2024, Peter Benson (The Santa Stakeout) -- download
The Draw: Because I liked the ancient one we watched, so.... why not. And Magic; I am always up for Magic, even Xmas Angel Magic.
HERstory: This is more of a Family Story, but it does start with a flashback setup with a Wealthy Girl in love with her Stable Boy, a tale as old as time, except his father, who is the proper stable hand of the uber wealthy family, cautions his son against falling in love with her -- after all, they are The Help.
Flash Forward. Grannie Vivian has passed away (OMG I am not sure I have ever heard a movie or TV show use the term of endearment 'Grannie' before, as my family does) and the three kids she raised (Dead Parents!) are coming home to settle her affairs.
We have divorced mom Charlotte (Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes, DC's Legends of Tomorrow), the Wealthy Girl above, and her two brothers: Benedict (Matthew James Dowden, The Chicken Sisters), the upstanding one, flying home from the UK, and Henry (Max Lloyd-Jones, Hotel for the Holidays) who we meet as he promises some New Jersey gangster types that he will get them their money soon. All three kids are also expecting to be instated as the Board Member of their grandmother's company. And we have Austin (Tanner Novlan, Roswell, New Mexico), the Stable Boy mentioned above, who came back to the family's mansion after his father got sick. He ended up taking care of Grannie Vivian in return for the care she provided his father, before the man passed. Austin is now.... house caretaker?
Almost immediately after their arrival, along comes Mrs Merkin Merkel, which fans of the series are supposed to catch is akin to "miracle". This Mrs. Merkel states she is here on behalf of their grandmother, to help execute the will by casing the joint appraising the items for auction, arranging for the house to be put up for sale and other money money money things. She even has a hand written letter from Grannie. They are suspicious but Mrs. Merkel has an almost toxic positive personality and an ability to put everyone at ease, including Charlotte's son who is Hallmarkie coded neuro-divergent -- in Olden Days, he would be called "a sensitive child" but his mother says he has anxiety. He does not easily warm to people but Mrs. Merkel instantly draws him from his shell.
So, yes, a Hallmarkie Royal doesn't even get to play one of the Romantic Leads, but is Designated Magic Person, a role which has been played by Older Women in past movies. Rachel Boston is a decade younger than me! Can't people over 40 have meet cutes anymore?
Note: I watched this movie without making notes, so the recap will be less note-by-noteworthy.
This movie has the romance rekindled element as a side-plot. The primary plot is that of Mrs. Merkel drawings these arguing siblings (well, really its just the two brothers being combative) back together to resolve their differences and come together as a family, at Xmas. And since I have softened on the tropes, I was OK with it. Other reviewers have compared the squabbles to Succession but I have not seen that show, so I cannot say, but its not surprising that a Hallmarkie would draw upon something in the zeitgeist.
So, Mrs. Merkel. Well, she should be a Mrs, but she never really presents as one. She's just a single kooky lady who constantly spouts off cheerful anachronistic aphorisms and has one magic gag -- her purse, from which she can pull any object, no matter how big or how long. No one, not even the kid, seems to catch on about her Bag of Holding -- its all done for our benefit. While she's supposed to be work work work, getting all Grannie's possessions ready for auction (which bothered me; shouldn't the kids want their grandmother's nostalgic possessions?) she is also butting into their lives constantly, but with such openness and positivity that they forgive instantly.
Conspicuous Wealth abounds!
The central plot, that all the kids want that seat on the board, but for all their own reasons, gets resolved by Mrs. Merkel pulling them together for Xmas, for family memories, for Charlotte's son. Austin the Stable Boy just sort of runs around in the background mooning over Charlotte and doing whatever Mrs. Merkel needs doing. He knows, once this is all done and done, that he is out of a job, out of a house, so they add in the idea that he is Good with Horse and Good with Kids, so... why not become a Horese Therapist? Not therapy for horses, but providing therapy by having kids work with horses -- the kind of therapy only uber wealthy people would consider. But via some minor shenanigans, everyone does pull together.
Austin and Charlotte acknowledge they still care for each other, despite living entirely other lives (and income brackets) and the two brothers put their differences aside, remembering that they would sing stupid songs together. At the end of the movie, they come to an agreement that they will ALL be on the Board of Directors, equally and together. Charlotte will be Chair, but the others will contribute as BoD Members do. Happy Happy. And the romantic pair agree to head to Maine where Austin will become a Horse Therapist, and Charlotte will alternate between doing local law work and heading her spot on the Board. Afterall, they are richy rich so jetting back to The Big City for Board Meetings is not a big deal.
Mrs. Merkel's job is done. Art is packed up, auctions are being held, loan sharks are paid.
The Formulae: Not a whole lot, but we do have a lovely, reserved Xmas Event as the siblings resurrect their Grannie's traditional Xmas Party giving Charlotte the opportunity to wear a breathtaking red dress. The party is supposed to be For the Community, but I guess it was a community of the other owners of mansions in the area. We also get the brothers bonding over sawing down an Xmas Tree, and the montage of the family all decorating the tree together. Mrs Merkel takes a break from being a buttinski to bake cookies from an 1890 recipe -- I am guessing it had a bucket of lard in them. Of course, Charlotte and Austin getting back together and figuring out a way to make work work work, well, work, is there. Oh, and I think I already mentioned "conspicuous wealth" as I have been noticing more and more of late.
Unformulae: In that the primary plot is not about romance, but about family connections.
True Calling? Oh, she is very very fucking Joyful.
The Rewind: Not really any moments of such, but always a chuckle when her arm disappears full length into the purse to pull out something like... carrots fresh from a garden. Really? Wouldn't that purse smell... rank?
The Regulars: I am thinking its only Rachel Boston who is the regular, but I cannot help but point out that Tanner Novlan, who plays Austin, is the "Liberty Biberty" guy from the TV ad.
How does it Hallmark? In this new-ish world of trying to have less trope-laden, more "well-rounded" romance and other dramatic element-based stories, I guess it did OK? The Debbie Macomber world aspect was lacking IMO as Mrs Miracle should be more.... miraculous, not just using a mid-level D&D magic item. But I am happy they barely touched on the Xian idea she is an angel.
How does it movie? I think if the Hallmarkie Xmas movies are going to depart from the formulas, they should, as Kent has found in many of his examples, try to be better, proper Xmas TV Movies. This does not. While its a likeable enough movie with decent characters and just-above-tepid chemistry (again, the romance wasn't the focus) between Mains, it was not, by any means, a good movie.
How Does It Snow? Cotton Batting Abounds, BUT they did do a bunch of scenes where it was supposed to be massively snowing in the background, but when characters would "walk in from the snow" they wouldn't have a flake on them, like at all.
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