An Unexpected Valentine | 2025 Valentine's Day Movies

The first movie of Hallmark’s 2025 Loveuary releases is An Unexpected Valentine. I don’t think I’ve watched any of Lacey Chabert’s non-Christmas Hallmark movies. Her Christmas movies are rather hit-or-miss. Let’s see if she does any better with Valentine’s Day.

Hannah (Chabert), a chocolate designer about to launch a Valentine’s Day line of chocolate purses, finds an engagement ring in the backseat of her rideshare driver Finn (Robert Buckley), a photographer who has a big exhibition at a local gallery. Together, they race around the city to find the owner of the ring before Valentine’s Day ends.

So, this wasn’t as good as The Perfect Setting. Then again, I didn’t think it could fit those shoes. But it wasn’t a terrible movie. Chabert is charming, as always. Buckley is a bit boring but fine, overall. I think maybe my issue with the movie was it lacked a conflict. The closest we come to conflict is Will They Find The Owner Before They Propose and Will They Both Make Their Events. Neither of which are particularly interesting as conflicts. The only reason Hannah had to go to the chocolate purse, which is a stupid idea anyway, event is because her marketing friend is too incompetent to do the marketing herself. And Finn only has to go to his event because his gallery owner friend is too incompetent to sell Finn’s photos without him. If both of these people could do their actual jobs, Hannah and Finn could have had the whole night to themselves…which was their plan in the beginning of the movie.

If you can get over the lack of anything happening, there are some fun scenes to be found. Hannah and Finn trying to deliver a much-too-large balloon bouquet was a little funny. Crashing a drawing class, only for Hannah to be mistaken as the model of the evening…also chuckle worthy. But, alas, there wasn’t anything to make me want to really tune into An Unexpected Valentine. I guess you can’t win them all.

Rating: 3 out of 5 hearts

The Christmas Quest | 2024 Christmas Movies

The Christmas Questsounds like a movie that belongs on Hallmark Mystery. But since it stars Hallmark’s main leading lady, Lacey Chabert, it is on the main Hallmark channel. I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

Stefanie Baxter (Chabert) is an archeologist whose mother (Erin Cahill) spent most of Stefanie’s childhood searching for an Icelandic treasure. When Stefanie is approached by Victor (Derek Riddell) to help search for the treasure, she jumps on board. Unfortunately, she needs help from her ex-husband, Chase (Kristoffer Polaha), an expert in ancient Norse languages. Can they find the treasure before it ends up in the wrong hands?

I admit that I am a fan of the National Treasure-type movies. Give me some good puzzles (that I don’t have to solve myself) and a good adventure and I am happy. The Christmas Quest does bring in some Icelandic folklore, which was really cool to see. Unfortunately, that is the coolest thing in the movie. The puzzles didn’t seem particularly difficult if you know the folklore they are referencing (which most of the people in the movie seemed to know), the “bad guys” didn’t seem all that dangerous, and the end was a cop-out. This is, yet again, another movie that isn’t absolutely terrible but it isn’t particularly worth watching either. Maybe if you are a big fan of Lacey Chabert you’ll like it?

Rating: More Yule Lads, less of everything else

Hot Frosty | 2024 Christmas Movies

I think someone at Netflix hired some Gen Zs to run their Christmas movie slate this year. You can’t tell me that a Gen Xer or Millennial came up with Hot Frosty. And there are two more Netflix movies coming up with additional weird plots. We are in for some craziness this Christmas.

After losing her husband to cancer, Kathy’s (Lacey Chabert) life began to fall apart. She manages to keep her diner going but her house is in major need of repairs. And she can’t even think of dating again. Thrift store owners Mel (Sherry Miller) and Theo (Dan Lett) give Kathy the red scarf that led them to fall in love with each other. Disbelieving in the magic charm, Kathy puts the scarf on a muscular snowman entered in the town’s snow sculpture competition. That night, the snowman, Jack (Dustin Milligan), comes to life, bringing more than just muscles to the town.

There are people out there that did not like this movie. I am not one of them. And to say I’m skeptical about Christmas movies is an understatement. Sure, Hot Frosty has a ridiculous plot but so do many of the best Christmas movies. As a matter of fact, I think this movie had similar vibes to Elf, which is one of the most popular Christmas movies out there. It probably won’t make it to the same cult movie status that Elf has but I don’t think it should be written off as terrible either.

I think maybe my only complaint about this movie is that they were given comedic heavy hitters in Craig Robinson and Joe Lo Truglio and they are both severely underused. Robinson’s cop character is supposed to be one of those “so serious about their job it’s funny” and Lo Truglio is supposed to be his dim-witted deputy. However, neither of them are playing it straight. It’s not funny if the actors are playing it funny. Sadly, the funniest part they get is the song they sing over the ending credits, which is a callback to the song they sing in the cop car. I would have loved to see them play both of the roles more seriously. They would have stolen the movie.

Despite that minor setback, I do recommend watching it. Keep an eye out for a couple of Mean Girls references!

Rating: How much does snowman home repair cost?

