Leah's Perfect Gift | 2024 Christmas Movies

It has been a long time since a movie made me angry. Leah’s Perfect Gift made me so angry that I almost didn’t finish the movie. As a matter of fact, I had to stop watching it halfway through and take a break. This may be a long rant.

Leah (Emily Arlook) is a Jewish woman who is so excited to experience her first Christmas with her boyfriend, Graham’s (Evan Roderick), family. Much to her dismay, everything she does seems to upset Graham’s mother, Barbara (Barbara Niven). Is there any way Christmas can be saved?

Uuuuuggghhhh. I know this was supposed to be a “bad mother-in-law” type of movie. But Barbara isn’t Leah’s mother-in-law and, more importantly, this is the first time they are meeting. Barbara is so mean and vile to Leah and neither Graham nor his sister, Maddie (Sidney Quesnelle), stood up for Leah. They both basically shrug and say “Yep, Mom is like that!” And we’re talking STUPID stuff like “Mom doesn’t like it when people rip wrapping paper.” So absolutely everyone around her has to carefully pull apart the tape to open every single present. At no point does anyone say “Hey, she’s just excited to celebrate Christmas for the first time. Let’s give her a little leeway to our insane traditions.”

The worst part of all of this is Leah is still so gracious and amazing toward everyone, no matter how awful they are to her. At the end, Barbara is having some sort of mental breakdown in a coat closet and it’s LEAH that goes in to comfort her. If I was Leah, I would tell that woman to eat rocks and I would definitely not accept her lame apology. Barbara does not deserve forgiveness.

I really wanted this to be Hallmark’s one cool Hanukkah movie this year. I seriously hope that this is not it. Because, even though we got a kickass Hanukkah party in the beginning - where Leah’s parents ACCEPTED Graham and taught him some of their traditions - this was not a Hanukkah movie. Do better, Hallmark.

Rating: Burn it down with a menorah

Ms Christmas Comes To Town | 2023 Christmas Movies

The Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel really likes movies that are somehow related to death. A long-deceased family member or a spouse that recently passed. That is their bread and butter. Well, Ms. Christmas Comes To Town doesn’t disappoint on that end.

Gale (Barbara Niven), also known as Ms. Christmas on a popular shopping channel, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Before she retires, she goes on a multi-city tour to spread Christmas cheer. Joining her are Amanda (Erica Durance), who will be taking over the Ms. Christmas mantle, and Travis (Brennan Elliott), a nurse tasked with taking care of her health.

I am really not sure why they needed to include a cancer diagnosis in this movie. It puts this dark cloud over everything because Gale refuses to tell anyone that she has terminal cancer yet it is the reason for everything she does. The writers could have easily gone with a simple retirement. The big tour could have still been a retirement tour, just without the cancer! Travis could have still been hired to go to keep an eye on her. It could have been a joyful passing of the torch instead of a depression party.

As for the romance? It is barely there. I didn’t really understand why they got together. Maybe I missed something but their relationship read “co-worker” to me. Even after they kissed, they didn’t seem like they were in love with each other. I’m not really sure any of the characters even liked each other. They were all very weird.

Rating: Can you really replace Ms. Christmas with Ms. Holiday?

Christmas At The Golden Dragon | 2022 Christmas Movies

When I saw the title Christmas At The Golden Dragon on Hallmark’s Christmas movie list, I wasn’t sure what to think. Hallmark isn’t known for its diversity. I was a little worried about a movie about Asian people with a title like that. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded.

Jim (Vincent Cheng) and Sue (Sharon Crandall) Chen have run The Golden Dragon for as long as anyone can remember. Now that their children have grown, they have decided to close the restaurant to allow them to live their own lives instead of spending every Christmas working at the restaurant. Prompted by the news of the closure, their regular customers start to reexamine their own relationships and what they want from life.

Christmas At The Golden Dragon isn’t just one story. It’s five different stories that are all related. Not all of the stories are great but a couple of them are actually good. Romy (Kara Wang), the Chen’s daughter, has a great story about going home for Christmas with her boyfriend, Blake (Markian Tarasiuk). She imagines the Christmas that she sees in the movies with perfect caroling, a childhood bedroom that hasn’t changed in decades, and the family gathering around to open presents on Christmas morning. When she doesn’t get that, she starts to understand how her version of Christmas (working at the restaurant every year) effects the other people in her community. She really comes to appreciate the restaurant that she resented growing up.

While I don’t think every story in here is a home run, I do think The Golden Dragon is worth watching. At the very least, you will get to see how “helping your community” can have a different meaning from volunteer or charity work. Keep an eye on Miguel (Jason Fernandes). He is someone we should all strive to be.

