2020 Holiday Movie Marathon Part III: The Not Romantic

The Not-Romantic

Christmas, Again (2014) ***
I was certain before I hit play that I had watched this movie sometime in the past couple of years, but it isn't on any of my past holiday movie lists. A sad and lonely Christmas tree salesman is back another year at the same NYC tree lot, but this time with some emotional pain in tow. What I really like about this movie is how it presented the story arc of his heartbreak, the use of silence, expressions, and gestures to get emotion across. That's the result of good a acting-directing combo. By the way, this film is a rare positive result of the same writer and director. I have to also give props for the good use of Arabian Dance from The Nutcracker.It sets the perfect tone for this story.

• Production: It was a low-budget indie as opposed to a low-budget cheesy movie. 
• Suspension of belief: Low 
• Tropes/sub-genres: Character living through sadness from a pre-movie incident 
• Diversity: None 
• Production Co: Writer-director, Charles Poekel
• How'd you watch it: Kanopy 

2020 Holiday Movie Marathon Part II: The Bad and the Unfinished

The Bad

A Christmas To Remember (2015) *
“Featuring” Robin Givens who makes a short appearance towards the end of the movie, A Christmas To Remember was only worth watching because it is so-bad-it's-funny-to-watch-with-a-friend as I did with my best friend. Actually, I think we may have fast forwarded through this one. It was difficult to watch even while laughing. My main complaint was that the technical skills to make a film were lacking by these filmmakers. None of the characters were mic'd nor did there seem to be any reliable audio capture equipment around because the sound was terrible. The camera was shaky and the lighting and filtering changed with almost every single cut. I know a trained camera operator was no where nearby, because composing and framing a shot was not on anyone's mind. Creatively, the story was all over the place. It looked like it was going to be a Hatfields vs McCoys situation with two rival families that would be brought together by the love of the family heads, but then all of the stories of each of the children were brought to light. And each family had at least five members. There was no way to successfully hash out and resolve at least 10 different stories. Bad production, incomplete stories, terrible personal styling. For a good laugh, read my best friend's review here: Dante Rants

• Production: Limbo contest winners low
• Suspension of belief: Mountain high 
• Tropes: Rival families... anything else is unclear 
• Diversity: Reverse! This was a Black cast with one white supporting character 
• Paranormal: No, but it would have helped the plot 
• Clownish character: I plead the 5th 
• Production Co: Atlanta Dream Team Productions 
• How'd you watch it: Amazon 

London Mitchell's Christmas (2019) *
This most certainly was not a holiday romance movie, but it was so bad I kept watching anyway. Everything in this movie was too long. It needed a serious editor, because this easily could have been cut from 1:40 to 30 minutes. I watched this movie twice: Once by myself, fast forwarding through each excessive conversation. Then another time with my bestie over the phone, as we synced scenes and I guided him through the highlights. Considering the plot, it's hard to believe that such a self-absorbed and despicable person could get everyone he treated so poorly to forgive, forget and love him just because he has cancer. Read my bestie's review here: Dante Rants

• Production value: Mid-low. They skimped on writing and editing 
• Suspension of belief: High! 
• Tropes: A very modified Scrooge trope 
• Diversity: This film has an all-black cast 
• Paranormal: None 
• Clownish character: London Mitchell was a joke, but I don't think you could really call him a clown. 
• How'd you watch it: Amazon 

2020 Holiday Movie Marathon Part I

I definitely watched holiday movies with a different mindset during this past holiday season. It was 2020. No explanation needed. So, let's jump right in.

Patterns I noticed this year

I ended up watching a lot of the same tropes: Ambitious career persons, return to home town and lovable father figure characters. Multiples times these tropes crossed paths in the same movie.
Also, I'm going to try and fit everything into three posts:

• The Good and the Okay 
• The Bad and the Unfinished 
• The Not-Romantic 

The Good and the Okay

Feast of the Seven Fishes (2019) ****
Feast of Seven Fishes is a holiday comedy with feel-good moments along the same lines of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and The Family Stone.
The basic plot follows a few days in the life of a young man, Tony, and a young woman, Beth, who stumble upon a little romance and spend a couple of life-changing days together. I fell in love, just like Beth does, with the very hilarious, loving, and Italian Olviera family.
The casting was perfect and featured some Sopranos alum, which gave the family scenes an authentic, rather than stereotypical feel. I am smitten with Skyler Gisondo who I saw previously in Booksmart!

• Production: Authentic. 
• Suspension of belief: Low 
• Tropes/Sub-Genres: self-actualization/realization; Wacky-but-loving family, Opposites attract 
• Diversity: No 
• Production Co: Allegheny Image Factory, Witty Michaels Entertainment 
• How'd you watch it: Hoopla 

Holiday Heist (2019) ****
A family-owned jewelry store is being cased by a guy who needs to make some quick money to pay back the local crime boss. He gets hired on by the patriarch and ends up genuinely caring for the family and falling for one of its members. Cute colorful Christmas romance with just the right amount of cheese, just right production, even the music was enjoyable. If this movie was given a bigger marketing budget and maybe featured one big name actor, this might have been successful in theaters.

