d. Stacey N. Harding
T&K Go Loopty Loo - Hanukkah Edition - Oh, we love a time loop. It's clear that we're not the only one. Round and Round is, no word of a lie, the best Hallmarkie I've ever seen. It's also a pretty great time loop movie. It's evident that the writer of this holiday romcom (Tamar Laddy) knows time loops well, and isn't just trying to ape other time loop movies. The script actually brings something new to the genre, both in lore and self awareness. There were some definite surprises, so if you're interested in watching this (and it's worth watching) spoilers below.
How did the Loop Begin?
Rachel is awoken with a phone call from Mom, having slept in with too much editing to do (a Hanukkah gift from her boss at the publishing house). She's tasked with picking up the special sufganiyot (a jam filled donuts) from a specific bakery for her parents anniversary celebration on the 7th day of Hanukkah. Her dick professor boyfriend, Adam, calls with an "airport cold" and cancels on the meeting-the-family gathering. It's the last Hanukkah in her family home before her parents sell it which is stirring up emotions.
It's disaster at the train station when a stranger bumps into her, and sufganiyot goes flying everywhere. The dude is in too big a rush to do much other than apologize. He drops his ornate box which Rachel picks up. At home, there's a light with a flicker that bugs Dad. Sister Soshana, wife Bex and nephew are there and uncles and cousins (including the snobby and posh moved-to-Britain-four-years-ago one) and Gramma Rosie all arrive.
Gramma Rosie wants to set Rachel up with Zach, an artist and art teacher, who drove her to the party, and he turns out to be the guy she ran into at the station. Rachel is not impressed. She returns his fancy box, it turns out he's a big D&D nerd (it's got special D20s in it from his Zayda). Crappy BF Adam butt dials her. Gramma Rosie gifts Rachel a beautiful antique dreidel that's been in the family for generations.
The cousins play competitive dreidel, but when Rachel spins her heirloom one, some magic starts to happen, but is interrupted when the curtains catch fire from faulty stringlights. The fire department comes, and once all is said and done, the damage isn't substantial but enough Rachel's parents have to postpone closing the house. But the party is over and everyone is off to bed.
Rachel wakes up the next morning to a phone call from her mom, telling her to pick up sufganyot for the party... let the loop begin.
It was the antique, family heirloom dreidel.
What was the main character's first reaction to the Loop?
Rachel at first thinks she just woke up from a dream and is having deja vu. When she gets to the bakery, she's chatted up by the same woman from the first day and asks if they've met before (she says "people sometimes mistake me for Barbara Streisand"). When she gets to the train station and runs into the busker playing the same song as the day before, she asks if he knows any other songs ("sorry, no requests") and then she's bumped into again by Adam (sufganiyot goes flying), and she knows what's up. She tells Shoshanna who writes it off, and then tries to prove her time looping to her sister-in-law Bex who makes a Nicholas Cage in Next reference (!), and then... Montage. (I thought about 3-6 time loops went by but it was just the better part of one day). Late in the day, Rachel assumes that because Zach is a nerd, that she can confide in him about the loop. She's right.
WHY did the main character get put into the Loop? Can someone else be brought into the Loop?
So, it turns out that the dreidel is not just a family heirloom, but also something every member of the family line (Gramma Rosie, her dad, even Soshana) gets a turn at going through a time loop. But before she learns any of this (which is only once she's out of the loop), she tries to bring Soshana and Bex in but they're seemingly too pre-occupied, but Liam quickly gets it. He tries to put his number in Rachel's phone and says for her to call him if she loops again, but she points out the obvious that if the day resets so does her phone (but neglects to even try to remember his number).
The next loop, she's waiting for Zach at the train station, and, despite precautions, the sufganiyot still gets spilled, but Rachel has learned in the previous loop they key things to get Zach on board...and he's on board quickly. On the way to picking up Gramma Rosie together, Rachel's filling in Zach on all the things she's tried to change but keep happening anyway (the donuts, the fire) and Zach tells her that "in those time-loop movies, the main character always has a big change to make in their lives"
How long is this time Loop? What resets it? Can you force the reset?
Rachel is in the loop from wake-up to bedtime. They make it past midnight in one loop so it's definitely not a calendar day, but going to bed resets it. I can only think that if this weren't constricted to the sub-90-minute Hallmark format that we would see a bit more of them pushing these limits.
How long does the main character stay in the Loop? Does it have any affect on them, their personality, their outlook?
This is concrete, it's 7 nights. It seems like it should be more, but I get the thematic significance of it being 7 nights, and it really makes it quite special, tying it all in with the festivities.
Over the 7 days Rachel gets more confident, more proactive, and ready to do more in her life.
What about the other people in the Loop? Are they aware? Can they become aware? Does anything happen if they become aware?
