Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy (2019, Hallmark)
The Story:
On the previously established single train from NYC into Evergreen, Vermont, Katie bumps into Ben on the train. Katie is a writer taking a vacation in Evergreen, but also looking for inspiration for her next novel. Ben was born and raised in Evergreen, but left for a time to be a journalist in Chicago. So, you know, they get each other.
Katie enters town and beings to roam looking for a cel phone charger (because she dropped hers bumping into Ben on the train), in utter awe of the most Christmassy place on earth. She bumps into Michelle who is now mayor, ex-mayor Ezra (who is moving to Boston), and Allie's dad. On her way to the general store she runs into Allie (Evergreen 1's protagonist) giving Lisa (Evergreen 2's protagonist) pills for the dogs she's looking after while Allie and Ryan are in Paris for Christmas. Lisa, who has lost ALL of her badass cool and style from Evergreen 2 gives Katie a cel phone charger and a free hat (the ones Hannah makes). Allie calls Lisa out on being a terrible business owner.
Hannah gives Katie a lift to the Megan's B&B where they run into Elliott hanging decorations. Katie comments on the sparks that are flying between Hannah and Elliott and Hannah blushes but dismisses it. Elliott's just her best friend from childhood. Katie then makes her way to the library, run by Nan (Ben's foster mother), where Ben's doing story hour with the town's dozen children. David, the town's only teenager, shows up leading Katie and Ben to the Kringle Kitchen for the Historical Society meeting, where she encounters the snow globe. Discussion of a lost "Christmas time capsule" seeds the big catch for the film. It was hidden in town by Hannah's parents and Allie's grandparents, but seemingly nobody knows where it is. Seemingly. Allie interrupts to say goodbye for Christmas, and the well wishes and hugs she gets from family, friends and neighbours really solidifies the sense of community that Evergreen has established.
Ben's very wary that Katie's out to write a hit piece on Evergreen, noting that people just aren't cynical here. From the outside, the Xmas obsession may seem like a joke, but it's the town's identity and he's worried of the outside world tainting it. They're interrupted by a scream from the KK Cafe (whoof, close one there) where Hannah has dropped the snow globe!!! (Nick, whose beard looks more and more fake each year, "accidentally" bumped her)
She takes the snow globe to Elliott (who now runs the craft center/repair shop her parents used to own) to see if he can't repair it and they start their love journey which, surprisingly, takes up almost as much screen time as the Katie/Ben, but is actually 10 times more effective. It's really, really great. The side trip to the glass-making place (to make the new dome for the snow globe) finds Elliott and Hannah having their own sensual pottery-scene-from-Ghost-moment. It's probably the sexiest a Hallmark movie has ever gotten. It's very, very intimate. As they repair the snow globe, they find under the model sleigh that was in the snow globe a painted on key. What could that mean? A mystery is afoot, but young David, who is all about mysteries involving keys, is on the case.
A cookie baking montage leads to Nan giving David a few more clues as to the secret of the time capsule's whereabouts. A visit to Henry Miller's tree farm finds the sleigh which was the inspiration for the one in the snow globe, which leads David to look underneath and find a secret apartment containing a key. Later, Hot Mom looks at one of the photos Nan gave David and they find a keyhole, which, obviously fits the key David found under the sleigh. They turn the key and all the wooden slats of the building fall away (in absurd CGI fashion) to reveal a two-story high advent calendar. Nan and Nick were instigating the discovery of the capsule, for years teasing it out, all to make sure it's revealed on December 1st on its 50th anniversary.
This is about 40 minutes/half way into the film and what was a tedious and seemingly pointless film suddenly sparks to life. The town gathers as Mayor Michelle opens the first advent calendar box (which is made of fiberboard and has slidey drawers, neither of which existed like this 50 years ago).
As the story goes, the town came together in a snow storm and decided to build a time capsule. It so unified the town, that they decided to make Christmas their thing and use the capsule to ensure the spark of unity in town was maintained. The town gathers every day, drawing a name from a hat to see who opens the calendar. In a smarter movie, the advent calendar would have been revealed early in the film and the film's structure would take place around opening it and providing something meaningful to characters and the town. Alas, they kind of montage over much of it, just pausing for brief moments meaningful to the major characters in town.
Early complication has Ben find a rough draft of an article Katie is writing about for her mother's big time business magazine, but as usual these complications are easily put to rest and the characters move on. I hate that these films spend so much time setting up big complications only to find they're so trivially resolved, but at the same time, the resolution of these complications really should just take an adult conversation between two mature people.
While adding glitter to the snow globe with Elliott, Hannah finds her mother's long lost wedding ring (which is actually her engagement ring, people!). Her excitement brings her and Elliott close to kissing. It's a rather sweet moment. Thomas returns from business early to surprise Michelle, providing a beautiful coda to the oversimplified love story they got in Evergreen 2. Later Hannah gives her brother the newly found mom ring, you know, in case he has need for it.
