Christmas In The Spotlight | 2024 Christmas Movies

A bit of a surprise this year - we have two Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce-themed Christmas movies. Lifetime is first out of the gate with Christmas In The Spotlight. Let’s see how they did.

Bowyn Sykes (Jessica Lord) is a world-famous pop star. Drew “Gonzo” Gonville (Laith Wallschleger) is a professional football player with the Bombers. After Drew sneaks his niece backstage after a Bowyn concert to meet the singer, he posts on Instagram asking Bowyn out. With some prodding from her manager, Bowyn agrees to a low-key secret date. They try to keep their relationship secret but, eventually, people start to find out. Will their relationship last being in the public eye?

Yet another surprise - I thought this movie was actually decent. Sure, the crowds of people were obviously fake (I wish they spent more money on computer graphics) but the acting was pretty good, the script wasn’t cringey, and everything felt rather plausible. Was it a “true life story” of the Swift/Kelce relationship? No. It was never meant to be. But it did keep my attention and kept me entertained the whole time. What more could I ask for?

Rating: Touchdown!

The Merry Gentlemen | 2024 Christmas Movies

Netflix is very thirsty this year. First we had Hot Frosty with the muscular snowman coming to life. Now we have The Merry Gentlemen, a movie featuring shirtless male dancers. I’m afraid for the rest of this season.

Ashley (Britt Robertson) just got let go from her job as a dancer with the Jingle Belles. When she comes home to Sycamore Creek, she finds that the club her parents, Lily (Beth Broderick) and Stan (Michael Gross), own is very past due on the rent. If they don’t come up with $30,000 by Christmas, they will lose the space. To raise the money, Ashley decides to put on an all-male revue starring handyman Luke (Chad Michael Murray), bartender Troy (Colt Prattes), taxi driver Ricky (Hector David Jr.), and her brother-in-law Rodger (Marc Anthony Samuel).

As a dancer, this movie annoyed me. The Jingle Belles are supposed to be the Rockettes, complete with kickline. However, it’s painfully obvious that Robertson has zero dance experience and the director does absolutely nothing to try to hide it. Instead, she is put dead center of every dance, making the whole thing look amateurish.

This bleeds over into The Merry Gentlemen. Thankfully, Prattes has dance experience (he’s currently on Broadway in Aladdin) and David has martial arts experience (he was a Power Ranger). Those two are the saviors of the male revue. The other two move like it physically hurts them. I guess it’s a good thing they all work out so they have nice abs?

Sadly, even if you try to ignore the bad dancing, which is difficult since it’s the entire plot, the rest of the movie isn’t much better. The romance feels unearned. Ashley likes Luke because he is pretty and Luke likes Ashley because she taught him choreography? I really wish Netflix went in a different way with this. Hire some more actual dancers. I know this may sound stunning but there are dancers who can act. This would have been so much better if Ashley was a really good dancer and was able to take the “country bumpkins” and turn them into good dancers. But you have to cast people that can dance for that to happen. I am very disappointed.

Rating: The Rockettes would never

Three Wiser Men And A Boy | 2024 Christmas Movies

In 2022, Hallmark gave us Three Wise Men And A Baby. It was such a hit that they released a sequel this year - Three Wiser Men And A Boy. Can lightning strike twice?

The brothers - Luke (Andrew W Walker), Stephan (Paul Campbell), and Taylor (Tyler Hynes) - are back to spend Christmas at their mother, Barbara’s (Margaret Colin), house with her new boyfriend, Roy (Christopher Shyer), and former-baby-now-kindergartener Thomas (Miles Marthaller). When the director of Thomas’ school Christmas play steps down after some brotherly shenanigans, the three are forced to direct the play themselves. Each of them will have to overcome their own personal issues before they can bring success to their favorite boy.

Surprisingly, this is a sequel that works very well. While most of the issues the brothers had before were “how do we take care of a baby” type of problems, this time their issues are more personal. Taylor’s video game company isn’t doing well financially, Stephan has a girlfriend that wants him to propose but he is having anxiety around everything, and Luke is having trouble handling being older with more responsibility. It was nice to see the boys grow as people. A lot of movies don’t let their characters actually mature. That isn’t to say the boys are “mature.” They still spend plenty of time playing games and being goofballs. But they do acknowledge that their lives have changed and they need to accept the change. I kinda want another movie in the series but I’m not sure where they would go from here.

Rating: I’m ready for Three Wisest Men!

A Little Women's Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Great American Family has given fans of Louisa May Alcott a present - A Little Women’s Christmas. A modern retelling of the Little Women story with a few changes.