Each time Rachel approaches Zach in a loop, he becomes totally into trying to figure out why Rachel is in a time loop, digging through treasures of her past, coming across her manuscript, and taking her to a local comic book store to see if they can help. The comic shop nerds don't seem to even bat an eye, they are in! Seth, the comic store manager, goes directly to the "time loop" section of the store and gives Rachel her "homework" (I'm not going to say it's the production so much as the actor really doesn't know how comic shops work when he's selecting his comics). Rachel protests, but then she's reminded that in Groundhog Day Bill Murray spent potentially more than 12,000 days in the loop, they're going to have to get to work. They brainstorm, and logic that maybe the antique dreidel was the "inciting incident". So Rachel, Zach and Seth head back to Rachel's folks to retrieve the dreidel. They spin it, but nothing immediately happens. She gets butt dialed by dick BF, Zach and Seth suss out what bar he's at. Zach wonders if dealing with him is what ends the loop. So they go to the bar, Rachel confronts Adam, and alas, no change, except she winds up having a great time with Adam, and she really regrets that he won't remember her the next day.
It's the seventh loop when Rachel's her most proactive and meets Zach at his home first thing in the morning, and it becomes the most difficult loop for him to accept her... the charming, natural rhythm they have had for the past six days seems more difficult, and things seem...different...
What does the main character think about the other people in the Loop? Are they real? Do they matter?
In the fifth loop at the comic store, Rachel, Zach, Seth and the other guy discern that time loop characters are "stuck" somehow, and they begin probing Rachel's life. It's time for her to return to her young adult fantasy manuscript, and they are just the squad to help her refine it. It starts her on a new path, but as much as they're helping her, and Rachel uses the time to learn more about the people around her, and maybe even help others make new connections.
In the sixth loop, the nerds suspect that maybe it's getting the donuts to the party that will end the loop, so they put all efforts into getting those donuts to their destination. At the bakery, Rachel gets her usual call from dick boyfriend and decisively dumps him. Zach finds out that Mildred, the nosy lady in line at the bakery, is all alone on Hanukkah and coaxes Rachel into inviting her to the party. Turns out she's one of Gramma Rosie's old friends. On the way Zach and Rachel kiss. She's really into him and he clearly gets that she knows him, and he likes it. He's a positive, optimistic guy, so he's going with it. But... the Hallmark complication.
Most memorable event in a Loop? Most surprising event during a Loop?
Adam has turned up at the party! (WHAT!?!) The dick boyfriend is now the dick ex-boyfriend who refuses to be the dumpee. I totally didn't see that coming...even though that's the total Hallmark formula, for the dick boyfriend who never has time for his girlfriend to show up in the third act.... but in a time loop it's so effing clever for it to be the anomaly. Just a stunner.
This makes things ugly and awkward, but it's still a lovely gathering and family celebration and no fire! Gramma Rosie acknowledges that, yeah, she knows something is up with the dreidel but refuses to really say anything more. Gramma Rosie is kinda hilarious. Rachel spins the antique dreidel, magic happens, and she wins everything... except Zach leaves, feeling really down about this girl he's only known for half a day but clearly connected with.
The next morning Rachel wakes up...in her parent's house. She freaks out, so excited for the day to be moving on. Her dad comes in and spills the beans that he too had a time loop to win her mother's heart, and so did Soshana in finding true love with Bex. It's a freaking family tradition! I love it.
But even more, the reunion of Rachel and Zach is straightforward and charming, but even better when Rachel figures out that the special box Zach's been using to protect his dice given to him by his grandfather is the perfect home for the dreidel, and the combination allows Zach to get the memories of the past 7 days back. I love this suddenly very magical reality that exists, and I want to know and explore more!
How does this stack up in the subgenre?
It's a love letter to time loop movies. It namechecks Palm Springs, Edge of Tomorrow, Groundhog Day, even the Paper Girls comic. It really, really understands and likes time loops and timey-wimey things. On top of more nerdiness than ALL the Hallmarks in history combined, there's also a couple needledrops (I Melt Wtih You by Modern English most prominently). It's not an epic production, it uses the time loop as the perfect vehicle for a holiday movie and a rom com.
Clearly Tamar Laddy is a fan of time loops, and understands the tropes very well. She's also clearly well versed on nerd culture (you don't just drop a Next reference), so what could have been very Big Bang Theory (remedial nerd) is sort of like Nerdity 102 (it's not super duper advanced, because she knows she's still playing in Hallmark territory, but she could go hardcore if she wanted to). She also wrote Crashing Through The Snow, one of my favourite Hallmarkies, she does romantic comedy very very well. I think her scripts are so savvy in playing with subgenres that she could be writing feature films, but maybe she just enjoys playing in the Hallmark realm. Whatever her motivation, I'm a fan.
To be blunt, this was awesome. I enjoyed it immensely. It's probably the best movie Hallmark has ever made, or, if not, the best I've ever watched. The cast is not the usual stable of Hallmark actors. Rachel is played by improv comedian and actress Vic Michaelis. She's super charming, nails the comedy, aces connecting with her costars, and is cute as hell. I know Bryan Greenberg from later seasons of The Mindy Project (which he was on for the time loop episode as well, and he played a nerd there too). Dad is played by Rick Hoffman, who is a total "hey, that guy!" character actor who is best known for being on Suits). Paula Shaw plays Gramma Rosie, and she's been in so many Hallmarkies, but she's never stood out so wonderfully. I kept seeing Carrie Fisher or Debbie Reynolds in her performance. She save some extra special energy for this one.
I seriously, seriously loved this. This is, easily, my favourite Hallmarkie of all time. It's also the best holiday time loop I've seen so far. Yes. Just yes!
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