The Christmas Contest | 2021 Christmas Movies

It’s finally that time of year! Time for Candace Cameron Bure’s Hallmark Christmas movie! You know you were waiting for this one…The Christmas Contest!

Lara (Candace Cameron Bure) has been unhappy with her life since she broke up with Ben (John Brotherton). When they both sign up for a Christmas-themed contest in order to win money for their respective charities, emotions run wild. Maybe this contest will remind them how much they truly love each other.

For the most part, this is a pretty typical Cameron Bure Hallmark movie. A bit of schmaltz, a bit of family reconciliations, and a bit of former lovers getting back together. But the best part, in my opinion, is when she actually makes fun of Hallmark movie plots. I was dying! It happens pretty early in the movie so it isn’t a scene that would make or break the whole show but it was pretty funny.

As for the rest of it, it’s fine. Cameron Bure and Brotherton also star in Fuller House together. It’s not like Hallmark threw two strangers together on this one. And that has actually been a big part of the marketing for The Christmas Contest. While I’m not sure the characters make a great couple, the two actors have enough chemistry together that their playful banter is fun to watch.

This one will be another tough call. If you’re a big fan of traditional Hallmark movies, this will be right up your alley. If you’re looking for something more, this is more like a movie you’d put on the background while you bake some cookies or something. On the plus side, it is much better than last year’s pile of crap that Cameron Bure starred in.

Christmas in Evergreen: Bells are Ringing | 2020 Christmas Movies

Last year, I watched Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy. That was the third movie in Hallmark’s Christmas in Evergreen series. This year, we get the fourth movie - Christmas in Evergreen: Bells are Ringing.

While Michelle (Holly Robinson Peete) is getting ready for her wedding, Hannah (Rukiya Bernard) takes over getting the new Evergreen Christmas museum ready to open. Meanwhile, Hannah’s boyfriend, Elliot (Antonio Cayonne), is planning to open a Boston flagship store for his tinker shop.

Like A Christmas Tree Grows in Colorado, Bells are Ringing also features a main cast filled with people of color. The cast is also filled with people from the previous Evergreen movies. From what I can tell, there are only three new characters. (Well, the writers did mess up some of the names of the old characters. You would think they would re-watch the old movies so they could remember what they did. I didn’t count those as new characters.) I am glad that the twin sisters got more action this time around. They are adorable!

Despite liking the characters and the interactions between them, Bells are Ringing was lacking consistency. There was a great idea hidden in the plot but the story kept getting sidetracked. Sometimes it was by snowball fights and candy canes in hot chocolate, sometimes it was a conflict that only got resolved with an “oh well!” For example, Michelle’s fiancé is stuck in Maine due to a snowstorm and won’t make it to Evergreen (in Vermont) for the wedding. Most movies would have Michelle melt down. Instead, she just shrugs it off saying that she can stop planning now and they’ll just get married in July. She doesn’t cry, she doesn’t try on the dress one last time before giving in…it seems like she never actually planned the wedding. We don’t see any signs of a wedding - no invitations, no dresses, no flowers. It was weird.

Is this movie worth watching? I would say it is. It’s not a great movie but it does have some cute moments. The Cooper twins (Jacqueline Robbins and Joyce Robbins) are my favorite part. They are almost like the town Christmas elves. I think the movie is worth watching just for them.

USS Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

A very long time ago, I lived in Wilmington, North Carolina. Parts of USS Christmas were filmed there. It’s very weird to watch a Christmas movie and recognize locations.

While on a Christmas Tiger Cruise, newspaper reporter Maddie (Jen Lilley) comes upon a love story from the ship’s very first Tiger Cruise. Lt. Billy Jenkins (Trevor Donovan) helps her to track down the couple.

The term “Tiger Cruise” is heavily used in USS Christmas. Apparently, it is a period of time when family and friends can join their deployed sailors on their ship to experience the daily operations. While I love the concept (and yes, it is a real thing), it doesn’t have a lot to do with the movie. Sure, Maddie finds out about Sam (Hardy Rawls) and Dorothy (Ginny MacColl) while on the Tiger Cruise and the ship coincidentally takes them to New York, where they find more information about the couple…but that is it. We don’t even really see any of the named military characters actually working.

So far this season, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries has brought us pretty good movies. Unfortunately, this is not one of those. Everything about it is terrible. The actors have zero chemistry, the plot is boring, the conflicts are non-existent. It’s a complete waste of time. You would be better off untangling Christmas lights all night instead.