I've never care so little about the A-plot of a Hallmark movie...the Katie and Ben love story is so superfluous to the things happening in town to characters we already know and like. They sit together and talk over Katie's story when she informs Ben she's going back to NYC the next day. In a well played moment, it's obvious to both this relationship isn't going to progress, despite the attraction. They go out caroling with Nan and Hannah and Elliott, which is the worst caroling I've ever seen (mostly in the fact that it's the cast singing, but they play terrible prerecorded singing over top of it...it's an abomination). At the Christmas marshmallow roast, Ben and Katie have a kind of tepid moment, Hannah and Elliott have a sweet moment, and Thomas and Michelle have a very beautiful moment.
After building snowmen, Katie heads back to NYC. "Bye!" the townspeople say without any sense of connection or familiarity. Hannah meanwhile runs into Elliott at the church, where he's playing a beautiful song on the piano. They have an intimate moment after they sit down and play a rendition of "Heart And Soul" but as "Oh Christmas Tree" where they tell each other that they like each other, but are nervous about what it may do to their friendship.
Meanwhile, in NYC, who cares.
Days later, Ben is in NYC for a job interview and he has lunch with Katie, and she brings him to her mom's magazine holiday party. They share a kiss before he leaves, a sign of what could have been....
With 20 minutes left to go, they introduce the Cooper sisters (played by the creepy old lady twins from Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events). They don't get a speaking role but in the coda Katie intones that they will be at the center of next year's Evergreen tale.
On the final advent calendar day, there's a stack of savings bonds which have accrued after 50 years, giving the town a sudden influx of resources (which Ezra says should be enough to perhaps build another road into town). Nan and Nick hook up, and Nick's taking over Ben's job at the library so he can go get a big city job and be with Katie, who has returned to Evergreen with her mom to spend Christmas. They kiss, and Ben gets a job interview at her mom's magazine.
At the Christmas Festival, David gets to open the last gift, and he cedes his time to his Dad to propose to Michelle. It's a clumsy and awkward proposal, which kind of makes it good, but also a little shoehorned in when it could have been a much bigger, better moment.
Katie notes in the closing moment that Ben moved to New York a few months later and she wrote her second book which was literally just the first two Evergreen movies, with the tease of the twins story being her next book and next year's movie. The end.
The Draw:
I said I would watch all three of these, and so I did.
The Formulae:
Well, the big city girl going to the Perfect Small Town, of course. As well as cookie baking/decorating. Seasonal traditions/activities (snowman building/skating).
Unformulae:
Honestly, because we're in sort of franchise mode, this one falls out of formulae pretty nicely. I mean the fact that Katie didn't move to Evergreen and, in fact, took someone OUT of Evergreen with her is pretty groundbreaking.
Plus, Hannah and Elliott and Thomas and Michelle, as persons of colour, get rather great, well written story lines in this one, not just the dashed off afterthought like Thomas and Michelle in the last entry. As far as romance goes, their stories as B and D plots (with the advent calendar being the C-plot) are quite exceptional and very romantic. I'm still bummed that Hannah and Michelle aren't being brought together as a couple but this serves them both very well. It puts them both as central figures in Evergreen and not just in token roles. Even young David has become an integral part of the town, on his way to being town historian.
The advent calendar and how it unifies the town is a really cool concept. It's perhaps underutilized but when they do use it, it creates some really sweet moments, like for Hot Mom and ex-mayor Ezra.
True Calling?
I think it should have been called Evergreen's Christmas Advent Calendar, but this is fine. There aren't really "tidings" in it (definition of tiding - "the announcement of an event or occurrence not previously made known").
The Rewind:
Watching that wall fall away. They tried to make it look like there was some actual mechanism at play.
via GIPHY
The Regulars:
Obviously all the townspeople are regulars now. Holly Robinson Peete and Rukiya Bernard both get well deserved bumps in this one (and Robinson Peete gets her own Hallmark lead this year, finally, in A Family Christmas Gift.
Veteran Hallmark star Maggie Lawson is the ostensible lead in this one, and she's fine, but I don't think I've been less interested in a lead character who wasn't from Full House. She's not an interesting character. She's basically an outsider's gateway into Evergreen. She brings nothing to the table, not like Allie or Lisa in previous years.
Paul Greene is also a veteran Hallmark lead and he too is fine, most of the time. At times it seems like he's doing really, really bad improv, especially when he's responsible for exposition or a scene transition. His character's connection to Evergreen brings a bit more to the story than Katie, but really beyond introducing Nan as another integral part of town, he brings little to enhance the town. Really, this film could have been built entirely without these two characters.
How does it Hallmark?
It's so Hallmark, but it's the good kind of Hallmark which doesn't just rest on its cliches. Evergreen is now a sweet damn community that I'm surprised myself I'm keen to revisit next year. What's up with them twins?
How does it movie?
Oh, this is way to poorly plotted to be a real movie, but like I said last time, it's a good "Evergreen Annual", a nice place to visit for 84 minutes.
How does it snow?
I think there's real snow, mixed with cotton batting and fake snow. It's obviously late-season, maybe mid-spring given how everyone walks around with their collars undone or jackets open.
Sorry Toasty, no pic of a phone in this one. There's a superimposed "dead battery" symbol though...
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