thankfully, One December Night is just as good as I hoped.

Besides the fact that all of the actors bring their A-game on this one, I think this may be the first music-related Hallmark movie that actually has music in it! And it’s a lot of music! The sub-plot of the movie is about Quinn’s new client, Addison (Jasmine Forsberg), trying to get a foothold in the industry. She sings no less than three songs on her own. Bedford & Sullivan perform two songs themselves. That’s FIVE SONGS. Most music-related Christmas movies barely have one! I love it!

On the bad side, the lip synching is pretty terrible. The songs sound beautiful but the sounds we hear don’t match up with the lip movements very well. It’s so bad that I thought my recording of the movie was out of synch. Even the ADR (where actors re-record their lines in a studio when the actual recorded audio is no good) doesn’t line up right. While it can be annoying, it is a minor annoyance.

Fans of Bruce Campbell and Peter Gallagher should definitely watch One December Night. They are definitely my favorite part of the movie. My second favorite is Jasmine Forsberg’s singing. She has a lovely voice. If you are down for any of that, watch it. If you are looking for the romance, skip it. The romance definitely takes a backseat to the brotherly relationship of the men. We don’t get a lot of that and we honestly could use more. Normalize male friendships!

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.

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.

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.