Bonnie plays Abby (Kat Graham, The Vampire Diaries) a photographer in a PST's Xmas Fair. I am not sure what she does in the off seasons, but whatever it is, her parents are not happy. They don't see a life in photography and want her to come work at Dad's law firm. Now, THIS is the old school Hallmark formula where she has access to all the money in the world (you should see her giant loft apartment), but just wants to go her own way.
Abby welcomes her life long best friend Josh (Quincy Brown, Star) back to town, back from his world travels and popular travel blog. They are Just Friends, but the twinkle in Josh's eyes says a whole lot more than she catches. Its December 1st and the family are celebrating their tree lighting, kind of early if you ask me, but it gives us an opportunity to see a picture perfect family, including Gramps (Ron Cephas Jones, Luke Cage) who has just recently closed up his house, and moved into a retirement home. From the remainder of his wife's possessions (Dead Gramma; sip a shot of brandy?) he gifts Abby her wonderful European Advent Calendar.
Turns out this thing is magic and you cannot get the lil doors open until midnight and the glow of Xmas Magic allows for it. Abby finds a cute lil wooden Xmas Tree inside. And that night, an Xmas Tree falls off of Dr Spock's (Ethan Peck, Star Trek Discovery) car, and into hers. Meet cute!
But really, the movie is still properly focused on the great friendship between Abby and Josh. These two do a wonderful job of a real cutesy, close but not too close connection between the two, including a repeating Fake Pose for a shot with a Fake Camera, tied by the fact they both have a love of photography. Abby's goal in life is to make a living from it, while Josh's was to travel and shoot, which he has been doing, while she was stuck at home, going nowhere and pining to have her own studio. She even has a place picked out, but cannot afford the rent. Do people even go to portrait studios anymore?
Of note, Abby's photos are pretty good. This is not the terrible (TERRIBLE!) art we have seen from the earlier movies' "artists". And they actually choose a style for her, something she shoots for her own love of photography, in between candid lifestyle shots. Its a decent little note.
So, said Magic Calendar continues its journey and Meet Cute ends up as day after day of Picture Perfect Dating. Dr. Spock is this PST's most eligible bachelor (dead wife; take a shot!) and everyone delights in the two dating. Everyone but Josh, who is hurt, but tries to be as supportive as he can. That is, until Abby starts catching on that Dr. Spock is a perfect man on paper (doctor, gives Great Date, works with the homeless, etc.) but not so much IRL. Once she catches on, she dumps his ass, which is followed up by a Tension Filled Conflict between her and Josh involving an SD card of deleted photos, a lost opportunity and Dick Boss firing her from her elf photography gig.
Then comes the pity party, where Abby hides at home watching Netflix (the network's other holiday flicks, of course) and eating junk food. Her sister rescues her and issues the Best Line Ever, one that I heard last year as a meme or tweet fest, but did not connect it to this until now:
"You smell of Cheetos and Sadness..."
By this time, Abby has been ignoring the Magic Advent Calendar, but sister's dig gets her off the sofa to finalize a contribution to the Silent Auction Xmas Event (take a shot) -- a stack of her best photos. She also piles the calendar and all the unopened gifts from Dr. Spock into her car and heads to the event. She has not heard from Josh since their fight, and its coming up on Xmas. One fight, one outburst ruins a lifelong friendship? How strong was it to begin with...
Of course, her photography does incredibly well and the opportunities find their way back to her, but alas no Josh and no Advent Calendar. Whatever will Abby do? Seek the wisdom of Gramps, of course, who steps in as the Magic Maybe Really Santa role, providing a connection to the fantastical power of belief. And on Xmas Day, Abby finds the Advent Calendar is back. Inside is a snowflake, and an address. She follows the trail, on a lovely snowy day, to find Josh at the studio she always wanted to rent. Magic Advent Calendar has finally worked its magic, and like the Magic Angel of Christmas (minus being uber scary) its goal was to connect her to True Love. Apparently, Josh was not just goofing off while he back-packed around the world, but made some good cash from his travel blog. Enough cash to buy the building, so he and Abby can setup a studio and Live Happily Ever After.
Footnote. They actually do a Year Later, where they are still a couple, the business is successful and named Magic Advent Calendar Photography. Yes, an epilogue just for the name of the store.
The Draw: Yeah it was mainly Bonnie from The Vampire Diaries but also the addition of a bit of Holiday Magic. I am a sucker for any magic, minus Scary Angels. Now, if Bonnie only hadn't kept on making the same "character quirk" twisting of her mouth, for every... single... scene, I would have enjoyed her performance more. The first few times, it was like, "Oh, she's developing her character." Then fifteen times later, it was all the Director yelling, "Now, do it again! Do her Thing !!"
The Formulae: The basics here, with some PST love, another movie shot in North Bay and Niagara-on-the-Lake, just like Christmas Inheritance. Wouldn't be surprised if they were shot at the same time with the same crews. There are carolers, an Xmas Event and a Dead Significant Other. But no red dress, unless you count what she wears to one of the dates.The method of Date Bad Choice vs Finally Get Together with Good Choice was there, albeit along a different path.
Unformulae: The whole starting on Dec 1st, magical Advent Calendar was a step outside of formula. Also,
True Calling? For about half the movie, the plot was about the Advent Calendar, so yes. But then, when the leads had their fight, it gets dropped. And we don't even get to find out what cute lil carved toys came out of the magically lit holes!! Poor Little Advent Calendar must have felt all abandoned !
The Rewind: Cheetos and Sadness FTW !!
The Regulars: Abby's sister is played by Genelle Williams, a Canadian actress I know from Warehouse 13, but has done quite a few of these movies. And that's about it.
How does it Hallmark? Nicely done, I would say. Sweet, endearing, quirky and chock full o'family values and close, caring people. What I like about these movies is when we just have nice people being nice to each other. I need more of that in our Orange Voldemort world.
How does it movie? To be honest, this is the first I would say was a contender for just being a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy movie. Sure, it establish all the normal tropes of Hallmark, but without relying on them nor diving in so deep, it went cheesey, unless you count Cheetos.
'This is not the terrible (TERRIBLE!) art we have seen from the earlier movies' "artists".'
ReplyDeleteWhat, you mean like this: https://tinyurl.com/v3zkdhg
?
Also, "How does it snow?"
ReplyDeleteI like how we now have our own form of Rick (Fick?) Rolling.
ReplyDeleteI actually don't recall at all how it snowed, which means it either didn't bother attempting the fake snow thing, or there was minimal use of real snow.