The Draw: Well, duh, because there was Time Travel... in a Hallmarkie!! Yes, I wanted to see how that would shoehorn into a typical Hallmarkie, but considering how popular Outlander has been on the specfic meets romance subgenre landscape, I am not surprised. Also, I saw that Erin Cahill, from Random Acts of Christmas, the Hallmarkie I actually watched last year because it was actually on TV, was in it. She is a staple of these movies and I enjoy her commitment to them.
HISstory:
We begin in 1903 with lead Charles Whitley (Ryan Paevey, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) buying a fancy Xmas clock, arrogantly turning down an alliance with a rival and generally putting on a, "Bah humbug!" air to the disappointment of his fiancé Eliza. Charles is all work work work and Xmas just gets in the way of his ambition. Charles won't attend the family Xmas Party with Eliza and spends the evening in his study working on the clock, where he is chastised by his best servant Rosie for his skewed perspective. He accepts a brandy, takes a heavy sip and ZOOOP the magic clock knocks him flat.
He wakes up in his own house, which is now a sort of museum slash historical reenactment type place with Megan (Erin Cahill, 911) playing the part of Rosie, Amber (Brandi Alexander, Supernatural) playing his fiancé, and a few others as his staff. Of course, he's a bit confused and angry at all these strangers hanging out in his house, and they are confused and mystified that he is not only pretending to be the master of the house, but looks a lot like the guy in the painting. After a bit of tense back & forth, including a visit to the local sheriff where he begins to realize something is awry and he will likely be considered nuts for claiming he is from 1903, he lets Megan convince people he was a fill-in for Mr. Whitley from the talent agency.
So, now he is not only trapped in 2020, but he has to pretend he is an actor playing himself. Megan has caught on pretty quickly that he was genuine, as she has been a bit of an expert on him. Not sure why a historian would focus on only one relatively unknown person for their career, but sure, whatever. She is working the house until she gets a job at The University, which is what her parents believe she should do. She also knows enough about him that he believes he has time travelled, especially after he reveals the location of his invention journal that is tucked under the floor boards upstairs in his study. That nobody ever located these after all this time, and that the book is in PERFECT condition, is just the usual hand wavey conditions of not just Hallmarkies but most Time Travel stories.
Whitley knows the clock has something to do with his time travelling but nobody really knows anything about it. Apparently it went missing without Whitley expert Megan ever learning about it. But she does know some unfortunate details about his life, such as his fiancé marrying his rival, and his family line dying off because of his mysterious disappearance. He ends up depending far too much on her, as he plays the part of ... himself, and a bit of tense connection is made between the two. His dislike of Xmas doesn't help as Megan just loves the season, even involving him in some of her usual family events -- how many people does it take to decorate a tree? Of course, everyone is hoping he is her new beau, as its been six months since her last relationship.
The 20 minute to close complication comes when Charles learns who his fiancé ended up with, and he goes on a sad Xmas walk, after being upset at Megan. But he gets over it when she explains to him that they (fiancé and rival) had a happy life together and did many a great thing for this town. And after all, he just up and disappeared. Charles seems resigned to the idea that his life will never be what he was working towards.
Megan finally gets her The University interview and while there she finds the clock! Rosie had donated it to The University after his disappearance. You would assume Charles Expert Megan would have learned that small, very obviously on display detail about his life? Whatever, she borrows it and is going to present it at the Xmas Party at the museum (his house), the Xmas Party that represents the party put on by his actual servants, that he never attended, because a) party with the servants?!?! and b) bah humbug!
She gives him the clock, they know it is there weird magic full moon on Xmas Eve, but Charles decides that everyone was right in that he was focused too much on work work work, and that everything seems to have worked out for the better, once he was gone. So he stays, he kisses Megan. Happy Day! And they lived Happily Ever After, that is, after she figures out how to get him identification papers, because he is undocumented, and you know how the US deals with that.
The Formulae:
This is more a Time Travel movie than a traditional Hallmarkie, but even so, we get some Dead Parents, who influenced his Bah Humbuggery. There are Xmas Events and even an Xmas Eve Party. And the deadline for him to get back to 1903 is on Xmas Eve, because that is when the magical full moon is. There is the 20 minutes to go complication, but there almost always is. There is the job she always wanted, but turned down for love. Still not sure why she would think working a likely min wage job at a small museum is better than a faculty job, but whatever, she gets to play dress up.
Unformulae:
Time Travel! We get time travel tropes! What are those horseless carriages? What is this wondrous food you call Pizza? People wear these dungarees on the street and don't get mistaken for the (GASP!) working class? Meanwhile he is ignoring the impertinence of this woman with a job and opinions who wanders around unescorted. As mentioned, he is getting along fine without any papers. He even cashes a check somehow.
True Calling?
Well, it has the word 'time' in a time travel movie, so sorta kinda? But not really, as nothing is timeless at all.
The Rewind:
Two bits for me. One, he sits on the TV remote and turns on the loud TV. That he understands this thing under his butt was the magic implement that activated the talking screen, but in that he immediately grasps that the red power button turns said talking box off. But Charles is an inventor so he just gets stuff, I guess.
Also, when he does his sad Xmas Walk, I noticed some familiarities. One quick IMDB lookup, and yep, this movie was shot in the same place as the Evergreen movies -- Abbotsford, BC. OMG, is the magic of the PST Evergreen Cinematic Universe also present in all its MULTIVERSE versions ??!?
The Regulars:
Mr Whitley himself, Ryan Paevey has done nine of these since 2019 himself, so his earlier stuff has been pushed away for just this genre. Good money, I guess? Erin Cahill seems to alternate between doing these movies, and single episodes of popular shows, with the occasional video game voice over. Brandi Alexander (what a name!) also alternates between these and Canadian shot genre TV shows, thought not so much of late. Zahf Paroo, actor for one of Whitley's servants, is just a recognizable BC face so we expect him to do as many of these, as he does Canadian based TV shows, genre or not.
How does it Hallmark?
It tries to schmush in the Time Travel tropes with the general Hallmarkies, but it ends up suffering on both fronts. I am not sure it succeeded on either.
How does it movie?
No, not even as a bad Time Travel movie, and we know how many of THOSE exist.
How Does It Snow?
Y'know, I didn't even notice. So either it had some decent amount of snow, forgot it was winter entirely or I am becoming immune to the affect of fake fake fake snow.
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