• Tropes/sub-genres: Enemies to lovers; You're boyfriend ain't right for you 
• Diversity: Pretty much everyone was a person of color. 
• Production Co: Mar Vista 
• How'd you watch it: Hoopla

Christmas a la Mode (2019) ****
This was a nice refreshing story about a dairy farm/creamery on the verge of going under until the two sisters/owners have a fire lit under them with the threat (or hope) of a sale. An agent representing a dairy conglomerate that is putting an offer on the farm turns out to be handsome, charming and rooting for the farmer sister to succeed in keeping the farm. The lead actor’s American accent started to fail and I’m proud to say I guessed he was Australian.

• Production: There were definitely on location at a working farm. I'm sad to say there was no smell-o-vision during the creamery scenes, dammit. 
• Tropes/sub-genres: Family rivalry; Enemies to lovers; Save the business 
• Diversity: Nope. 
• Production Co: H9 Films, Moody Independent 
• How'd you watch it: Hoopla 

Last Christmas (2019) ***
Last Christmas Stars Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as a flawed and wreckless young woman named Kate who keeps on messing up and messing with the lives of her close friends and family. She bumps into odd, but nice guy, Tom, played by Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) and keeps on bumping into him, until it becomes a thing. There's romance, a little speculative fiction, sage advice, self-discovery and a Christmas paegent rounding out this holiday movie. Yes! Wham!'s song, Last Christmas, is featured throughout the movie, and the whole soundtrack was chock-full of George Michael inspiration. Last Christmas was entertaining.

• Production: This came out of a major studio, and you can tell no expense was spared although the home scenes looked comfy and authentic. 
• Suspension of belief: Medium – unlikely premise 
• Tropes/Sub-Genres: Odd Couple; Supernatural Romantic Comedy; Flawed character reaches rock bottom; Self-actualization/realization 
• Diversity: Yes! 
• Production Co: Universal Pictures 
• How'd you watch it: Checked out the DVD from the library 

Picture a Perfect Christmas (2019) ***
Stars Hallmark regular, Merritt Patterson (Christmas at the Palace, A Royal Winter), as an ambitious photographer who returns to her home town for some needed time with her grandmother. She meets nana's neighbor, played by Jon Cor, and his nephew and you guessed it... sparks start to fly. Will the photographer be able to have a career and insta-family in the end? I was able to finish this pleasant film, but it didn't stand out in any way.

• Production: It was Hallmark production that didn't require lavish sets or costumes, so it looked good. 
• Suspension of belief: Low, probably because it was so predictable 
• Tropes/Sub-Genres: Ambitious career person vs love; Return to home town; Father figure character standing in for a kid's real parent(s); Woman falls for loving father figure and child aka insta-family 
• Diversity: One supporting character of color 
• Production Co: Front Street Pictures, Hallmark Channel 
• How'd you watch it: Checked out the DVD from the library 

Rent an Elf (2018) ***
A Christmas-loving entrepreneur who runs a holiday event planning business is hired by a single dad to help create a special Christmas for his son who is going through a post-divorce rough patch. Want to see the whole movie? Watch the one minute and 48 seconds trailer: 

Same as a couple of the other three star *** films on this list, there was really nothing that hooked my heartstrings in this movie, but it wasn't bad.
The cast did feature Sean Patrick Thomas from Save the Last Dance. Playing his mother was Debbi Morgan, a major soap star who is also well-known for Eve's Bayou.

• Production: Visually this movie looked like a well-budgeted-basic Hallmark or Mar Vista, so it looked good. 
• Suspension of belief: Low, probably because it was so predictable 
• Tropes/Sub-Genres: Woman falls for loving father figure and child aka insta-family; Wreckless ex schemes to get ex back 
• Diversity: About half of the main characters are of color 
• Production Co: The Asylum 
• How'd you watch it: Amazon, but it was also on Ion Channel's Sunday marathons. 

The Rooftop Christmas Tree (2016) ***
Michelle Morgan (Heartland) plays a lawyer who returns to her hometown in hopes of scaling back her life from the big city, but instead, the first case she takes on is her neighbor vs the town. Tim Reid (WKRP In Cincinnati), the lawyer's hermit neighbor, is being cited for his mysterious practice of putting a Christmas tree on his roof. Will the lawyer be able to win her neighbor's case? Will the mystery of the rooftop tree be solved?
For some reason, Michelle Morgan does a lot of over the shoulder talking (You know when you start talking about someone with your back to the door, then that person walks in and hears you talking about them?) as Lou on Heartland and surprisingly also in this movie, too. The biggest issue I had withThe Rooftop Christmas Tree is how quickly everything happened. I don't think this movie depicted a full week of life in this town, but the romantic leads were about ready to move in and get a Christmas tree together by the end. The story had surprising and heartfelt subplots and that was pleasing.

