Title: Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas (2025)
Actor(s) You Know:
Mae Whitman (Parenthood, Arrested Development, Independence Day), Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; The Scarlet Pimpernel)
Plot:
Kate is an American who lives in a cute English village and was traumatized by her mother leaving her father when she was a teenager. She works in textiles in London and is single enough that her friends sign her up for a "12 Dates of Christmas" service. Based on a Jenny Bayliss book that I read a few years ago, enjoyed, and remembered little of except who Kate winds up with.
Trope(s):
Royalty
Alternate reality
Small town ✔
Fake relationship
Family business getting sold/going bankrupt
Enemies-to-lovers
Best friends-to-lovers ✔
Second chance ✔
Stranded ✔
Meet Cute:
Kate has a few in the series, but the primary one is with Richard, who was supposed to be Date #1 but couldn't make it. The other primary love interest is Callum, one of Kate's best friends. They kissed once as teenagers, but nothing came of it.
Rundown:
Dead parents
Montage(s)
Christmas-related name(s)
Animals
Returns to hometown
Is Santa a character?
Secretly or overtly?
Cookie baking
Tree decorating
Somebody hates Christmas
Christmas festival in a small town
A literal competition
Child plays matchmaker
All work, no romance/life
Kiss before the end of the movie ✔
Interrupted kiss ✔
Flashback to childhood ✔
The leads literally run into each other
Gratuitous shirtless scene
Big Secret
Wacky misunderstanding
Just. Talk. To. Each. Other. ✔
Someone pushing the leads together ✔
Real family = chaos / bad families = cold and not chaotic
Learns the meaning of Christmas
Stranded by snowstorm
Hot chocolate
Ice skating
D-list celebrity ✔
Enemy-to-friend storyline
The love interest is an ex
Career change
Lying to each other
Tries to apologize, but keeps getting cut off
Christmas pageant
End with a flash-forward
Did I actually like/root for the heroine? How do the lead(s) annoy me?
Kate was frustratingly believable. She has a hard time trusting people after her mother left her father. At times I got annoyed with her for her self-involvement but I generally understood where she was coming from. She ultimately was a lot more understanding toward her mother than I probably would've been in her situation.
Is it in any way not completely generic?
Well, it is a (limited) series, so there was a lot more depth than what we get in a normal movie. Kate's father's relationship with Jane Seymour was also given a lot of space, and there was also a decent amount about Kate's career that I don't remember being in the book at all. Callum also has a bit of an arc with his pub/restaurant/bakery, as does other best friend Laura.
It still ends up exactly as you'd expect, though.
Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
I loved how supportive Laura's husband was; their relationship was super cute. I actually totally would watch a movie/show about Laura after the end of this show.
How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine?
I really liked that I found Richard to be a solid option for Kate for the vast majority of the series; I was actually a bit annoyed at his portrayal in the last episode because it didn't match up for me with his actions in the rest of the series. And I wish the Kate/Callum relationship was handled differently. I'm always a sucker for best-friend-turned-lover, and God knows I have my own issues with thinking people should be able to read my mind and act accordingly, but Callum's attitude and behavior was pretty off-putting. I was honestly rooting for Richard for most of the series, and wish the last episode had been rewritten to strengthen the reconciliation of Kate and Callum.
Thoughts/Other Notes:
I quite enjoyed this. I liked the book, and I liked the series. Opinion on Hallmark Movie Reddit seems mixed, largely because it doesn't entirely feel like a Hallmark production. It was a good binge watch for the end of the year for me.
I do also kind of wish they had spent more time in Blexford. In the book, Kate only goes to London occasionally, where the series is very much split between the two (to the point that I joked to my husband that the series was produced by British Transport, given the amount of time spent on trains). And I also appreciated, as in the book, the variety of dates the service sets up.
Rating:
🧀🧀🧀🧀
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