Jo March (Jillian Murray) is a children’s book author who is trying to move into the young adult genre. When her book idea is rejected, her publisher tasks her with finding a new story while she goes to visit her family at home for Christmas. Little does Jo know that her publisher has sent Fritz (Trevor Donovan) to keep an eye on her. Meanwhile, Jo and her sisters - Meg (Jen Lilley), Beth (Laura Osnes), and Amy (Julie Reilly) - try to figure out how to have the best Christmas without their parents or Meg’s husband, John (Jesse Hutch).

I am sad to admit that I am not a Little Women fan. I don’t think I’ve ever even read the book. So there were probably a lot of references and things that simply went over my head. However, that doesn’t mean it is a bad movie. Thankfully, the women playing the March sisters are all very competent actresses. At no point was I taken out of the story by bad acting. Instead, I think this movie just wasn’t for me. There wasn’t a lot of depth to the plot and it verged on being a little too religious. I’m chalking both of those up to being unfamiliar with the source material. I think that, if you are a fan of the book, you will most likely be a fan of A Little Women’s Christmas.

Rating: A little too sweet for me

Christmas On Call | 2024 Christmas Movies

When I saw the title for Christmas On Call, I thought I immediately knew what the movie would be about. I wasn’t completely wrong but I wasn’t completely right either.

Hannah (Sara Canning) is an emergency room doctor that recently moved to Philadelphia. While on-shift, she meets EMT Wes (Ser’Darius Blain) who invites to show her the town. As their romance blossoms, other first responders also try to balance their family and professional lives.

Living close to Philadelphia myself, I laughed at how often they said “Go Birds!” to each other. Oh, and the Donna Kelce cameo with the cheesesteaks? I’m not sure who wrote this but they sure did try to put all of the Philly stereotypes in there. Other people may not like it but it made me giggle.

As for the movie itself, it was fine. I liked that Hannah and Wes weren’t the only couple getting their romance on. However, it would have been nice to get a little more relationship out of police officers Danielle (Reena Jolly) and Sanjay (Erik Athavale). I know they had a relationship before the movie started but we didn’t get to see a lot of progression between them. To be honest, it felt like the writers were trying to shove as many relationships in as possible but, without making the movie longer, they just aren’t satisfying couples. They were shoved together because they happened to be in the same vicinity and had similar jobs. Sometimes more isn’t merrier.

Rating: There’s a reason medical dramas are successful tv series

A Novel Noel | 2024 Christmas Movies

You know, I still hate when the movies on Hallmark Mystery don’t have a mystery in them. A Novel Noel is another non-mystery on the Mystery channel. Why must they do this?

Harper (Julie Gonzalo) is a book editor that has lost her love for her job. When she gets an offer from Sawyer (Brendan Penny) to work at his bookstore in Maine for the month of December, she jumps at the offer. Hopefully, this will help her find her passion again.

I wanted to like A Novel Noel so much. There was so much they could have done to make this an interesting movie. They could have gone deeper into the cute Christmas events the town was running. Or they could have gone deeper into the secret-editor-helping-writers plot. She basically ignored all of the other writers, including the one that inspired her to start the writing group, to solely focus on Sawyer. Blech. Like every other Hallmark Mystery movie, it’s fine. I just wish there was more.

Rating: WHAT DID BETH WRITE?!

Holiday In Happy Hollow | 2024 Christmas Movies

Lifetime doesn’t seem to have a ton of Christmas movies on their slate this year. Holiday In Happy Hollow is just the second new movie they have released. My schedule is super full so I don’t really want them to have more movies but this seems…lackluster.

Gracie (Tamara Almeida) is a real estate developer working to build a new hotel in Happy Hollow. Unfortunately, she has just discovered five very small privately owned plots in the location they are planning to build. In order to start work on the hotel, she needs to find who owns these plots and get them to release ownership. With the help of town historian Jack Carrington (Cody Ray Thompson), Gracie researches the town’s Christmas traditions in the hopes that they will lead her to the landowners.

Happy Hollow was a fairly cute movie. It was interesting seeing some of the town traditions. However, neither Gracie nor Jack were particularly interesting characters. They seemed to just float some scene to scene with no real motivation. Sure, they said they are looking for the landowners but it didn’t seem like they really wanted to find them. In addition, the romance aspect felt very tacked on. This wasn’t a hate to love thing. It was barely a like to love. I don’t know…the movie just needed…more.

Rating: Whatever marketing person said the hotel should be named Happi should be fired.

Dear Santa | 2024 Christmas Movies

This year Paramount+ gives us a Christmas movie starring Jack Black, Dear Santa. The trailers make it seem like it would be a fairly typical Jack Black movie. That doesn’t always mean it will be good.

