Around the time Christmas She Wrote aired on Hallmark, Danica McKellar dropped some TikToks showing the behind-the-scenes magic of making a Hallmark Christmas movie. I don’t know if this changed what I thought about the movie but it definitely changed how I watched it!

Kaleigh (McKellar) is a romance columnist in New York. She goes home to Pineberry, CA when the newspaper’s new managers fire her. Realizing they made a mistake, the newspaper owner sends the new editor, Tripp (Dylan Neal), to Pineberry to hire her back.

Hallmark and Lifetime tend to rotate the same group of actors through all of their Christmas movies. Danica McKellar has done her fair share of these. (I gave up counting at six.) Thankfully, she is a delight as an actress. She makes even the worst script enjoyable to watch. Dylan Neal, on the other hand…not so much.

Normally, when we get a story about a writer, they are looking for a big scoop or they need to write their next big article. Having her get fired is a nice change of pace. The story can focus more on Kaleigh as a person instead of making her character solely about her job. Her job is important to her but it’s not the end of her life.

Tripp, meanwhile, isn’t as rounded of a character. He isn’t the type that is sighing and groaning about having to follow orders but he also isn’t particularly personable. I don’t quite understand why everyone in Pineberry likes him so much. The writers even throw in a past boyfriend to compete for Kaleigh’s heart but he is barely in the story so he’s not really competition.

Is it worth watching Christmas She Wrote? Absolutely. I think Danica McKellar’s bright star can outshine all of the problems in the movie. I look forward to seeing what Christmas movie she is in next year.