Tired of Christmas content? Me too. Speed round:
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Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas (2021, d. Richard Shepherd - Amazon Prime)
(1 Great) There's a moment where Zoey's brother, David (Andrew Leeds) abandons his "family newsletter" full of all the wonderful things that happened to his family this year (all made up) and instead writes with honesty about what a difficult year it's been. I started sobbing. It has been a difficult year. There are a couple of moment s where this movie lets down the veil and allows honest emotion to shine through all the pretense. I imagine this is what the show was good at?
(1 Good) I think Jane Levy is insanely charming, charismatic, funny, talented actress and am never sorry to watch her work.
(1 Bad) I cannot stand Skylar Astin and never like watching him work.
META: I've had Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on my long list of "to watch" shows for quite some time but watching this special, the two-seasons-and-a-movie finale that wraps up the show, I think I'm good. This does pretty well at standing on its own and being accessible if you haven't (like me) watched the show before. It explains the premise and sets up the "where we're at now" very quickly and concisely in the opening minute or two, and then sets off from there with a big shopping mall production number featuring Alex Newell.
As much as I like Jane Levy, and thought she was incredible with everything she is asked to do here (great comedic physicality), I don't know how much I liked Zoey... she appears here as a subtly self-centered character (Toasty, who wrote about this when it came out in 2021, and had watched the pretending two seasons, confirms that angle). Her friend Mo has this very minor side plot about dominating their boyfriend's kid's Christmas pageant that, had Zoey even bothered to inquire about, could have maybe steered them away from (Newell is a non-binary performer, I didn't catch whether Mo also used they/them pronouns). But Zoey just kind of takes more than she gives.
As noted, besides Levy and the characters playing her family (including Mary Steenburgen and Peter Gallagher), this finale had such "theatre kid energy". So much of the acting here is "performance", lacking subtlety, and the script is more of a blunt cudgel than gentle feather. So it's to its credit that it manages to find genuine heart more than once.
But yeah, I'm good. Maybe I'll swap it off the list for My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
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Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular (2024, 2-episode special)
The What 100: Four teams of two, consisting of one celebrity paired with one former Lego Masters contestant, square off against each other in holiday-themed brick builds for prize money to be donated to charity. This year's celebs are Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill), Lil Rel Howery (Get Out), Eric McCormack (Will and Grace) and Holly Robinson Peete (Christmas In Evergreen).
(1 Great) The first build of the competition was inspired by Home Alone and the teams were tasked to build minifig scale homes with seasonally-appropriate booby traps. Hearing Brickmaster Amy, with her delightful Irish accent, say "booby" (buh-beyh) over and over again delighted Lady Kent and I so. Maybe the second best inflection on "booby" next to Maya Rudolph.
(1 Good) I find Arnett's hosting generally amenable if too "dad-joke" inspired but when Arnett locks in with a contestant comedically his game goes up many, many notches. Here with fellow Canadian performer Eric McCormack, they seem to have history and a very similar sense of humour, so the pretense of a rivalry between them lasted the whole show and kept paying comedic dividends.
(1 Bad) What I enjoy most about watching Lego Masters is the often surprising, creative, phenomenal builds the contestants make, defying the brief and pushing bricklaying into an art. With these "Bricktacular" specials, the celebs are not brick masters, and the final builds may be nice but they're not at all "wow" inducing. There's also no real stakes to the competition, no eliminations...
META: I thought about doing one of my Advent Calendar posts about Lego Masters but in the "A Toast To HallmarKent" format, telling it as "Her story" from Hallmark queen Holly Robinson Peete's perspective. It would have been silly and fun, but I didn't have the energy.
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The Holiday Junkie (2024, d. Jennifer Love Hewitt - Crave)
The What 100: Jennifer Love Hewitt co-writes, directs and stars in this Lifetime-produced Hallmarkie where she plays Andie, the proprietor of an interior decorating/event coordinating/schedule planning small business. Her mom (Kristen Chenoweth) died the prior Christmas and she's still dealing with he grief when she takes on this venture capitalist client whom she hopes to impress so she can pitch her idea to evolve the business into a commercial brand of products. She goes to the guy's mansion in the perfect small town, where she will live-work for a week setting up, and she meets handyman Mason (Brian Hallisay, aka Mr. Love Hewitt). They clash at first because he's a Christmas grump (turns out his fiancee dumped him last Christmas to travel the world), but her enthusiasm returns his Christmas spirit and he shows her her potential for both business and life in a PST.
(1 Great) The film is dedicated to Love Hewitt's mother Pat, so there's a legitimate personal investment in this very stereotypical holiday romance movie, and it's felt. There's deep-seeded pain in the talking about/thinking about/being reminded of her mom scenes which really resonate on a level that most "dead parent" arcs in your average Hallmarkies do not. Exploring this grief is more the point of the movie than any other aspect.
(1 Good) The supporting players here are top notch. Greg Grunberg is Mason's best friend, Lynn Andrews as Andie's gay best friend, Debra Christofferson and Joseph C. Phillips as the diner owners Andie makes friends with... they're all great. I guess this is what happens when you cast in L.A. versus from regional theatre.
(1 Bad) J-Love's haircut. It's like she said to hairdresser "I'm going to star in a Christmas romance, give me the Chabert." Doesn't suit her at all. Also, the first meeting of Andie and Mason is some of the worst acting. I guess when you've been married a decade and had 3 kids together it's hard to pretend like you don't know each other. They both do fine beyond that.
META: I wasn't intending to watch this, it was just on when I turned the TV on, and I was mystified by the hair and wardrobe choices, such that I didn't recognize J-Love at first. I wondered what cheap, shot-in-Winnipeg, Canadian off-brand production this might be. But as it went on I started to recognize various "that person" actors and the Hollywood back-lot sets. It's still a cheap production, just not the shot-in-Winnipeg, Canadian off-brand kind of cheap.
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