Hallmark Movie Roundup: Winter in Vail

Title: Winter in Vail (2020)

Actor(s) You Know:
Lacey Chabert, Queen of the Hallmark Movies (also known from Party of Five and, if you're me, Les Mis--I saw her as Young Cosette on Broadway in 1994), and Tyler Hynes, also from a million Hallmark movies

Plot:
Chelsea quits her job as an LA event planner after inheriting a chalet in Vail from her uncle. She arrives in Vail to find that the chalet is mid-reno, and also that a number of businesses in town--including a local German restaurant--are failing. (Apparently this universe's Vail isn't full of rich people.) Owen, the contractor/son of the German restaurant's owner, helps Chelsea Realize What's Important in Life. Also, they throw StrudelFest to save the town. (Because the German restaurant is failing because of the lack of Chelsea's uncle's famous strudel.)

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: 
Chelsea arrives in Vail and parks illegally. Owen points it out in a less-than-friendly way...though it does prevent Chelsea from getting towed. Then he shows up to help fix up her uncle's house.

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?
They're both perfectly fine. There's not much in the way of conflict--Chelsea and Owen put aside their differences basically immediately--and all the characters are reasonably likeable. I'm mostly annoyed by them being like, "We can throw a Strudelfest to get into local guidebooks that come out next month!" That's definitely how that works, yes. Also, Owen is possibly too supportive.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
Nope, not really. 

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
Chelsea's coworker/BFF seems pretty cool but doesn't get enough of a personality to make me think she needs her own movie. Also, she's suckered by their boss to go to Vail and try to get Chelsea to come back.

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
n/a. No romantic alternatives for anyone.

Thoughts/Other Notes:
I put this movie on while on a business trip to have on while I was doing some work. This was pretty perfect background noise. In retrospect, I am unsure how this movie even filled up 2 hours, as again, there was basically zero conflict until the very end (Will Chelsea go back to her event-planning life in LA? and you can guess how that worked itself out).

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀🧀

Hallmark Movie Roundup: The Way to You

Title: The Way to You (2026)

Actor(s) You Know: 
Leads Kim Matula and Aaron O'Connell have both been in a bunch of Hallmark movies, but nobody really recognizable outside the Hallmark Cinematic Universe.

Plot: 
New Yorkers Emma and Conrad each have meet-cutes on the New York subway during a blackout. Conrad places an ad to try to find the woman he was talking to, but Emma is the one who answers the ad. She realizes she can probably help him find his missing lady, and he agrees to help her try to find a date amongst his coworkers. (They work in finance, so the script makes Conrad extra nice to make up for it.)

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: 
The cutest meet is Conrad and the woman he meets on the subway--she drops her copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, he returns it to her, and they chat on the subway.

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?
Both Conrad and Emma are pretty likable. Conrad is perhaps a bit too perfect (unless you count being an early bird a flaw); Emma is a bit more balanced, but still likable.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
I thought they did the new-friends-who-grow-to-like-each-other plot quite well; the progression worked. Good side characters. That said, Emma works in an art gallery. However, working in finance didn't make Conrad evil, so there's that. (His parents got caught in a Ponzi scheme, so he's a Good Finance Guy.) (Note that my father also worked in finance, so I don't default to finance guys = evil, but I get the stereotype.) But no bad finance bros. Even the guy Emma winds up dating a bit isn't bad; they just don't click as a couple.

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
Emma's sister and brother-in-law are adorable and I love them. Would 100% watch their movie. Probably also one about Conrad's boss Lance and his wife.

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
Emma goes on a date with one of Conrad's coworkers and there's no spark; after Conrad finds his Mysterious Subway Lady, she gives dating the coworker another guy. He's totally fine! (Except something of a lack of sense of humor.) But it's nicely realistic! Sometimes people are OK but you just don't have that spark.

Thoughts/Other Notes:
This was cute! I liked that there were some good book discussions in there and I liked Conrad getting interested in art. Good chemistry, good side characters. Recommend.

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀🧀

Hallmark Movie Roundup: The Weekend of Hallmark Movies

A friend and I got an Airbnb for the weekend and pretty much spent the entire time just watching Hallmark movies (and snacking). It was glorious and I highly recommend it to everyone. I don't have the energy to do full posts about each movies, but obviously I must share some thoughts.