Haul Out The Holly: Lit Up | 2023 Christmas Movies

Teri Hatcher isn’t the only one with two movies this season. Lacey Chabert also has two Christmas movies! We already watched A Merry Scottish Christmas. Now it’s time for the sequel to last year’s Haul Out The Holly, Haul Out The Holly: Lit Up.

A year has passed since Emily (Lacey Chabert) took over both her parents’ house and the annual Christmas festivities. This time there are some new neighbors: Jane (Jennifer Aspen), Joe (Seth Morris), and Jimmy (Kenneth Cummings) Johnson. They are better known as the Jolly Johnsons, winners of a Christmas reality show. Can Emily and Jared (Wes Brown) keep the neighborhood traditions or will the Johnsons take over?

I really enjoyed the first movie from last year. Lit Up is a perfect sequel to it. Adding the Johnsons gave it the conflict that it really needed. Last year, Emily wasn’t super keen on taking part in all of the Christmas cheer. This year, her festiveness is threatened by the absolute insanity of the new neighbors. And of course, the secondary characters, the same comedy geniuses from last year, are still over the top and hysterical. I don’t know if they will be able to kick out a third movie but I would love to see more of this gang.

Rating: The perfect Christmas storm

A Merry Scottish Christmas | 2023 Christmas Movies

This year Hallmark is giving us two Lacey Chabert movies. The first one is A Merry Scottish Christmas, where she rejoins her old Party of Five co-star, Scott Wolf, as siblings.

Lindsay Morgan (Chabert), her brother Brad (Wolf), and his wife Sarah (Kellie Blaise) have come to Scotland at their mother’s request to celebrate Christmas. Little did they know that their mother, Josephine (Fiona Bell), was supposed to be a duchess before she ran away with her American boyfriend. Now that the duke, Jo’s brother, has passed, what will happen to the castle and the town that depends on it?

We all know I’m a sucker for a Christmas movie that doesn’t revolve around romance. This movie revolves around a broken family trying to find their ways back to each other. It has sweet moments where they remember fond childhood memories and moments where they are all absolutely crappy to each other. Things that make an unrealistic movie like this seem more real. While I’m not particularly fond of Chabert’s or Wolf’s acting skills, I think their history together works well for them. It’s almost hard to believe they aren’t brother and sister.

Rating: Can I learn how to do the Highland Fling too?

Haul Out The Holly | 2022 Christmas Movies

With Candace Cameron Bure’s defection to Great American Family, Lacey Chabert has been left as the face of Hallmark. She gets to do all of the fun commercial bumps telling us to stay tuned for movies and whatnot. Her movie this season, Haul Out The Holly, was released during the coveted Thanksgiving weekend timeslot. But is it any good?

Emily (Lacey Chabert) has just broken up with her boyfriend. Needing someplace to stay, she comes back to her parents’ house for the holiday. Her parents, however, are planning on going to Florida to find a new house for themselves. Emily now has to fulfill all of her parents’ holiday duties for the neighborhood Christmas celebration.

We’re going to ignore the fact that Emily’s parents did a very crappy thing. They knew that Emily just went through an emotional breakup then they straight up lied to her about spending the holidays at home with her. They tricked her into doing things like decorating the entire house and baking cookies for the neighborhood contest and organizing snowman making events. She didn’t sign up for any of these. They are terrible parents.

On the other hand, Haul Out The Holly was a ton of fun. Normally, Chabert-led movies are overdramatic and boring. Not this one! Even the romance with childhood-friend-turned-HOA-president Jared (Wes Brown) was fun. I am going to give Chabert credit for doing an amazing job but I’d also like to note that she was supported by some major comedy players - Stephen Tobolowsky, Melissa Peterman, Ellen Travolta, Peter Jacobson…I would have been surprised if the movie failed with this amount of talent involved.

Haul Out The Holly should definitely be on your Must See list. This movie was so much fun that I actually might watch it again next year. I never thought I would say that about a Hallmark movie!

Christmas At Castle Hart | 2021 Christmas Movies

Lacey Chabert is back this year with Hallmark’s Christmas At Castle Hart. She has had her ups and downs with holiday movies. Let’s find out if this is one of the good ones.

Brooke (Lacey Chabert) and her sister, Margot (Ali Hardiman), got fired from their catering jobs. Since they have some money saved from an inheritance, they decide to go to Ireland to track down their late father’s family. As they chat to locals about tracking down the family, they meet Aidan Hart (Stuart Townsend), the Earl of Glaslough. Aidan and his sister, Siobhan (Aoife Spratt), mistake her for an elite event planner and hire her to plan the annual Christmas party for the castle.

I was so bored by this movie. It would have been awesome if they dug deep into the genealogy plotline but they didn’t. They decided to focus on the event planning part, which is the least interesting part of the movie. How cool would the movie have been if Aidan used his wealth and power to help the girls travel around Ireland to find their father’s family? There is a scene where Margot gets some help from the Duchess of Abercorn (Kate O'Toole) but we don’t get to see the Duchess doing any of the work. It’s basically Margot saying “My dad had a thing that said Freedom….” then the Duchess off-screen doing the detective work. It would have been so much better if we saw how she figured it out.

