My Christmas Hero | 2023 Christmas Movies

It’s time for this year’s Candace Cameron Bure movie, My Christmas Hero. And it is entirely about the military. Which branch? Eh, that doesn’t really matter, does it?

Nicole (Candace Cameron Bure) is an orthopedic surgeon at the local Veteran’s Health Administration hospital. Captain Mark Jennings (Robin Dunne) meets her when he comes in to check on a knee injury. The two spend the holiday falling in love while researching what happened to Nicole’s grandfather in World War II.

I don’t hate the United States military. However, I don’t particularly understand worshipping the military. Yes, we can thank soldiers for their service and honor the memories of those lost but movies like this go a bit farther than that. For example, Nicole’s grandfather died in 1944. As far as I can tell, this movie takes place in 2023. While I’m not saying “just get over it” or something, it feels a little obsessive to make every Christmas revolve around a man who died almost 80 years ago. They can honor him without worshipping him. Also, I would really like it if movies stopped acting like World War II happened recently and that the soldiers wouldn’t be closer to 100 years old.

As for the rest of the movie, it’s fine. Since it is a Bure movie, there is a healthy sprinkling of God to be expected. It’s schmalzty and borders on eye-rolling but it’s not awful. If you have the stomach for stuff like this, you probably won’t hate it.

Rating: Ignore that transfer order!

Scentsational Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

Lifetime’s Scentsational Christmas sounded stupid when I wrote it on the calendar months ago. Little did I know what I was in for.

Ellie (Nazneen Contractor) develops scents for perfumes. This year she decides to go home for Christmas to help her father with the family’s candle-making business. When she arrives home, she finds that her father has rented the cottage to Logan (Mykee Selkin), a writer who is looking for inspiration. Together, they try to find the secret to the famous Christmas scent of the holiday candle.

Not only was this a staggeringly boring movie, this was also just dumb. The big conflict comes when Ellie submits a “Christmas scent” to her boss for a famous client. Then the famous client finds out that Ellie’s family uses this “Christmas scent” in their holiday candles because Logan wrote about it on social media. While I can understand not wanting to steal a scent from another company, it’s still Ellie’s scent! They could have easily marketed this as some sort of collab between the client and the candle company. Or just use the scent for the perfume anyway. There was no reason to throw a fit over it. Guess what…there are only so many scents out there and it’s not like the client was making candles. They are completely different products.

No, don’t watch this one. The plot is dumb, the main couple has zero chemistry, and there really isn’t anything redeeming here. Throw this one out with grandma’s perfume.

Christmas On Mistletoe Lake | 2022 Christmas Movies

It is now time for our second Corey Sevier Christmas movie of the season. First we had Noel Next Door, where he played a grumpy composer. Now we have Christmas On Mistletoe Lake, where he plays a grumpy boat owner. OK, I’m not really sure what his character does for money in this movie. Let’s just get into it.

Reilly (Genelle Williams) is an interior designer heading to Mistletoe Lake for Christmas. The local bed and breakfast is completely booked so she ends up staying on a boat owned by Ray (Corey Sevier), who she met in the town general store. Over the next few days, Reilly falls in love with the town and with Ray. But will the financial troubles of both ruin what she has fallen in love with?

This movie is so weirdly written. Parts of it are really sweet but there are lines that no one would ever actually say that. In the beginning, Emma (Hattie Kragten), Ray’s teenage daughter, within minutes of meeting Reilly says to her “Why aren’t you celebrating Christmas with your boyfriend or husband or whatever?” Who says that? Definitely not a teenager. And there are a few other places like that throughout the movie. It sucked me right out of any enjoyment I was having.

Another thing I disliked about the movie is the conflict. Ray is selling his boat to Louis (Robin Dunne), who happens to be one of Reilly’s former clients. While Ray wants to keep the boat as is, Louis wants to hire Reilly to change absolutely everything. Instead of telling Ray about it, Reilly keeps the information to herself. Of course, this mean Ray gets pissed off at her. A better conflict would have been if Reilly told Ray the situation and the two of them teamed up against Louis. Reilly and Ray had already kissed at this point so we weren’t waiting for the will-they-won’t-they. Having the main couple team up against the bad guy would have made Christmas on Mistletoe Lake such a cool and different movie. But, no, we got the usual boring trope.