For Love & Honey (2024): Andrew Walker is an archaeology professor in Malta, looking for something mentioned in an old manuscript. The treasure is bees, which he discovers with the help of a local beekeeper who runs a successful apiary. Whatever money the Malta tourism board paid for this movie was well worth it; Malta looked gorgeous. And Andrew Walker looks hot in sunglasses, so it's a win-win.
Dead Mother: Yes 

The Magic of Lemon Drops (2024): Lolly works at a restaurant with her father, who won't let her alter the menu in literally any way. Her aunt, who is #LifeGoals, gives Lolly four magic lemon drops--she can use three to see what her life could be and the fourth to choose to stay in one of those lives. The moral of this story is that if you manage to save one of your parents by a wish, the other will be dead in the alternate timeline. I appreciate that she rejected one timeline because it meant stifling her love interest's goals. That said, the logistics of the movie were confusing (the love interest worked for the Columbus Blue Jackets but was moving to a "cottage" in upstate Michigan). 
Dead Mother: Yes

The Snow Must Go On (2025): Isaiah had starred in an original Broadway production unspecified years ago, but he's now down on his luck, so agrees to spend Christmas with his sister and niece upstate...and then agrees to write and direct his niece's Christmas pageant in hopes of catching the eye of a Broadway producer. I kept going back and forth on whether I thought Isaiah was the worst and they dropped a subplot with a kid that I thought was going somewhere, but they did hire an actual Broadway actor and allowed him to sing.
Dead Mother: It probably mentioned the siblings' parents, but I don't remember the details. I'll just assume dead. Or retired in Florida. But probably dead.

Beverly Lewis' The Reckoning (2015): It turned out this was the third movie in a trilogy, but we just powered through. Katie/Katherine was raised Amish, fell in love with Daniel, was supposed to marry a bishop but didn't after she thought Daniel died, found her (non-Amish) birth mother, inherited her mother's many money and huge house, got shunned from the Amish, and is now running a charitable foundation with boyfriend Justin...when Daniel returns from the dead. This movie was nuts and Katie just needed a lot of therapy and to choose herself, but naturally that isn't what happened, even though Daniel came off as a creepy, incel stalker. Also, her household staff were probably a bit too overly involved in her life.
Dead Mother: Yes

Cozy Hallmark-watching vibes.

The Professional Bridesmaid (2023): Maggie is a professional bridesmaid (do we ever learn how she became one? No. Did it bother me the whole time? Yes. At least in Stacy Birchall's The Secret Bridesmaid, you get the full backstory) who gets hired to be a bridesmaid for the daughter of the mayor of Columbus, so she has to juggle fairly normal professional bridesmaid stuff with trying to keep a reporter covering the wedding from questioning the mayor about his views on a proposed condo development. Honestly pretty cute and enjoyable except for my annoyance at not having her backstory and the usual annoyance at writers not really thinking about what scaling her business would actually look like.
Dead Mother: Yes

Blind Date Book Club (2024): Meg runs a bookstore on Nantucket that's become known for doing a book club that uses that "wrapped in brown paper so you don't know the title, just a pithy description" method. Again, we have no idea what the logistics of this are--it honestly makes no sense how it's presented in the movie--and they also somehow seem to have multiple book clubs a week, and those book clubs involved free food and alcohol and activities like flower arranging or painting. Anyway, she's featured on NPR and YA bestselling author Graham Sterling decides to try to get the club to read his new book, which is a historical romance. I quite liked the discussion of what makes a book successful, and Meg was able to point to Graham why his books worked even though she herself wasn't particularly a fan. Also, Meg is debating whether she actually wants to run the bookstore; she was good at selling real estate in Boston, and she enjoyed it. I mean, obviously she's going to keep the bookstore on Nantucket, but the movie made her questioning believable. My other quibble is how much they were outside in a Nantucket winter.
Dead Mother: Yes