Liam Turner (Robert Timothy Smith) is a dyslexic sixth-grader whose parents are constantly arguing. When he writes a letter to Santa with his Christmas wishes, he accidentally addresses it to Satan. That night, Satan (Black) shows up to grant Liam three wishes. But Satan’s idea of a good wish is very different from Liam’s.

For the most part, this wasn’t a terrible movie. It is, indeed, a rather typical Jack Black movie. He jumps around, acting crazy, while the main characters try to get him to calm down and listen. The twist with his character at the end was interesting but what he did at the end was annoyingly short-sighted. I don’t want to spoil it but that “wish” kinda screws up the whole happy ending. I’m thinking maybe they wanted to try to spin this off into a sequel? Though I’m not sure how that would work either.

Like a lot of Jack Black movies, Dear Santa is a watchable mess. You will probably enjoy it, even if you aren’t sure why you enjoy it. At least the Post Malone cameo was fun?

Rating: Be careful what you wish for

Confessions Of A Christmas Letter | 2024 Christmas Movies

Confessions Of A Christmas Letter is a bit of a departure from the usual Hallmark Christmas romance offerings. This one doesn’t actually focus on the romance! Instead, it hides in the background.

Settie (Angela Kinsey), the matriarch of the Rose family, loses the Best Christmas Letter contest every year. This year she has decided to hire Juan (Alec Santos), a Puerto Rican novelist, to write the letter for her. In order to make that happen, he’ll have to move in with the family so he can get to know them. At the same time, Settie’s daughter, Lily (Lillian Doucet-Roche), has come home from Italy for Christmas. Evil neighbor Sue (Colleen Wheeler), who happens to win the letter contest every year, assumes that Juan and Lily are engaged, meaning they now have to pretend to be engaged at every event in town.

I’ll admit that this is a weird premise for a movie. You would think that family Christmas newsletters would be a thing of the past. But the people who are into Christmas newsletters are INTO Christmas newsletters. The only part of this that seems really odd is the fact that they turned this into a contest. It’s begging for people to lie about what they (or their family) has done over the past year. The goal of the Christmas letter is simply to update people you don’t speak with frequently. Sending these letters to your friends and neighbors that we see you hanging out with is weird. It probably would have been better if this was a short story contest instead of a letter contest.

While a lot of people will complain that the acting in Confessions is over the top, it’s supposed to be over the top. The plot verges on ridiculous and it’s only the acting that keeps it from being Too Much. Crazy plot plus cheesy acting is a bit of a win in my book.

I do like that the romance isn’t front and center here. Since the plot revolves around Settie and the family dynamic, that is where the focus belongs. I would have loved to have seen a little more of the family and a little less of Settie vs Sue. Mostly because I think the central conflict of the movie is Settie going overboard to try to win the contest, not Sue being the Grinch of town. If they wanted to make Settie vs Sue the main conflict, they should have shown more of that. What is Sue’s motivation to be so mean to everyone? She already wins the contest every year. There isn’t a reason for her to try to tear the family apart. We shouldn’t have characters be mean just to be mean. There should be something more behind them.

So, should you watch Confessions? Sure. You may not love it but there are definitely worse movies out there this year.

Rating: “Once upon a time” is a terrible way to begin a letter

A Cozy Christmas Quilt | 2024 Christmas Movies

This picture for A Cozy Christmas Quilt is hysterical. Ferelith Young’s arm disappears in the space between her face and Harmon Walsh’s. And I’m not sure what she’s supposed to be holding in her hands, which are at weird angles. It makes no sense. Almost like the movie itself.

Liam (Walsh) is a firefighter whose sister got engaged and wants to get married before the couple moves to Rome. Their family tradition is to get married at Christmastime so they only have a few weeks to get everything together. On top of that, it’s also tradition that the mother of the bride gift the couple a handmade Christmas quilt. Liam, not knowing how to sew, turns to Amy (Young), a fiber artist, to teach him how to make a quilt.

The most interesting thing about this movie is the sort-of rivalry between Amy and the woman that taught her how to quilt, Miriam (Jennifer Wigmore). Unfortunately, it is never expanded upon. Miriam says awful things straight to Amy’s face for absolutely no reason. They are both finalists in a competition but I don’t think that gives Miriam any reason to be terrible.

As for the rest of the movie, it’s fine. It’s the same boring stuff. Amy and Liam have very little chemistry, they spend most of their time doing non-quilting things, and they are just dull people. C’mon, Great American Family, give me something good!

Rating: The dullest Christmas quilt