Romance With A Twist (2024)

Unsurprisingly, Hallmark has some romance movies to get us ready for Valentine’s Day this year. And it’s starting with Romance With A Twist.

Luna (Jocelyn Hudon) was a dancer before life cancelled her plans. Now she works for her family’s construction company. As acts are getting ready for the town’s new arts festival, aerialist Bennett (Olivier Renaud) is suddenly without a partner. Bennett’s sister, Gabby (Candice Lidstone) suggests Luna. Begrudgingly Bennett agrees to train the former dancer to use aerial silks. But will she be able to learn them in time for their show at the festival?

Going into this, I fully expected the half-hearted attempts at reality that we get with the Christmas movies. However, I found out that Renaud was actually a circus perform and Hudon was actually a ballet dancer. Yes, Hallmark has cast actors that really have the same skillset as their characters! It definitely gave the movie a more realistic feel.

While the acting and the stunts were very good, the script was a little thin. We didn’t quite get to see Luna and Bennett falling in love. Luna seemed to have a bit of a crush on Bennett, presumably because she saw his rippling muscles, but we never get the sense that Bennett enjoys being in Luna’s company. He spends a lot of the movie almost brooding about random stupid things.

Despite that, I enjoyed the movie. Moreso for the aerial silks, which I do wish they used more. Of all of the Hallmark-esque romance movies I have watched, this is one of the better ones.

Rating: B+

Planes, Trains and Christmas Trees | 2023 Christmas Movies

Planes, Trains and Christmas Trees is the second movie of the season for Lifetime. I spent a lot of the movie thinking about how much the lead actor, Olivier Renaud, looks like Zac Efron. Like, I have watched other movies featuring this dude. I don’t know why this particular movie makes him look like that. Anyway….

Kayley (Kathryn Davis) is an event planner flying home to New York City. Brett (Olivier Renaud) is a sports agent also flying home to New York City. Thanks to a terrible snowstorm, all flights are cancelled. The pair team up to try to get home but end up stranded in Brett’s hometown of Redwood, Ohio. Since they are unable to leave, Kayley and Brett help his uncle plan a local Christmas festival.

Sigh. So. A lot of the movies I watch are just boring. The acting is fine, the plot is fine. It’s just fine. I want to say this movie is fine but….is there something more boring than boring? Like, nothing happens in this movie. Nothing. Kayley is ignoring her boyfriend’s phone calls but we never really find out why they are not getting along. (I can’t even say they are fighting! They don’t talk!) Cardboard man Brett doesn’t want to talk about anything. There are parts where Kayley acts weirdly around Brett’s family for no reason at all because then she’s all buddy-buddy with them. I really don’t understand this movie. I think they wanted to do a thing where Kayley has traumatic Christmas memories so she doesn’t like being around Brett’s family at Christmas but that never appears. And the awful thing is the acting and the story aren’t awful. There was so much potential here that was just wasted.

Rating: Can I live in the candy castle…by myself…no, seriously. Get out of my candy castle.

Wrapped Up In Love | 2022 Christmas Movies

I am so close to the end of Christmas movie season. Wrapped Up In Love is the last of the Lifetime movies. I am happy to be done with this channel for now.

Ashley (Brittany Bristow) works at a local department store. When the owner talks about retiring, she is certain that she will be picked to take over. Much to her dismay, he has brought in his son, Ben (Olivier Renaud), who wants to use technology to advertise the store. But Ashley prefers classic, traditional ways. Will they be able to come to an agreement?

There wasn’t anything I liked about Wrapped Up In Love. Ashley was annoying in her refusal to use technology in any way and Ben was annoying in his refusal to do anything traditional. Despite that, Ashley is way more open to Ben’s ways than he is to hers. He wants to film a video of the store employees reading a store themed version of “Twas The Night Before Christmas”. She not only agrees to be in the video, she also agrees to freaking help him edit it. But he doesn’t help her with anything until the grand finale when the whole store needs to work together. I hate this relationship.

Please don’t watch this movie. It’s terrible. Go watch any other movie. It will make you much happier.

Christmas On The Slopes | 2022 Christmas Movies

So this movie is called Christmas On The Slopes but it’s about chefs. Sure, they are cooking at a ski resort but that has little to do the with actual movie. My mind is boggled.

Sophia (Soma Chhaya) is a celebrity chef. When her latest restaurant in Savannah, GA fails on opening night, Sophia decides to take a Christmas vacation at a luxury ski resort. As she sneaks into the kitchen for a snack, the head chef, Ansel (Olivier Renaud), mistakes her for his new sous chef. Sophia doesn’t correct him and ends up helping him cater a wedding for a famous fashion designer.

Once again, a movie that could have been completely avoided if the lead characters simply had a conversation. It’s difficult to believe that Sophia owns any restaurants, much less three. At no point does she assert herself. Instead, she allows Ansel to walk all over her. How in the world could she run two successful restaurants without being at least a little assertive? Even if you want to say that was all her business partner, she would have had to be a little assertive at some point to become as famous as she did.

In addition to the conflict being dumb, at no point did I believe that Sophia and Ansel were falling in love. Even at the end during the Big Declaration Of Love, I didn’t believe it. Sure, they were spending time together outside of the kitchen but none of it felt romantic.

When Christmas On The Slopes ended, I didn’t have a particularly strong feeling about it. Now that I am rethinking the movie, I think I hate it. There definitely isn’t anything appealing about it. And Sophia is a terrible character. I’m saying not to watch this one…unless you really badly need ideas for recipes. Even then, you won’t get the whole recipe, you’ll just get general ideas like “add cranberries to bread” or “put sage in stuffing.” Useless information, really.

A Christmas Village Romance | 2021 Christmas Movies

Of course, after I trash Lifetime movies, they actually release something cute. Let’s talk about A Christmas Village Romance.

Diana (Jeni Ross) writes historical romance books. For Christmas, she visits the pioneer village of Maple Creek, which is also the setting for her stories. When she arrives, she finds out that tourism is down. Without the revenue, the village may have to close. Diana rallies her fans to help save the village, though the new local blacksmith, Carter (Jake Epstein), isn’t sure her plan will work.

While I think this movie is adorable, the plot is like molasses. It takes forever for anything to happen. I actually fell asleep for a short bit and had to rewind to see what I missed. Amazingly, I didn’t miss much. I could have easily kept the movie running and I still would have understood what was going on.

On the plus side, Ross and Epstein have an interesting on-screen chemistry. Their characters spend a lot of time arguing but they never seem like they are actually fighting. They always seem like they are sort of play-fighting, which is a change of pace for Lifetime romance characters.

Sadly, there isn’t a lot for me to say about A Christmas Village Romance. It is cute so it’s not a complete waste of time to watch but, at the same time, it is so slow. I’m not sure who would be the target audience for it. Maybe people that read romance books? But there isn’t a lot of romance happening. I’d say turn it on. If it doesn’t satisfy you after a half hour, go find something else to do.