On one hand, I want to recommend Mistletoe Lake. Genelle Williams is an amazing actress. My husband and I loved her in Warehouse 13 back in the late 2000s/early 2010s. However, this is not a great movie. Maybe watch it if you have nothing else to do. But don’t plan an entire night around watching it.

The Enchanted Christmas Cake | 2021 Christmas Movies

My least favorite Christmas movies are the ones where everything could be solved if someone just asked a question. Why are people so averse to talking, especially to family members?

After her grandmother passed, Gwen (Erica Durance) took over her bakery. Unfortunately, the secret ingredient on her grandmother’s recipe for the Enchanted Christmas Cake was torn. As she struggles to figure out the missing piece, a celebrity chef comes to town to film a Christmas special. Gwen is pressured by the show’s producer, Gavin (Robin Dunne), to appear on the show to talk about the cake. Will Gwen be able to perfect her grandmother’s cake or will Christmas be ruined?

There are two big conflicts in The Enchanted Christmas Cake. One is figuring out the missing ingredient but the other is whether Gwen should give out the recipe once it’s completed. Both of these could have been solved if Gwen simply asked her grandfather. She seems to be pretty close to him so I have no idea why she never thought to ask him in the first place. If I was in her position, I would have immediately asked him if he knew what the ingredient was when I saw the rip on the recipe. If he didn’t know, my second question would have been if anyone else had the recipe. Of course, then the movie would have been over before it ever began.

Looking past the stupidity of the plot, the rest of the movie wasn’t too bad. Both Durance and Dunne are decent actors. Though I think the shining star here is Kyana Teresa as Gwen’s friend, Becky. She is a delight in every scene she is in.

The Enchanted Christmas Cake is worth watching if you can look over the gaping plot hole. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a ton of bakery-themed Christmas movies this year. So, if bakery movies are your thing, this may be your best bet for 2021.

Christmas Movie Magic | 2021 Christmas Movies

The most annoying thing about these Christmas movies isn’t that they are terrible. It’s that most of them are so middle-of-the-road boring that I don’t know what to say about them. I can rip apart the bad movies or rave about the good ones. What do I say about all the ones in between? “Yep, that was a movie.”

Allie (Holly Deveaux) is an entertainment writer longing to win a Pulitzer Prize writing hit news stories. In order to get moved to the news department, her editor sends her to a small town to cover the anniversary of a classic Christmas movie. Once there, she meets Brad (Drew Seeley), a local who runs the movie theater. Together, they try to uncover the mysterious love story behind the song written for the movie.

Christmas Movie Magic is another movie that had a great plot that was squandered by lackluster acting and directing. Deveaux and Seeley have zero chemistry together. It was almost painful to see the two of them on the screen. I’m not sure why they were cast together. It’s almost like the casting agents didn’t even audition them together.

As for the directing, there are these weird close up shots that make no sense. Well, no. I understand that they are attempting to mirror the style of an old 1950s movie. They are just doing a terrible job at it. These close ups occur in places where they aren’t needed. It makes the scene very jarring.

However, the elephant in the room is the big Christmas song at the end. It is performed by Seeley and Deveaux but Deveaux doesn’t have the chops to sing with Seeley. He has performed on Broadway and sang for a variety of Disney projects. (He was the singing voice for Troy Bolton in the first High School Musical movie.) What should be a lovely duet between two people who love each other becomes a cringe-worthy tune when her voice comes in. Again, I think the casting agent made a big mistake.

Should you watch this? I mean, if you want to. Christmas Movie Magic isn’t terrible. It’s also not worth all of your attention. So maybe watch it while you play games on your phone or something. That way you can pop in and out of the interesting parts. There aren’t many of them anyway.