Otherwise, Christmas At Castle Hart is just like every other terrible Hallmark movie except with slightly better acting. I suppose it’s watchable if you are in it for the Irish accents. A lot of the cast is actually Irish so the accents are one of the best parts of the movie. But if you are looking for an interesting plot, go somewhere else.

Time For Us To Come Home For Christmas | 2020 Christmas

Lacey Chabert is back for another 2020 Christmas movie. This time it’s a mystery over on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel.

A group of people are mysteriously invited to spend Christmas at a local inn. Sarah (Chabert) takes it upon herself to figure out who invited them and why.

I was really looking forward to Come Home. The mystery sounded interesting and I was intrigued about how these five strangers fit together. Then I fell asleep in the middle of it. Yes, I actually fell asleep.

I think the problem is that the story spends too much time on everyone’s individual stories. Instead of pulling them together to solve the Big Mystery, we’re busy with a father trying to win his daughter’s affection, a former couple rekindling their flame, a musician mourning his wife, and a woman mourning her mother. The writers could have had the group working together to solve the mystery so the father could impress his daughter with some rare knowledge, the former couple could be canoodling while finding clues, and the two people mourning could reminisce about their deceased family members. It would have been so much more interesting with the group together.

Also, Chabert isn’t a very good leading woman. In both movies this year, she spends a lot of time making sad eyes at the camera. It’s not attractive.

Should you watch it? Meh. Watch beginning and the last 30 minutes. Skip the rest. Or sleep through it. I did have a good nap while it was on.

Christmas Waltz | 2020 Christmas Movies

At least this movie about dancing has actual dancers in it! This may be a Christmas movie first!

Avery (Lacey Chabert) is planning a Christmas wedding with her fiancé, David (Jeremy Guilbaut). After choosing the cake and scheduling ballroom dancing lessons, the couple cancels her wedding. Dance instructor Roman (Will Kemp) convinces Avery to keep the dancing lessons for herself.

Usually in Hallmark movies, they cast actors who can’t actually do the thing the character excels at. This time around, the cast dancers in the dancing roles. (Avery isn’t supposed to be able to dance well, which is why Chabert gets a pass here.) Kemp trained at the Royal Ballet School. JT Church (AKA John Talan Church), who plays the son of Roman’s head dance teacher, was the professional dancer paired with skateboarder Sky Brown in Dancing with the Stars: Juniors. (Spoiler: JT and Skye won!) As a dancer and a dance mom, it’s nice to see professional dancers cast as professional dancers. It’s annoying when you can’t see the people actually dance.

Another “new” thing in Christmas Waltz is that Lacey Chabert isn’t all that annoying! Her Christmas characters are usually whiny or annoying. Sure, her character spends a bit of time being sad but she also broke off an engagement 24 days before the wedding. She’s allowed to be sad about that. I hope that she’ll continue to get good roles in the future.

With all that said, if you don’t like dancing, don’t watch this movie. There is very little going on beyond the dance lessons. There’s talk about Roman opening a second dance studio but we don’t get to see that happen. I don’t think Avery and Roman even kiss, despite the fact that they are definitely set up as the romantic couple. They perform the Big Dance then roll credits. While I find that acceptable, people looking for the typical Hallmark romantic Christmas story might not like that. However, if you enjoy watching people dance, you might like this. They aren’t amazing dance moves but some of them are pretty. (To be honest, Church is the breakout performer here. He needs a lead role in something.)

Christmas In Rome | 2019 Advent Day 4

I think maybe the trend this year isn’t a trope, it’s a title. Everything will be called “Christmas in” Something or Somewhere. This time, the ‘somewhere’ is Rome.

Lacey Chabert plays Angela, an American tour guide who loves Rome probably more than she loves herself. Shortly after getting fired, she meets American businessman Oliver (Sam Page) who knows nothing about Rome but needs to close a business deal in a few days. He hires Angela to be his personal guide to Italian culture.

Even though Christmas in Rome is set in Rome, the city itself barely makes an appearance. Considering that Angela is supposed to be a tour guide for the city and she doesn’t shut up about how much she loves it, we only get a sweeping tourist view of the city, the inside of Angela’s favorite bakery, and the inside of the business that Oliver’s company is trying to buy. But I guess people aren’t watching the movie for views of Rome. They are watching for the romance.

Sadly, the romance is also a let down. Angela and Oliver supposedly only spend three days together. In that time, they form a great friendship. Of course, that means that they are suddenly in love. When Oliver proclaims his love to Angela, her face shows exactly what I was feeling. “Um, what?” For some reason, though, she tells him the problem is that they live 5,000 miles apart. (She lives in Rome, he lives in New York.) No, dear. The problem is that you two aren’t actually in love. But Angela lets her friend bully her into starting a relationship with this man. I wonder what will happen when they decide that they only love each other platonically. Not all male-female relationships have to be romantic.

So, should you watch Christmas in Rome? I mean, you can if you want to. It is on the better side of Christmas movies. But it could be better.