• Production: It had an authentic small town feel to it. 
• Suspension of belief: High. Everything happened way too fast. Even the court and legal procedures went into warp speed. And, the main character's parents looked to be about her same age. 
• Tropes/sub-genres: Return to hometown; Enemies to lovers; Mysterious neighbor aka Boo Radley 
• Diversity: A bit. One central character and one subsequent character. 
• Production Co: Johnson Production Group 
• How'd you watch it: Amazon 

A Majestic Christmas (2018) ***
Another ambitious woman, an architect, is assigned a project to revamp her hometown's nostalgia-filled theater. The theater's new owner and her new client, comes off like your average gentrifying developer, but it turns out he has a heart. Sparks are flying!
A Majestic Christmas features a colorful cast with interesting characters. Even with all those positives, the sparks didn't fly for me. There was something missing that I can't put my finger on. Maybe I'll like it better next year. Starring Jerrika Hinton (Grey's Anatomy, A Christmas Kiss). Christian Vincent, the actor who plays the developer, plays it really cheesy.

• Production: Hallmark makes it rain on a set. 
• Suspension of belief: Medium 
• Tropes/sub-genres: Return to home town; Ambitious character struggling with career or following their heart; Gentrification 
• Diversity: Totally 
• Production Co: Hallmark 
• How'd you watch it: Amazon 

Christmas Unwrapped (2020) ***
A journalist is assigned to do an exposé of a philanthropist who makes Christmas miracles happen for a lot of people each year. Instead of finding dirt, she finds he's genuine. A cute, fresh story with a colorful cast and a definite Santa angle that was a bit of a turn off.

• Suspension of belief: High 
• Tropes/sub-genres: Ambitious career person vs love; Investigator falls for subject of investigation 
• Diversity: The main characters are people of color and there are colorful people generously sprinkled throughout. 
• Production Co: Lifetime, Neshama Entertainment 
• How'd you watch it: Hoopla 

Sweet Mountain Christmas (2019) ***
A country-music star who has lost her way finds herself snowed in by a freak storm which stretches out for days what was meant to be a quick trip to visit her family. During her stay, she revisits the past, finds inspiration in her hometown, and maybe even love.

• Production: Lifetime funds good productions, so overall it looked good, but I thought the sets and locations were a little too nice for a small one-road-in-and-out town. 
• Tropes/sub-genres: Return to hometown; Self-actualization/realization; Ambitious character struggling with career or following their heart; Gentrification;High school sweethearts/old flames reunite 
• Diversity: A drop or two. 
• Production Co: Lifetime, Lighthouse Pictures, Brightlight Pictures 
• How'd you watch it: Hoopla 

Christmas In Mississippi (2017) ***
An ambitious photographer (Another one?) returns to her hometown for the holidays in good ol' Mississippi. She ends up reluctantly rekindling the cut-too-soon relationship with her high school sweetheart, who is the project manager for the town's holiday light show and the caregiver of his nephew. Everything ties up neatly in the end, which I have criticized in some movies, but in Christmas in Mississippi it works because the love story starts long before the movie starts, which makes the expedited falling in love make sense. Also the plotline doesn't stray too far from the core story and they both share the same passions: Love of their home town and respective familes. Added bonus is that holiday romances don't often get a chance to feature a real place and tackle real issues, such as the Gulfport's post-Katrina recovery.

• Production: Sets and styling were Gulfport authentic 
• Suspension of belief: Medium 
• Tropes/sub-genres: Father figure character standing in for a kid's real parent(s); Return to home town; Ambitious career person vs love; High school sweethearts reunite 
• Diversity: Color in the supporting cast 
• Paranormal: Is that Kris Kringle? 
• Clownish character: No 
• Production Co: Lifetime; Active Entertainment 
• How'd you watch it: Amazon 

Christmas at the Plaza (2019) ***
Christmas at the Plaza started off pretty exciting for me: A historian is hired to curate a historical installation about Christmas throughout the years at The Plaza Hotel. She is is teamed up with the very cute and personable professional Christmas decorator. Unfortunately, the writing forewent usage of any interesting plots/subplots. They missed the most the obvious, which was to have the historian show why studying history is important since one of her issues was that her profession is so under appreciated. Instead, they took the easy trope-route to the end.

• Production: Location was set at The Plaza, so beautifully authentic. 
• Suspension of belief: Medium 
• Tropes/sub-genres: Modified enemies-to-lovers; You're boyfriend ain't right for you 
• Diversity: Just a sprinkling in the supporting cast 
• Production Co: Hallmark 
• How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from the library 

A Christmas In Royal Fashion (2018) ***
Rewatching this I noticed something: the audience is supposed to hate the evil boss, but if one of your employees impersonates you, wears your clothes and risks an important account, you’d fire them too.

Christmas Sitters (2020) ***
An ambitious career woman (Ha!) is asked to babysit her old friends's kids while she is stuck in Europe. The career woman is doing an awkward job until the friend's brother-in-law makes a surprise appearance. He is the fun to her serious, but they both prove that they are skilled and flawed in their babysitting tasks.

• Tropes/sub-genres: Opposites attract; Ambitious career woman; Rolling stone man; Family stuck somewhere due to unforeseen circumstances (Home-Alone-alike) 
• Diversity: Main characters are colorful 
• How'd you watch it: Ion Channel's holiday movie marathon 

Christmas Together (2020) ***
To get away and to figure out her life, an artist take a trip to a town called Tinsel, where she rents a house from a widowed father and his daughter. Vivica Fox shows up as the Christmasy-Cupid of a neighbor. Simple, but cute.