The Wedding Cottage (2023): Vanessa runs a wedding...guide...website...thing? and has published a wedding guidebook. To promote her site/service/thing, her company has a contest for a free wedding; the winners want to have their wedding a cottage in Vermont that has hosted weddings for generations. Only problem is that it closed 5 years ago, and the current owner, Evan, a Fancy New York Artist Who's Hiding, has let it go to pot and has no interest in reopening. But naturally he does. The Vermont location was cute, the third-act conflict was annoying, and the vagueness of what Vanessa's business actually is was beyond frustrating. Too twee, all around.
Dead Mother: Unclear, but since Evan inherited the cottage from his grandparents, I can only assume his parents are dead

3 Bed, 2 Bath, 1 Ghost (2023): Anna and Elliot broke up and dissolved their business, so now Anna is trying to be a real estate agent in her dad's agency while Elliot works to get a local building designated as being historic. Anna's first listing is a 100-year-old house that's been uninhabited since the 1950s and is haunted by the owners' daughter, Ruby, who died in 1923. The relationship between Ruby and Anna was honestly fun, but Anna was frustrating to watch. It's clear she shouldn't be a real estate agent, but it isn't clear what she should be, and I get that's how life is for a lot of people, but I don't really feel the movie handled her journey well. Elliot was great, though.
Dead Mother:Again, I can only assume. Anna's mother isn't around and wasn't mentioned that I remember.

The Wish Swap (2025): Casey and Henry have the same birthday; at a restaurant, they wind up blowing out their birthday candles into each other's faces and then the other's birthday wish comes true...for them. So Casey, an executive recruiter, winds up inheriting a farm (with goats!), while Henry gets cast on a television dancing competition. Kudos for executing the set-up; they quickly realize what's happened and Casey having Henry run the inherited farm and Henry agrees to partner with Casey. The dancing contest premise doesn't really make sense, nor does the timeline, nor do some of the details of Casey's job (and the distances between places and also where is the dancing show filed?), but it was cute. I may have been swayed by the choreographed dances.
Dead Mother: Yes

Hallmark Movie Roundup: Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas

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:
🧀🧀🧀🧀

Hallmark Movie Roundup: Three Wisest Men

Title: Three Wisest Men (2025)

Actor(s) You Know: 
My Boyfriend Paul Campbell, Tyler Hynes, Andrew Walker (all three from a million Hallmark movies), Lochlyn Munro (Lucky 7), Margaret Colin (Independence Day)

Plot:  
This is the last entry in the Hallmark Wise Men trilogy about the Brenner brothers: Stephan (Campbell), Taylor (Hynes), and Luke (Walker). Stephan is overthinking wedding decisions for his upcoming nuptials, Luke's wife is pregnant with twins, and Taylor has been offered a job in San Francisco. Plus, their mother wants to sell the family home.

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: 
n/a

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?
I wasn't too bothered by any of the brothers, particularly. I did get annoyed at their various love interests for not understanding pretty basic stuff. When Stephan's father-in-law-to-be Bob shows up uninvited,  fiancée Susie takes her dad's side on everything; she's clearly annoyed at how wedding planning is going, which shouldn't be a surprise for her--Stephan's indecisiveness is one of his key character traits. Bob is awful and Susie should apologize to Stephan.

(Also, side note, Bob is played by Lochlyn Munro, who played one of Patrick Dempsey's friends in Lucky 7, which is an AMAZING MOVIE. Anyway, he is only thirteen years older than My Boyfriend Paul Campbell, and I kept being upset by this throughout the movie.)

Meanwhile, Taylor's girlfriend doesn't understand why he doesn't immediately leap at a job offer he's given; she's convinced that he might be hesitant about their relationship when it's clear that the issue involves moving from Seattle to San Francisco. This is a man who lives in his mother's (very nice) basement. 

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
This is very much not a generic movie--it focuses on family, and it's the third in a trilogy (and yes, we did have issues only vaguely remembering details from the first two movies). Christmas is very much a theme, with trying to make this the Best Christmas Ever Before Everything Changes, but there's a signature zaniness to the series that's absent in the generic Hallmark Christmas movie.

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
n/a

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
n/a

Thoughts/Other Notes:
A cute end to the trilogy. Campbell, Walker, and Hynes are the key to the series and they really are a delight; they do give off brother energy. If you like any of the leads, you'll probably like the movie. 

