T&K's XMas (2024) Advent Calendar: Day 5 - A Christmas in Tennessee

2018, Gary Yates (On the 12th Date of Christmas) --- Amazon

I have been in Sault St Marie, ON most of the past week. And continuing the tradition of work trips in November, as soon as I arrived it started snowing. And it really didn't stop snowing until Saturday night. Seriously. You could call it 5+ separate snow storms over the week, or one long one that had a few respites. It got much worse later in the week, so much so that our Friday night flight was at first delayed, then cancelled outright, rescheduled to the wee hours of Sunday morning, and then rescheduled again to a more manageable Sunday afternoon. By Sunday the snow had morphed from a giant inconvenience into something meant for picturesque winter social media posts.

But all this snowy weather, and next to no time for snow removal meant we were pretty much all stuck in the hotel. Oh, we did a few treks out into the unplowed sidewalks looking for non-hotel bar food, but there were many a day/night where we just couldn't go anywhere -- except the office, which is literally across the parking lot from the hotel. I wish I had thought of this a non-stop opportunity for Hallmarkies sooner, but I did get one in.

Of note, as seen in Kent's posts, I have been under the weather so not writing and .... even worse... not watching.

The Draw: Honestly? Because I signed into my Amazon account and this was the first "traditional" one that popped up, along with a pair of familiar faces.

HERstory: We open with a flyover of a very typical Hallmarkie PST, snow covered mountains, quaint little town. This must be the plot-starter town, right? Because Tennessee is "down south" isn't ? So doesn't that mean mild winters, if any, and definitely not snow covered mountains. Right? Well, apparently the Great Smoky Mountains do see snow, but still, I am not sure if the CGI mountains depicted in the opening are Tennessee style mountains, probably something more akin to The Rockies.

Anywayz, 

Allison (Rachel Boston, 500 Days of Summer) runs the local quaint bakery with her mom (Patricia Richardson, Home Improvement) and daughter -- hubbie lit out many a year ago. They do alright but daughter Olivia is under the impression they aren't doing so well, because of a stack of bills. She writes a Letter to Santa which asks him to arrange for all the cookies in their shop be purchased. The letter is meant to be printed in the local newsletter, so the teacher who got it tells Allison -- it would be somewhat embarrassing if the public saw that. Allison walks away with the letter hoping to talk to Olivia about it, but an errant gust takes it away.

Matthew (Andrew Walker, Christmas Island) and Rebecca (Stephanie Moroz, A Dream of Christmas) arrive and are setup in the quaint B&B. They are Business People here to make an offer on sections of the town square, which would allow the entire PST to be turned into a mega-ski-resort. Again, not convinced Tennessee is a ski-resort kind of state. There is some sort of weird dynamic between the two; at first I thought they might be siblings, cuz she has a rather overbearing personality for someone who is supposed to be his assistant.

Allison first meets Matthew in the quaint antique shop where he is trying to find an Xmas gift for his mom -- he has promised her he will make it home for Xmas this year because usually he is all work work work.  But then he breaks shit, and gets caught by Allison as she appears bearing cookies. Instantly he is smitten. Cookies always get the boy -- but Matthew is on a no-sugar diet; stupid Matthew.

Later Sabrina's Aunt Hilda shows up dressed as Mrs Claus (Caroline Rhea, A Mrs. Miracle Christmas) and samples Allison's wares (bow chicka wow wow). She is smitten and buys out all the cookies for the day stating her husband will really want to try them. Kind of a weird pivot to have magic show up in this movie, but that letter did float away and there isn't much attempt to masquerade who she is supposed to be.

Meanwhile Allison has learned that only two descendants of the town founders have the ability to sign away the town square -- herself and the guy who runs the .... snowboarding store. She definitely doesn't want to sell, but he's OK with it -- he just wants to be able to retire with a nice nest egg. But it would mean Allison would be kicked out of not only her bakery but also her home, as they live above it.

Meanwhile... wow this movie has a lot of subplotting going on... at the first Xmas event, a recital, Matthew steps in and drives off some kids who were bullying Olivia, while Allison is trying to convince her mom to sing at the Xmas Even event (another recital? I dunno). Meanwhile Allison and Matthew get locked in a dressing room, her wearing an inviting red dress, and get to know each other (no bow chicka, no wow wow) but make it out in time to watch Olivia as a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Then Mrs Claus shows up with her husband and they put in a MASSIVE order to be delivered on Xmas Eve. Olivia writes another letter, to replace the one she doesn't even know got away, and it gets printed in the newsletter, which is then pick up by social media (bloggers... cringe) which then becomes A Story about how her mom really needs the bakery to be successful. 