• Tropes/sub-genres: You're boyfriend ain't right for you; Woman falls for loving father (figure) and child aka insta-family 
• Diversity: Main characters are colorful 
• How'd you watch it: Ion Channel's holiday movie marathon 

Beaus of Holly (2020) ***
I was expecting something different here, but I guess two men interested in one woman is enough for a 90-minute film. A control-freak plans the perfect romantic holiday getaway for her and her boyfriend, including a proposal. Instead of saying “yes,”he breaks up with her and leaves. She decides to stay and try to enjoy her plans, which didn't include falling for the concierge or having to figure out what she wants when the ex shows back up.

• Tropes/sub-genres: You're boyfriend ain't right for you; Love triangle; Opposites attract; Control freak learns to relax 
• Diversity: Some of the main characters and supporting characters are colorful 
• How'd you watch it: Ion Channel's holiday movie marathon 

Operation Christmas Drop (2020) ***
A senator's aide is sent to a military base in the South Pacific to assess it for possible closure. Her escort turns out to be a philanthropic officer who cares about the indigenous people and his fellow soldiers. Cute story that exhibits the Christmas spirit on a tropical island, but no real chemistry builds between the main characters.

• Tropes/sub-genres: Enemies-to-lovers; Military; Hero 
• Diversity: A great mix, which authentically represents the setting of the story 
• How'd you watch it: Netflix

Stay tuned for Part II, The Bad movies of my holiday move marathon...

Holiday Romance Movie Marathon Part II: I forgot some

So, there's now a part II because I remembered two other movies I watched that were notable! I'm getting old, people.

Same Time, Next Christmas (ABC, 2019)- A great title that is indicative of an engaging and definitely fun holiday romance movie. While on annual Christmas vacations to the same Hawaiian resort, a boy and a girl fall in love. They grow up and find themselves in other relationships, in other cities and with conflicting obligations, but they also find themselves back at the resort for family Christmas vacations, year after intermittent year. Can the love of childhood sweethearts grow up? Of course it can! This movie spans decades and locations across the country. All of the side stories add to an overall sense of family, love and dedication. The writing and acting were both top notch. Star power includes Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Brian Greenberg of How to Make It in America. The lead actors I somewhat recognized, but I don't think I've seen them in TV or movies before. I caught this movie when it premiered on live TV,  December 5, 9 pm on KABC.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Sentimental
• Production value: High quality ABC production
• Suspension of belief: low
• Trope: Destined-to-Be-Together + Second-Chance-at-Love + Belated Epiphany
• Diversity: A virtual rainbow
• Paranormal: None
• Clownish character: None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Yes.

Christmas In Evergreen: Letters to Santa (Hallmark DVD, 2018)- For Christmas, a retail designer returns to the town and place where she had the most memorable times of her childhood. She puts her skills to work to help stage and sell the former general store, enlisting the help of a handyman who is also equal in his search for a sense of home. This could have been an amazing movie if the writers would have taken a different path and allowed the characters to communicate instead of jumping to conclusions in order to cause unnecessary conflict. There's also the super obvious solutions to problems, such as the main character wanting to own her own store and the store of her childhood memories being up for sale. Hmmm, I wonder what's going to happen in the end of this Hallmark movie? Just focus on the romance and people and stop trying to set up a semi-complex plot. Star power includes Holly Robinson-Peete from 21 Jump Street and weight-loss supplement commercials. 

• Cheesy or sentimental: Sentimental with some cheese because of the B-level writing. 
• Production value: High quality Hallmark production
• Suspension of belief: Medium. Again, the writing. 
• Trope: Returns to hometown 
• Diversity:  a good amount of color
• Paranormal: None
• Clownish character: None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No. 

Holiday Breakup (Amazon, 2016)- This is the story of a couple that met when their cars and hearts collided at a stop sign in Los Angeles. They come from different backgrounds – Los Angeles and Orange County. He's goal-oriented and business-minded... with the pressure of family expectations. She is free-spirited and passionate... with commitment phobia. They break up. They get back together. The end. This is definitely a cheesy movie: Cheesy music, cheesy acting, silly storyline and silly flashback segments. But I enjoyed it. Its cute and shot well-enough to make you appreciate good cheese.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Definitely cheesy
• Production value: Medium. They seemed to use actual locations in the LA area, so nothing looked staged. And the actors might as well have been wearing their own clothes and doing their own styling.
• Suspension of belief: Medium. The cheese.
• Trope: Opposites Attract + Fake Relationship + Belated Love Epiphany
• Diversity: They miss the mark. This is Los Angeles and only a few background colorful people make it in the frame.
• Paranormal: None
• Clownish character: The movie opens up with the female lead literally jumping up and down wearing a clown nose. That should say it all.
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Maybe!

Holiday Romance Movie Marathon 2019

'Twas the season and I, yet again, watched a ton of holiday romance movies (HRMs) from Thanksgiving all the way to a little past midnight December 26th. This year, I managed to see all six new holiday movies that Ion Channel featured. I also started another list: Annual holiday movie playlists, with movies I really enjoyed and want to watch every year. I also did research on romantic story tropes because I enjoy identifying tropes!
Thanks to Ion, I could watch marathons of holiday movies while puttering about the house, but with the many options available to stream or checkout DVDs from the library, I had to be more discerning and I stopped the bad ones instead of trying to watch them through. I found a cache of non-Hallmark, but well-made movies this year. Finally, I'm applying my new Romance Movie Checklist to each movie I watched this year.