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀

Holiday Rom Com Roundup: Lovelight Farms

Title: Lovelight Farms (2021)
**This is actually a book, but it read just SO much like a Hallmark movie, I had to review it this way.

Actor(s) You Know:
n/a

Plot:
Stella owns a Christmas tree farm and has entered an influencer's contest to be featured on her channels...and win $100,000. The only problem is that she said on the entry form that she owns the farm with her boyfriend. Who doesn't exist. Naturally she had to ask her best friend Luka, whom she's in love with, to be her fake boyfriend. 

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: 
Ten years ago, Stella had recently lost her (single) mother. Leaving the hardware store in her little town on Maryland's Eastern Shore, she literally runs into Luka, who promptly invites her for grilled cheese. They've been best friends ever since, even though he lives in New York City. (His Italian mother is a teacher in the small town, so he has an excuse to be around a lot.)

Rundown:
    Dead parents ✔
    Montage(s)
    Christmas-related name(s) 
    Animals ✔ (A very cute litter of kittens is found and adopted by one of the other employees)
    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 ✔ (The entire town)
    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?
I found Stella incredibly frustrating. Her (married-to-another-woman) father left her mother before she was born, and Stella's mother was a nomad who then died when Stella was in her early 20s, so she has an understandable fear of abandonment. And I totally get her being afraid to admit her feelings to Luka. But she's one of those Rory Gilmore-esque characters where the entire small town is overly invested in her life, and isn't aware of it.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
Umm. I mean, at least Stella realized she was in love with Luka the whole time, even if actually doing anything about that was terrifying.

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
This is the first in a series; there are books about the two other Lovelight Farms co-owners (which I'm kind of tempted by? At least the one about Beckett, the tree expert).

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
n/a

Thoughts/Other Notes:
I enjoyed the book less the more I read it. I think the ultimate problem is that the fake relationship was done for this social media contest, and the influencer didn't show up until about 75% into the book...and then was barely there. There was a LOT of time where it's like, "Let's just fake date...in private, too" and where it's just incredibly obvious how Luka feels. Solid premise that needed tightening up.

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀

Hallmark Movie Roundup: Christmas at the Catnip Café

Title: Christmas at the Catnip Café (2025)

Actor(s) You Know:
My Boyfriend Paul Campbell (many Hallmark movies, Battlestar Galactica)

Plot:
Olivia, who works in marketing in California, inherits half-ownership of a cat café in New York State. The other half is owned by Ben, the local vet. Olivia wants to sell the café so she can have a down payment for a condo. In Oakland.

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: 
Olivia first notices Ben in his vet clinic as she walks down the street; then he pops up at the cat café, where she's arranged to meet the other owner. Ben immediately susses out that Olivia wants to get rid of the café; Olivia is bewildered that he doesn't want to get rid of what seems like a bustling business. And then is again bewildered when the café employee overhears their discussion and takes away the coffee she had ordered.

Rundown:
    Dead parents
    Montage(s)
    Christmas-related name(s) 
    Animals ✔
    Returns to hometown ✔ (Kind of; Olivia isn't from the town, but her aunt lived there and she spent time         there growing up)
    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?
Olivia is THE WORST. She comes into town, looking to force Ben to sell the cat café, and doesn't seem to understand why he and the café employees aren't happy about this. She's all, "There's a developer who wants to buy this, isn't it great?!" She seemingly wasn't in touch with her aunt at all because everything about the café seems to be a surprise to her. She just...doesn't seem bright. Paul Campbell is too nice to her. You can do better, Paul Campbell.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
There were many many adorable cats. 

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
Olivia's friend seemed fine. Ben's sister also seemed cool. I don't know that I need to spend more time with either.

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
There is no romantic alternative, sadly. Otherwise I'd be rooting for her to get together with him.

Thoughts/Other Notes:
In addition to Olivia being the worst, the timeline in the movie makes no sense. Olivia is trying to buy a condo and wants the money from the café sale for a down payment, but we're supposed to believe that the condo is still available after the 3+ weeks she's in New York. At one point, we see an event is "December 21," but multiple days seem to pass and it's still not Christmas. I just don't know. This movie was frustrating. But I still love you, Paul Campbell.

