Return To Office | 2025 Valentine's Day Movies

Winter is, honestly, a terrible season. Recent storms have completely messed up my planned viewing schedule, which is why I missed a review last week. But thankfully, I didn’t miss any of the Loveuary movies. The next one up is Return To Office. Because that is all what we really wanted, right? To go back to our corporate offices instead of working from home.

Liv (Janel Parrish) is an executive at a tech company that has just acquired an artistic social media company owned by Tom (Scott Michael Foster). When the head of the tech company forces everyone to go back to the office, Liv points out that there are not enough desks for everyone. The solution is to have all of the employees share desks. One group of people will use the desks on Mondays and Wednesdays, while the other will be in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Liv and Tom, unknowingly, end up sharing a desk. They leave each other messages via post-it notes. Eventually, they end up falling in love.

Return To Office had it’s cute moments. But most of these are solely when Liv and Tom are talking via post-it note/text app. When they are actually in the room together, they are a little annoying. Granted, this is the trope. People who hate each other in real life unknowingly fall in love. I think the problem is that Parrish and Foster don’t really have any chemistry. They are perfectly fine as separate characters but they should not be in a relationship.

Rating: 3 out of 5 hearts

Sugarplummed | 2024 Christmas Movies

I am going to call it now - unless something magical happens in the (approximately) 20 movies left to watch this season, Sugarplummed will, in fact, be my number one movie this year. When I heard the title, I thought it was dumb. When I heard the plot, I thought it was dumb. Man, I couldn’t be more wrong.

Emily (Maggie Lawson) wants to give her family the perfect Christmas. But, every year, something goes wrong. As she prepares for Christmas this year, she finds a star ornament that promises a Christmas wish. Exhausted and irritated, she wishes that she could fulfill her list that would make Christmas picture-perfect like the Sugarplum Christmas movies. Much to her surprise, Sugarplum (Janel Parrish), herself, appears to make all of Emily’s Christmas wishes come true.

Like I said, I really did think this movie was going to be stupid. I should know Hallmark better. Sometimes they don’t mind poking a little fun at themselves. And that is exactly what they do here. Instead of having a variety of movies that all seem the same, they fake Hallmark channel in the movie just uses the same character, Sugarplum, in the lead of all of their movies. So Sugarplum has saved small town businesses, dated secret princes, and even brought the Christmas spirit to the humbugs. And Parrish was perfectly cast as the princess of Christmas.

At the same time, Lawson has perfected playing the “imperfect woman.” You can’t help but believe that she is trying her very best even when the results are the absolute worst. Pairing Lawson with Parrish was probably the best decision a casting director ever made.

And, of course, there has to be a conflict, right? The movie can’t keep going up, up, up. There are actually two problems that need to be solved and neither of them felt forced. The writer/director of Sugarplummed, Ryan Landels, has written some stinkers (I’m looking at you, Jem & The Holograms movie) but his Christmas movies aren’t too bad. Maybe this is your lane, dude.

Rating: I want more movies with Sugarplum…like the Mrs. Miracle movies!

Never Been Chris'd | 2023 Christmas Movies

Never Been Chris’d is a different sort of Christmas romance movie. Let’s jump right into it…

Naomi (Janel Parrish) and Liz (Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes) have been best friends forever. When they come home for the holidays, they bump into their high school crush, Chris Silver (Tyler Hynes). Will reconnecting with him change their lives forever?

So, yes, this is a Christmas romance movie. However, Christmas (and Hanukkah!) play a very minor part. As a matter of fact, the romance itself plays a minor part as well. Instead, Never Been Chris’d is more about the friendship between Naomi and Liz and how they can grow as people without growing apart. Chris is more like a catalyst for them to speak up for themselves instead of being the end all life goal.