Holiday Rush (Netflix, 2019)- A morning radio show host is out of a job after the station he works for is acquired by a bigger company. He realizes he is broke and has to move his four kids from their posh home and neighborhood to their old house on the other side of town. The DJ and his producer are also planning a way to get back on the air and be true to their roots. Cute story, good production, appropriate acting and a bit of star power with Romany Malco (Weeds) and Darlene Love (20 Feet From Stardom). I only had one issue: bad grammar. The screen text was counting down the days and it said “x day till...” Wrong! I watched it, I can easily watch it again and will happily recommend others watch it too. I like the direction of diversity the HRMs are heading in.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Lightly cheesy, but mostly sentimental
• Production value: This is a high quality Netflix production
• Suspension of belief: low
• Trope: Friends to Lovers
• Diversity: almost entire black cast
• Paranormal: None
• Clownish character: None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Maybe next year. 

Holiday Road Trip (Netflix, 2013)- A marketing executive is forced to take the company mascot, a dog, on a holiday road tour with the boss’ son. I didn’t finish this one. Patrick Muldoon is possibly on par with Tommy Wiseau from The Room. He is terrible and brought Ashley Scott, who was cute in Christmas Mail, down. It’s too bad because it looked like I was in store for an all-star supporting cast including George Hamilton, Shelley Long, Donna Pescow and Mindy Cohn. Oh well!

Christmas Calendar (Hoopla, 2017)- A woman returns to her small town after going away to school to become a lawyer. She takes over her grandma’s bakery, but soon learns the business is in financial trouble especially with a new, chain store that has its own bakery and cute a French baker just across the street. Oh yeah, it’s called Christmas Calendar because the woman mysteriously receives a Christmas calendar. Soon news spreads that she has a secret admirer that will be revealed when she opens the last calendar door on Christmas Eve. there was a basic story here that was muddied by lots of unnecessary plot vectors that never got flushed out. The story itself didn’t know where it was going. At one point the two bakers were getting ready for a bake-off, but then for no reason the editor skipped past that event and the main characters went bowling instead! The acting was b-level at best and therefore appropriate. I finished it, but there’s no reason to make watching this HRM an annual tradition. There is another movie called The Holiday Calendar on Netflix. This movie should have been called A Christmas Baked Fresh and a Warm.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Unequivocally cheesy. 
• Production value: Okay
• Suspension of belief: high
• Trope: muddled version of enemies-to-lovers
• Diversity? There are some colorful extras
• Paranormal element: none
• Clown character: they were all acting silly
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? NO.

2nd Chance for Christmas (Hoopla, 2019)- A stuck up pop-star is acting like a horrible brat to everyone and is visited by the ghost of her grandfather, played by Mark McGrath, telling her to clean up get her act together before she ends up like him, referencing an uncomfortable afterlife. This was heading into a version of A Christmas Carol that was off to a lousy start, so I stopped it. Mark McGrath as a deceased grandfather of a twenty-something?! Too bad because this one also boasted an all-star supporting cast including Tara Reid, Vivica Fox and Mark Christopher Lawrence.


Christmas Contract (Hoopla, 2018)- A winner from Hoopla, finally! This is a familiar story of a single woman who returns to her hometown for Christmas with a fake boyfriend in tow. This time the fake boyfriend is really her best friend’s brother and they signed a contract that if he acts as her boyfriend over Christmas, she will create an author feature website for him. He’s a writer. She’s a web programmer. This started down a rocky road, but soon smoothed out. The writing was surprisingly good and most of the story was believable. Acting and production value were good, too. Star power includes Jason London of Dazed & Confused fame.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Light cheese because of the trope, but nicely sentimental
• Production value? Good. Originally produced by Lifetime. 
• Suspension of belief required? Medium
• Trope(s): Enemies-to-Lovers + Fake Relationship
• Diversity? 1 colorful person
• Paranormal/science fiction element? none
• Clownish character(s)? none
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Yes. Easily enjoyable. 

Christmas Homecoming (Hallmark DVD, 2017)- I haven’t seen many HRMs that include the military, so at least for me, this was a unique film. Starting Julie Benz from Dexter and Michael Shanks who looks almost exactly like Erik Thomson the actor from the Australian show 800 Words. The story is about a widowed army wife who rents out her ADU to an injured Army sergeant. They manage to fall in love but along the way, they both have tackle loss and deciding to move on from the past. Acting is well done, there is little need for suspension of reality. Some side stories are handled better than others and for some reason the cheese is ramped up leaving the ending a soggy gooey mess, kind of like Florida Project. I shudder at the thought. I don’t have to see this again, but I wouldn’t turn the channel if it came on.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Mostly sentimental, but ends cheesily. 
• Production value? Good
• Suspension of belief required? Low until the end. 
• Trope(s): Combo of modified Second-Chance-at-Love and Belated Love Epiphany with a military theme
• Diversity? Supporting characters are authentic and colorful
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No
• Paranormal/sci-fi: no

Christmas at the Palace (Hallmark DVD, 2018)- This was a cute little predictable tale about two ice skaters who are asked to stay in the fictional country of San Segovia in order to plan and execute a skating show for the country’s founder's day. Yes, both lady ice skaters respectively fall in love with the king and his assistant and are smitten with the young princess. The conflict between the main character and the king is that they think they are too different and want different things, but lo and behold, they really want the same thing: each other, the palace and the princess.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Light cheese
• Production value? Good. Hallmark makes pretty movies. 
• Suspension of belief required? Medium. 
• Trope(s): Royalty + Invisible Barrier
• Diversity? Not really
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None. 
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No. 