Rating:
🧀🧀(mostly for the cats and Paul Campbell, who is very likable in this)

Hallmark Movie Roundup: A Keller Christmas Vacation

Title: A Keller Christmas Vacation (2025)

Actor(s) You Know: 
Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls, many things on Food Network and Hallmark), Brandon Routh (Superman, The Nine Lives of Christmas), Eden Sher (The Middle)

Plot: 
The Keller family--sons Dylan and Cal, daughter Emory, and parents Ben and Anne--go on a river cruise through Germany in Austria for Christmas. But many of the family members have secrets they're hiding...

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:  
This movie largely is about familial relationships, not romantic. Dylan is in a relationship, but runs into a speedbump when his boyfriend William doesn't accept his proposal. Cal is dealing with the aftermath of a divorce; Emory is just single. Cal winds up clicking with a fellow traveler, while Emory starts crushing on one of the cruise crew members.

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 ✔ (multiple, from multiple couplings)
    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?
I liked pretty much everyone! I got frustrated with them at times, but they all came across as very likable. Though Cal would drive me crazy with his constant talk of protein.

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
This is very much not a typical Hallmark movie. The focus is on family, the conflicts aren't contrived. There were some things that were frustrating, as I noted--William was clearing holding something back from Dylan, the parents were acting oddly--but it all ultimately made sense. The new romances were as contrived as one would expect, and I can't imagine that Emory and Noah (the cruise crew member) will last...really, ditto Cal and his love interest. Neither of those relationships were given much depth. 

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
We got glimpses of BFFs/colleagues/sidekicks for each of the kids, but didn't get to spend enough time with them to get attached.

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
n/a

Thoughts/Other Notes:
Really quite good. Cal's and Emory's romances were as Hallmark-y as one would expect, but the writing and acting were solid. Also, this was clearly shot on location in Germany and Austria, so it was all gorgeous. Recommend.

Rating:
🧀🧀🧀🧀

Hallmark Movie Roundup: Following Yonder Star

Title: Following Yonder Star (2024)

Actor(s) You Know: 
Brooke D'Orsay, who has done a bunch of Hallmark movies, but whom I always think of from starring in Drop Dead Diva, the plot of which was that a model (D'Orsay) dies and is reincarnated into a plus-size lawyer

Plot: 
Abby was the star of a long-running tv show where she played a perfect mother/wife. After finding out her ex-husband is getting remarried, she has a minor meltdown in a store, which naturally goes viral. She heads off to Vermont to ride out the bad press, where she meets Nick, a widower who runs an inn, and helps him direct the Christmas pageant.

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: 
Abby wants to stay in the luxury spa, but accidentally booked for next year. The hotel clerk directs her to the small inn run by Nick, where there's a single room left.

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
    Someone pushing the leads together ✔
    Real family = chaos / bad families = cold and not chaotic
    Learns the meaning of Christmas
    Stranded by snowstorm
    Hot chocolate ✔ (though it's hot cider)
    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?
I actually did like Abby a lot. That initial meltdown truly wasn't that bad and she clearly is just minorly annoyed by it, not bemoaning that her life is over. She's aware this is something that's going to blow over quickly. I liked that Nick recognized her and clearly was like, "A celebrity!" in a way that seemed realistic. 

Is it in any way not completely generic? 
I mean, it had the Christmas pageant and a small town, but it was must less festival-focused than expected. I found it relatively original, and the conflict was pretty organic.

Is the BFF actually the best? Do they need their own movie?
There isn't really a BFF! There's a hotel clerk who works at both the spa and Nick's inn who pops up a couple times and Nick's sister-in-law, but not really any other side characters.

How is the romantic alternative wrong for the heroine? 
N/A. There's no romantic rival. (There does seem to be a woman who's interested in Nick, but Nick is clearly not interested.)

Thoughts/Other Notes:
I like how Abby uses some of the skills she picked up as an actress, both in working with children and also random skills she had to pick up for episodes. Nick's crush on Abby is adorable. And there were more musical theater references than I expected. Note: This is more explicitly Christian than most Hallmark Christmas movies. Many mentions of faith and how it's a part of the characters' lives.

Rating
🧀🧀🧀 (three cheese out of five, would re-watch)