2022, Rich Newey (A Song for Christmas) -- download/Hallmark
The Draw: One, because Kent watched it and his post made me curious, and also because we also watched Spirited (which I am holding for my Leftovers post) and I was interested in doing the comparison.
HERstory: Katherine (Kate? Kat?) is a Ghost of Christmas Present. She, and her team of Scroogers, have just had another great success with Susan Kraine, a singer of a very popular Xmas song who soured with age. Back in Scrooge Central (is there a name for this agency?), they have a brief moment of downtime, which Kate (Kim Matula, The Bold and the Beautiful) uses to wander around her hometown of Hartford, Connecticut and is actually seen by Peter Baron, before being zooped back to SC.
Their next job, which they get the entire year to prepare for, is Peter Baron, which confuses the glitter out of them, as he is such a nice guy, charitable and generous. But he does have some baggage regarding his father. We also see that Roy, Ghost of Christmas Future (Reginald VelJohnston, omigawd its Al from Die Hard) knows something he is not telling, and even Arlene (Lori Tan Chinn, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens), Ghost of Christmas Past is keeping something from Kate. But this is the gig they have been given.
Peter still remembers Kate, and is not at all bothered by being Scrooged. In fact, he loves the whole genre, with Scrooged being his favourite, but also likes the (terrible, according to Kent) "Carrie Fisher one". He also remembers Kate, from those few minutes meeting a year ago. Kate and Peter have great chemistry, and he even convinces Arlene to allow her to come along on his Past journey. There are Dad Issues, and he really misses his Grampa, who he idolized. In Christmas Present, they are more concerned with flirting and Peter's real life desires (Kate!) than really finding anything to fix, and there is a brief (ewww, David, ewww!) moment where we might think Kate is Peter's grandmother, but with one resolution in mind - that Peter cannot run the business' -- they are zooped back to SC.
Yeah, SC screwed up. It was Peter Robert Baron they were supposed to Scrooge, which makes sense, as Peter's Dad is quite the Scrooge (versatile word!) and we all should have caught on earlier. They need to fix the fuckup, which wasn't theirs, but they don't get the year to prepare. This needs to be done by Xmas this year! Luckily, they usually complete Scrooging by Dec 23, so they have a few days. And since they used up most of the Past Present Future magic on Peter Jr, they will need his help to Scrooge Peter Sr.
Peter Jr is willing and they recruit Susan Kraine, to play at Peter Sr's Xmas party, to sing her famous, absolutely terrible auto-tuned song. Sr responds well, but not to Jr's overtures. So then Arlene decides to take Jr and Kate back into... Kate's past. Waitasec, I thought the magic was all used up? No matter, Peter gets to exactly how much of a wonderful person Kate was, and how she died tragically on Xmas day, and how her death was tied to Peter's family -- she was Peter's grandmother's best friend, and her death inspired her and hubbie to become as charitable as they did. And there was a letter that outlines it all. To be honest, how learning how great Kate was inspires Peter Sr to be a better man is all muddy to me, but its all played out rather well, as it kind of reveals that it was Kate being truly Scrooged all along. Not become a better person, but really understand what she truly wants ... out of her afterlife? Again, kind of a muddy revelation, but rather sweet as all she has to do is walk back through a pair of pearly gatish doors and she is back on Earth to finally connect truly with Peter, and live happily ever after this time.
The Formulae: This one was not about the tropes, and not even really about the Scroogey formula. While Kate does wear a rather fetching red coat through most of the movie, she doesn't do anything else beyond Peter Sr's lame company Xmas party. If anything, the formula of Hallmark comes in the "I just met you but I love you" aspect, which the two actors play out quite convincingly.
Unformulae: Pretty much all of the movie?
True Calling? No, not really. Beyond the lame attempt to connect to A Christmas Carol with the "Ghost of..." reference, there is no "always". They could have tried harder.
The Rewind: Yeah, it was just the confirming that Peter did indeed reference the Carrie Fisher movie.
The Regulars: Not a whole lot really, and none that stand out.
How does it Hallmark? If I was to judge this purely from the goal of Hallmark Channel, to present a fun, funny and charming love story, then they did brilliantly. I really felt the connection between Peter and Kate, and they were both people I wanted to see have better lives together.
How does it movie? Better than most Hallmarkies, with real genuine funny bits, but still not likely one that I will watch again. But, spoiler alert, I did enjoy it more than Spirited.
How Does It Snow? I actually didn't pay much attention to how it fit into the story, but there were some gently falling snow scenes where I just was so wrapped up in the moment, I didn't even catch if they were fake or digital. Which is exactly how its supposed to played out !
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