The Knight Before Christmas (Netflix, 2019)- Trying to find a different kind of stories this year, I decided to watch this film about a 14th century knight who time travels to modern day 2019 to fulfill his life’s quest where he meets a modern day school teacher and of course, falls in love. Let's face it, with star power like Vanessa Hudgens, who was in 2018's Holiday Calendar (also Netflix) and Josh Whitehouse from Poldark fame, this was a can't miss movie for holiday romance movie buffs like myself. Time travel, British knights, Netflix productions.... a winning combination!

• Cheesy or sentimental? Cheesy, but touching
• Production value? Good. Netflix brings the A game.
• Suspension of belief required? High. The 14th century knight takes traveling into the future surprisingly well! He learns how to use a remote without assistance the first night there. And only after a day or two, she lets him drive her car by himself. 
• Trope(s): Fish-out-of-water + time travel + Cowboy (namely a knight)
• Diversity? Yes. That's the good thing about Netflix productions. Color abounds.
• Paranormal/science fiction element? Time travel, a magic medallion and a crone, aka witch
• Clownish character(s)? None. 
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Maybe. 

12 Pups of Christmas (Ion, 2019)- A recently broken up canine therapist leaves her practice in NYC to Move to Silicon Valley to take up a job at a failing doggy-tech firm. A combination of acting and writing led the two main characters to be fraught with mood swings and uneven personalities. It felt like the actors didn't have time to develop their characters. Story became muddled with weird and unnecessary plot vectors.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Cheesy!
• Production value? Good. Great choices of locations. 
• Suspension of belief required? Medium-high. There were some weird situations that i found hard to swallow. 
• Trope(s): Enemies-to-lovers 
• Diversity? Sprinkling of color. 
• Paranormal/science fiction element? Nono
• Clownish character(s)? None. 
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No 

A Christmas Crush- (Ion, 2019)- A woman makes a wish to have her neighbor fall in love with her. The wish comes true, unfortunately she didn’t specify which neighbor and the magic hits the wrong neighbor. So while she fights off the neighbor under the spell, she’s still trying to get to know the neighbor she likes. It was too goofy and it went on for too long. I was praying for the ending. Can’t complain about the acting.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Cheese.
• Production value? Good.
• Suspension of belief required? Medium-high. The whole wish thing. 
• Trope(s): Love spell
• Diversity? Nah. 
• Paranormal/science fiction element? Yes! Wish magic.
• Clownish character(s)? The neighbor under the wish spell
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No 

Holly Star (Netflix, 2018)- A failed puppeteer returns to her home town for Christmas and has to get a job at the Christmas tree lot to make ends meet. During a near death experience, a memory of seeing her grandpa bury a treasure comes up and she and her close friend become obsessed with finding it. At the same time she begins remembering the friendship she had with the tree lot attendant and has to sort out her feelings for him. Started rough, but quickly became fun, with interesting characters, and fun side stories. This felt very authentic as if the actors really live in this town, went to that bar and were wearing their own clothes. This can easily spin off a sequel. I’d watch this over and over again. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

• Cheesy or sentimental? Sentimental with a sprinkling of cheese
• Production value? Authentic
• Suspension of belief required? Medium
• Trope(s): Buried treasure mystery + friends-to-lovers romance
• Diversity? N! But it was authentic to this town, pretty sure
• Paranormal/science fiction element? No. 
• Clownish character(s)? The main character's best friend was a clown, but there were many goofy characters
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Absolutely

Holiday In the Wild (Netflix, 2019)- A recently separated wife and mother takes a safari vacation by herself to an African resort where she meets a rugged pilot and animal rescuer. A former veterinarian, She decides to stay past her return date and contribute to the elephant rescue efforts. Starring Kristin Davis of Sex In the City fame and Rob Lowe. Acting and story were well done.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Sentimental
• Production value? on-location authentic
• Suspension of belief required? low
• Trope(s): Scars + modified stranded
• Diversity? Yes. This film is set in Africa, so it would be mighty sad if I said no.
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No

Christmas Love Story: Love at the Christmas Table (Hoopla, 2012)- Super cute story of childhood friends who grew up and apart as adults but came together each year at the kids table of a Christmas Eve party. Despite years of joking and fighting, love and truth won them over in the end. This film included a fun dance sequence. This was amazing! I can’t even call this cheesy because it was an excellent story with great dialogue, fun elements that weren’t distracting and great original holiday music. I would call this an overall good movie and I was surprised to learn that this is the same production company that brought the world the Sharknado series as well as a slew of rip offs and cheesy action/horror flicks. They put their foot into this one, though.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Sentimental
• Production value? Excellent. Authentic sets and personal styling. I really enjoyed the camera work and film techniques used and you would think this was a production on par with Home Alone.
• Suspension of belief required? Low
• Trope(s): Star-crossed/ soul mates
• Diversity? No
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? For sure!