Olivia has invited Matthew over for dinner and Allison cannot say no. After dinner they do the requisite baking montage. They do lots of stuff you shouldn't do if really baking. I am butthurt. After baking & eating some cookies, Allison does bring up the contradictions at play, wherein he is the Evil Developer trying to get her to sell her place, while also playing nice nice and encouraging her in bakery and life in the PST. He tells her how since he lost his fiance, he has been all work work work but is not really sure he is fully invested in it. And he breaks one of the chairs her Dad made. Somehow that is ... cute?

And then the Assistant (not sister after all) Rebekah has gone behind his back, forged Allison's signature on the contract, which then convinces the Other Guy to sign his store away (oh yeah, sub sub sub plot about Allison buying HIM out via the payment for the giant Claus-based cookie order) and then everyone has to run away because a coming storm with Close Down the Airport and Roads level. Matthew runs away because he promised his mom he would be home for Xmas eve, and doesn't even try to call Allison cuz ... cellphones don't exist? I dunno. But he has the B&B owner promise to tell Allison he will make it right --- I don't think she does. Meanwhile Matthew is having a cellphone (!!!) conversation with his boss about how he dragged his feet on the deal, and now Rebekah had to swoop in. Boss is Not Very Happy.

So, the storm has taken away Matthew, but it has also derailed the cookie delivery to ... they are not sure where because the address is in Nordic, and yet they seem convinced the USPS can handle it. But no matter, no delivery because of said storm. Not that it matters cuz Other Guy signed the papers and ... I guess she feels the need to give him what he wants? Sad Xmas Eve.

Next day, Xmas Day !! Mrs Claus and hubbie show up with a horse & sleigh to take delivery of the cookies. I guess they were meant to feed the elves so on the day of rest is appropriate? Also Matthew somehow sent a courier on Xmas Day after a major snow storm with some legalize to allow Allison to opt out of the contract and a carved angel for their nativity display. He also appears. Maybe he came with the Claus's ? He tells Allison what really happened (really, a forged signature should have been done enough to end the contract) and also reveals he has bought Other Guy's store which he will turn into a furniture making shop, like his dad used to do. Its an easy pivot from work work work to hammer & saw, right? Anywayz, that means he now lives in Tennessee. They kiss and the Claus's ride off with the boxes of probably now stale cookies. Happy Happy.

The Formulae: So much. The PST with fly-over! Dead or Missing people -- Allison's dad died, her hubby ran away, Matthew lost his fiance. Xmas events, weirdly enough the Xmas Eve one was not the highlight event, but the earlier recital where the kids sing & dance to the "12 Days of Xmas" -- that was where we got the Red Dress. Of course, there is a bakery focus, which also highlights that Allison left behind a promising career to come home to her PST -- she was going to become a proper pastry chef, and proves it by knowing what madeleines and tuile cookies are. Xmas Magic, represented by Mrs Claus and her husband making appearances, but not sure as to why, cuz this wasn't a movie about Xmas Magic. There was a snowstorm that threatens to delay / derail all the carefully laid plans. And of course, what would a Hallmarkie be without a misunderstanding which almost ends the couple before they even begin.

Unformulae: This one was pretty much by the books, which was a perfect way for me to start off the season, only for my carefully laid plans (not really) to be derailed by a snow storm that cancelled flights and locked in the city.

True Calling? Technically yes, as they SAY they are in Tennessee but technically they are in Winnipeg. No amount of name dropping the Great Smoky Mountains makes a setting Tennessee.

The Rewind: Not really one, but there was one scene I paused for a sec to confirm -- yes, Andrew Walker's ear lobes are bright red. I will be gracious and assume they shot in actual Winnipeg winter, and he doesn't just have cherry lobes.

The Regulars: The mains, Andrew Walker and Rachel Boston are Hallmarkie Royalty having been in over a dozen each. Looks like Patricia Richardson has been doing a few since Home Improvement ended. She was great in this one, even in the smallish Grandma role. And a few of the secondary and tertiary characters were staples.

How does it Hallmark? Perfectly from my point of view. It was romantic, the leads were likeable and generated a healthy amount of chemistry between themselves.... his change of focus, from the work work work he was there to do, to almost entirely on her was nice. Christmas was not a massive focus of the movie (no cocoa or skating or tobogganing outing), but it is definitely part of every scene.

How does it movie? A good Hallmark movie doesn't have to necessarily break the tropes in order to be a good movie. As long as it flows well, has internal continuity, likeable characters and a decent plot to tie all the tropes together, it could be a Good Movie. Alas as much as I liked this one, I don't think it meets that criteria. Its alright.

How Does It Snow? There is an opening scene where its very very obvious that Allison is walking down the road in real Winnipeg winter, and maybe the reason most of the movie was indoors and not in the wide outdoors enjoying the Xmas season was because it was actually real fucking Canadian Cold outside. That said, the rest of the snow was typical cotton batting.