To be honest, the fact that female friendship takes precedence over romantic love makes me enjoy this movie a lot more than I normally would. I mean, both Naomi and Liz are kinda terrible characters. Somehow they are both extremely selfish yet not willing to stand up for themselves at the same time. But I am a big sucker for a movie where the women don’t really need the man to progress their lives. We could easily take Chris entirely out of the movie and very little would change. It is quite refreshing. Especially for Hallmark.

Rating: Best Friends Forever, no man needed

Coyote Creek Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Aaaaand we’re back to the “A simple conversation would have fixed all of this” trope. Why are adults in Hallmark movies so afraid to talk to each other?

Paige (Janel Parrish) is an event planner in Denver. Every year, her parents throw a big themed Christmas party at the inn they own. However, they decided to skip the party this year. Paige insists on planning it anyway. Then she finds out the real reason her parents were downplaying the holidays. They are thinking about selling the hotel to Dylan (Ryan Paevey) and his brother. Will Paige truly be happy returning to her job in the city?

I’ll start off with the good -Coyote Creek Christmas is pretty cute. Azriel Dalman as Dylan’s son, Noah is one of the better parts of the cast. He’s also the only one that gets a pass from having an actual serious conversation with anyone. Which is funny because he talks more like an adult than any of the actual adults. That is, if any of the adults even wanted to talk to each other.

Here’s a list of the conversations that should have happened but didn’t: Rick (Cameron Bancroft) and Linda (Linda Minard) should have asked their daughter if she wanted to take over the inn that has been in their family for generations. If she said she didn’t want to run the inn, then they should have told her they wanted to sell it. Quinn (Naomi King) should have come out and told Mia (Adriana Ravalli) that she liked her in the beginning instead of making awkward googly eyes at her. And maybe Dylan should have told Paige that he was there to evaluate the inn for purchase but it shouldn’t have been on him to tell her that her parents were selling it in the first place.

Sadly, I didn’t hate Coyote Creek. The characters were annoying but there was just enough in the plot to make it bearable. This is the type of movie you watch when there is nothing on television but you need something that doesn’t require a lot of brainpower. Snack on some peppermint fudge while you watch it. I think it will make it a little better.

Holly & Ivy | 2020 Christmas Movies

Well, we finally did it. We got to a Hallmark Christmas movie that made me tear up. I’m not a big crier at movies but this one really did it to me.

Melody (Janel Parrish) is an underemployed librarian who just purchased a fixer-upper in a new town. As she’s moving in, she meets her neighbor, Nina (Marisol Nichols), and Nina’s two daughters, Holly (Sadie Coleman) and Ivy (Piper Rubio). She also meets local contractor Adam (Jeremy Jordan). After Melody and Nina become fast friends, they find out that Nina’s cancer has returned. Melody quickly offers to take in Nina’s children if anything happens to her. In order for the guardianship to be finalized, Melody has to bring her house up to code….with some help from Adam, of course.

This. This is everything I want in a non-musical Christmas movie. Adam and Melody’s romance progresses like a normal human romance would. It’s not a ‘fall in love and get engaged in a week’ type of things. Melody and Nina have a wonderful supportive friendship. The community comes together to make the right things happen so the girls don’t go into foster care. And the big conflict? It’s whether Adam and Melody should (separately) put their dreams on hold in order to take jobs that they don’t love but will set them up to make their dreams happen in the future. Normal human conflicts.

The acting? I mean, the casting director deserves a raise for this. All three of the leads have been working forever and in substantial roles. Janel Parrish was in Pretty Little Liars, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, and Heroes. Marisol Nichols was in 24, Riverdale, and Cold Case. Jeremy Jordan was in Supergirl, Smash, and on Broadway in Newsies. We rarely see this much talent in one Hallmark movie. And the chemistry between all of them was beautiful. Unlike most cable Christmas movies, these actors looked like they actually enjoyed being in each other’s company.

Holly & Ivy will be the second movie this season that you really should watch. Just make sure you have a box of tissues nearby. You just might need a few of them at the end.