Christmas at Graceland (Hallmark DVD, 2018)- A Memphis native who moved to Chicago for her career is sent back home to seal a business deal. While there she reconnects... with everything! Friends, music, love, and hometown values. It all works out in the end, but in a nice smooth, entertaining Hallmark kind of way. Not to cheesy and not too sweet. Acting was on par, but the voice dubbing in the music scenes was slightly jarring.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Sentimental
• Production value? Good. It’s a Hallmark.
• Suspension of belief required? Low
• Trope(s): Return to hometown + reunion + flame never went out
• Diversity? Key characters are colorful and I think Memphis folks was represented well.
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No

A Christmas Movie Christmas (Hoopla, 2019)- The story of two sisters facing another unfulfilling Christmas when they make a wish for something more on Christmas Eve. Santa makes that wish come true by transporting them into their own Christmas movie! Cheesy plot and you can see all the standard storylines coming a mile away, but it still doesn’t work out as the sisters might have expected. Can they ruin Christmas in a Christmas movie?

• Cheesy or sentimental? Cheesy, but sentimental
• Production value? Mar Vista Productions are 50/50,  but this one was quality with authentic sets, lovely personal styling and wardrobe.
• Suspension of belief required? High, based on wish magic and the fact that they were transported into a Christmas movie, that’s understandable
• Trope(s): Be-careful-what-you-wish-for + love triangle + self-realization
• Diversity? Key characters are colorful and I think Memphis folks was represented well.
• Paranormal/science fiction element? Yes! Another wish magic movie
• Clownish character(s)? Kind of. Paul the baker has amazing supply of red envelopes and talks to his cookies
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No

Holiday Cheese 2018 Marathon Part II: Not Good Cheese

Cheesy movies have a low production value, usually subpar acting and the storylines have a ton of holes and therefore require viewers to suspend some of their realistic expectations. I like cheesy, b-level romance and this is my 2nd cheesy holiday romance movie marathon. The bar is set low, but the cheese level is high. On my scale, Good Cheese falls onto the So Good It’s Bad side of the scale and is obviously fun for me. Bad Cheese is not fun. Click here to read about 2018 Good Cheese.

Didn’t Finish

Homeless For the Holidays-This was a c-level production, crappy writing, terrible acting (Amazon)

A Christmas in New York- Stopped it 29 minutes in because it still felt they were setting up the stories of six couples in a NYC hotel. Good luck! (Amazon)

Home for Christmas- Stopped it 22 minutes in. Felt like they were trying too hard to be Girls-Judd-Appatow-like. And then there were very annoying close-up dialogue scenes. I don’t think this was intending to be cheesy. (Amazon)

Christmas Next Door- I gave this about 20 mins, but it just didn’t hook me. Granted, I watched this after Christmas, and by then I had had my fill of holiday romance. Even so, this just sucked.

And finally.... Bad Cheese!

Christmas Wedding Planner- For her first job, A wedding planner is working on her cousin’s Christmas wedding. She finds herself teaming up with her cousin’s ex to find dirt on the fiancée. Of course, they fall in love. Production value wasn’t bad, but the music supervisor should never be allowed to work again. The music was silly, obtrusive and often didn’t match the visual tone. There’s a lot of realism-suspension involved in watching B romance movies, but the ending of this movie called for too much. (Netflix)

Christmas with a View- Vivica Fox, Patrick Duffy, and Kaitlyn Leeb, who plays Cassandra on my favorite Canadian TV show, Heartland, star in this movie about a failed-restaurant-owner-turned- restaurant-manager who falls in love with a visiting celebrity chef looking to settle down. The potential for a successful b-holiday romance movie was there: good cast, good locations, good styling and costuming, but the writing was awful. So many incomplete scenes and conversations that went... Click here for a trailer. (Netflix)

Shadow Island Mysteries: The Last Christmas- I was a little perturbed that I actually finished this because I fell asleep the first time so I finished it a second night. So much time wasted. The fist thing that bugged me was that they used horror or edge-of-your-seat thriller music that was completely inappropriate. There was some bad editing. And overall it was cheesy in a bad way. (Amazon)

I’ll Be Homeless for Christmas- I’m actually hoarse from laughing so hard at this movie. It was the worst movie I have ever seen. The sound and editing and everything was so exceptionally bad that at less than five minutes in, I paused the movie and called my best friend to laugh with me. We ended up watching the whole 54 minutes together. Who in the hell would plan a heist to rob a homeless shelter?! Why are all the characters and extras suffering from lack of peripheral vision. Everyone’s clothes were ill-fitting. This was a hot, but entertaining-because-it was-awful mess. (Amazon)

Christmas With a Prince- Kaitlyn Leeb stars in anther sub-par holiday romance. A pediatrician is thrown off her game when she agrees to host an injured prince in her hospital ward. So many story lines were thrown in and quickly resolved it was like a 21 episode sitcom cobbled together into a 90 minute movie. Everything was a bit off: The editing, the acting, the writing, the production and costuming. Also, it was too long. There were at least two endings and the first one would have been just fine. This is produced by the same company (Brain Power Studio) that did Christmas With a View, which was also poopy.

