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?

The Gift Of Peace | 2022 Christmas Movies

Hallmark is kinda considered the gold standard of Christmas movies. As such, they generally try to market their movies to a wide variety of people. We don’t usually see heavily religious tones in their movies. That all changed with The Gift Of Peace.

Traci (Nikki Deloach) lost her husband to a brain tumor. She also lost her faith. As she prepares for her first solo Christmas art exhibit, she finds herself having a tough time emotionally. She joins a church grief group to try to find both comfort and inspiration for her artwork. Not only does she find both, she also finds a community of friends.

I don’t usually do well with super religious movies. I don’t like to be preached at. Maybe it’s because this movie was almost completely about grief and how to get through it but it didn’t feel preachy, even though it is a VERY Catholic movie. Or maybe it’s because they didn’t try to solve their issues through religion. Yes, they prayed a lot. Yes, they talk about God a lot. But not in a “God has a plan” sort of way. More like a “Let’s go look at this gorgeous sunrise because it makes me feel closer to God.” To me, those are two very distinct statements. “God has a plan” means you have no agency in your life. “Sunrises make me feel closer to God” means your spirituality is heightened. Maybe it’s not God but the feeling that your departed loved one is close.

Surprisingly, I’m going to put this in the Watch column. I’m not saying it’s Must See TV or anything but it does have a nice calm feeling to it. Nothing is rushed, no one is forcing relationships, everyone is allowed to do what they want on their own terms. While I would personally prefer to take out the religious aspect, I can understand how important it is to other people. The Gift Of Peace is a bit of a nice in-between movie. Religious without beating you over the head with it.

Open By Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Sometimes I don’t understand how Hallmark picks which movies to go on which channel. You would think that movies with a “mystery” type of plot would go on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. But they don’t. Open By Christmas is an example of that.

When Nicky (Alison Sweeney) comes home for Thanksgiving, her parents tell her that they are selling her childhood home to move into a smaller house. As Nicky helps them pack, she finds an old unopened Christmas card in one of her high school textbooks. The card professes love for Nicky but it doesn’t have a signature. It’s up to Nicky and her best friend, Simone (Erica Durance), to figure out who slipped the card into the book so long ago.

This really could have been a good Christmas mystery movie. But instead of spending the majority of the movie trying to sleuth out who wrote the card, they spend more time focused on Simone’s fiancé, Jeremy (Michael Karl Richards), surprising Simone with a new house. They spend so much time on it that you would think that Simone is the main character in the movie. (And, seriously, who surprises someone by buying them a house? Don’t do that. It’s financially awful.)

As for the mystery itself? We only get a few hints as to who the writer could be. Thanks to the message in the card, Nicky and Simone surmise that the writer was on the basketball team. Nicky’s mom did some online searching and figured out that the person that wrote it is left-handed. Finally, Simone’s future mother-in-law actually recognizes the handwriting! But it doesn’t actually lead to the correct answer. It would have been nice if there was some more detective work shown. After all, it’s supposed to be the main plot of the movie!

Alas, the movie promises a lot but delivers little. This is yet another movie that is fine as background noise but if you actually pay attention, it’s lacking in substance. I know that Hallmark churns out a lot of movies. It would be nice if they could hire some good writers for once.

Christmas In Vienna | 2020 Christmas Movies

Last year, Hallmark sent us to Rome for Christmas. This year, it’s Vienna. I guess European countries are romantic. Thankfully, this isn’t the same movie in a different location.

Jess (Sarah Drew) is a concert violinist. She is in Vienna for the holidays to perform a concert on Christmas Eve. While there, she plans on hanging out with her old college friend, Tori (Alina Fritsch). Tori works as a nanny for an American diplomat named Mark (Brennan Elliott). When Tori gets a chance to sell her handmade ornaments in one of the local markets, Jess agrees to help out with the nanny duties.

I really like Sarah Drew as an actress. I first saw her way back in 2004 on Everwood and I’m happy that she has been able to keep working, even though she frequently plays the same type of character - slightly awkward yet adorable. And this is no different. At least this time the stereotype is offset by her interaction with the children, Julian (Oskar Ricketts), Summer (Allegra Tinnefeld), and Isla (Abigail Vollnhofer). All of the Jess/children scenes are great. The actors seem to get along wonderfully.

As for the romance? Well…it’s filled with a lot of almost moments. Moments where the two adults should just talk about what is on their mind but they won’t so they just kinda let each other float away until the very last minute. Or like the scene where Mark asks Jess’s opinion on something then gets mad when she tells him what she thinks. That was annoying. It’s really just another movie with no real conflict. Instead of a will they/won’t they scenario, the biggest conflict is about whether Jess leaves Vienna (where she doesn’t actually live…she’s only visiting for this one concert) and whether Mark moves his family out of Vienna (they move a lot so I’m not sure why this is surprising). Yeeeaaah.

Christmas in Vienna is another movie that is just fine to watch…unless you hate Silent Night. They play it a lot. Otherwise, the acting is fine, the story is fine, the locations are very pretty (it was actually filmed in Vienna!). It’s better than a lot of the other Hallmark/Lifetime movies I’ve watched. I only wish there was a little more oomph to it….