A Firehouse Christmas- This one wasn’t all bad, but it turned into bad comedy toward the end and now it lives in Bad Cheese land. 

Holiday Cheese 2018 Marathon Part I: Good Cheese

Cheesy movies have a low production value, usually subpar acting and the storylines have a ton of holes and therefore require viewers to suspend some of their realistic expectations. I like cheesy, b-level romance and this is my 2nd cheesy holiday romance movie marathon. The bar is set low, but the cheese level is high. On my scale, Good Cheese falls onto the So Good It’s Bad side of the scale and is obviously fun for me. Bad Cheese is not fun. To read about 2018 bad cheese, click here. 

Good Cheese

Dashing Through the Snow- This Hallmark movie was about a professional crafter who misses her flight and decides to share a rental car with a handsome stranger heading in the same direction. There’s a Homeland Security twist to this story. Good production and acting, but the writing could have used some help. (DVD checked out from the library)

Desperately Seeking Santa- Starring Laura Vandervoort (Character actor and cheesy romance star) as an executive seeking to increase holiday sales at the mall she manages and earn herself a promotion. She contrives to hire a sexy Santa as a marketing campaign, but then she falls for him and finds a cause to stand up for. Good production and writing, but on-screen chemistry was at a minimal. I watched this with Amazon Prime.

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding- This Netflix production was spared no expense. It was really well done, top of the line cheese, complete with blooper-lined credits. We return to the story of Amber and King Richard of Aldovia who are getting ready to get married. Royal protocol keeps getting in the way of wedding bliss and to boot, there’s something fishy going on with Aldovia’s economy. Can Amber and Richard make thing s right? Of course! This is s cheesy romance. A happy ending is guaranteed! (Netflix)

Holiday Calendar- This movie was holiday Afrobubblegum: A movie about people of color that is fun and made little to no mention of race or class issues. A photographer stuck in a nowhere job is inspired to go for her dreams by the return of her best friend and the gift of a magical Advent calendar.  A Netflix production that was well done with a charming story that required little suspended belief. The diverse cast did a great job as well. (Netflix)

Dear Santa- This might have been the best cheesy holiday movie I’ve ever seen. A spoiled rich girl finds a dear Santa letter written by a little girl asking for love for her father. The rich girl takes it upon herself to provide. Along the way she finds herself genuinely giving of herself instead of by false pretense. It just seemed like there was relatively little need to suspend reality while watching this. As far as acting goes, everyone did a good job, even the little girl. The production was as good as a network TV movie. This might be my favorite. (Netflix)

Christmas at Holly Lodge- This was a really great holiday cheesy romance from the innovators of cheesy romance at the Hallmark Channel. And it stars Jordan Bridges, son of Beau. A winter lodge owner is in arrears when a real estate developer comes to investigate the property. He falls in love with the property and the owner she finds out his original intentions and plays silly games instead of just confronting him. a classical American romance movie. (DVD checked out from the library)

Switched for Christmas- Another Hallmark hit starring Candace Cameron-Bure as middle-aged adult twin sisters (she plays two roles... remember Full House?) who have fallen out of touch with each other, so they decide to switch lives to see how the other is living. Of course their relationship is rekindled and so is romance for the both of them. This was deliciously easy to swallow cheese! A sweet movie and with Hallmark on the production there are no complaints. (DVD checked out from the library)

A Holiday Engagement- This one also stars Jordan Bridges. A recently fired and dumped reporter hires an actor to play her fiancée to attend her family’s Thanksgiving dinner. The farce continues when she announces the wedding will be a week before Christmas! This was one of those storylines that made me had to suspend my logic, but it was cute and the writing, acting and production weren’t bad. (Netflix)

Princess Switch- So much royalty! So many switch-ups! This was a cute sweet colorful-people having, prince-charming, cake baking cheesy holiday romance. A Chicago-based baker is invited to participate in the Belgravia (fictional country) baking competition. When in Belgravia, she finds that her identical doppelgänger is a duchess betrothed to the prince of Belgravia. The decide to switch lives for a couple of days of course they fall in love with the men in the switched lives. (Netflix)

A Princess for Christmas- Starring Sam Heughan from the awesome Outlander series, this movie wins the prize for cheesiest-but-goodest. An out of work antique expert and aunt to two orphans, gets the opportunity to take her niece and nephew back to their father’s home country where they are royalty. She falls in love with their uncle, the prince, melts the icy heart of their grandfather, the duke, and befriends the staff. It started and I almost gave up because of the bad cheese, but I’m glad I stuck it out because those lumps smoothed out in about 30 mins. My only complaint is that the music sounded too synthesized. (Amazon... and I paid for it! Darn you, Heughan!)

I also watched and enjoyed Southern Christmas aka Heartland Christmas  and Christmas Town.