Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, Diane has been watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. Diane claims the predictable plots, the romance, and the guaranteed Happy Endings soothe her. Then last week, Diane told me about a cute Hallmark Christmas movie: A Very Merry Mix-Up. “You would like it, there’s a pretty redhead who stars in it,” Diane explained.
So when I visited the North Tonawanda Public Library a few days ago, I picked up A Very Merry Mix-Up. Diane was delighted when I brought it home and we watched it together. Alicia Witt (remember she played Cybill Shepherd’s daughter in the TV show Cybill) stars as Alice, who owns a struggling antique store in Brooklyn (down the street from the Meyersons).
Alice has a wealthy boy friend, Will (Scott Gibson), who is a real estate wheeler-dealer. Will proposes to Alice and then surprises her further by inviting her to meet his parents for Christmas. Alice agrees. She flies to a nearby city while Will stays in New York City to close a Big Deal. Then, things start to go terribly wrong for Alice. Her luggage is lost. Her phone is broken. She has coffee poured on her.
But, Alice meets Matt (Mark Wiebe) who is a furniture maker. Matt makes Alice laugh. More confusion and misdirection result. And, eventually, Alice has to make a Big Decision as Christmas morning approaches. A Very Merry Mix-Up is not Shakespeare, but it will make you laugh and maybe, just maybe, make your eyes a little misty. Do you watch Hallmark movies? GRADE: A
Linda watches Hallmark movies, which I consider grounds for divorce or commitment in an asylum! Sappy, banal, sludge!
Bob, for some people Hallmark movies provide a soothing balm in these troubled times. Whatever gets you through the night…
I don’t watch Hallmark movies, but I freely admit to reading plenty of romance novels—although I like the dark & angsty variety as opposed to the lighter, sweeter Hallmark fare. I suspect part of it is the promise of an HEA (Happily Ever After) or even an HFN (Happy for Now).
Deb, the predictability and promise of a Happy Ending, key ingredients to Hallmark’s success with these movies, prove irresistible to a certain audience.
Seriously?
Michael, Hallmark Channel hits impressive ratings with these movies. I rarely watch them, but I know plenty of people who do.
Jackie does, sometimes, including Christmas ones. But I doubt she saw this one (Brooklyn!) and I am sure it was filmed in Toronto rather than Brooklyn.
I do like Alicia Witt. ( Don’t know the men. ) It looks like she has been in a bunch of these Hallmark (& Lifetime) Christmas movies, and I know Jackie has seen at least a couple of them (CHRISTMAS AT CARTWRIGHT’S was one).
But no, to be clear I do NOT watch them with her.
Jeff, you’re right about many of these Hallmark movies being filmed in Canada (perhaps near that primitive religious commune where Zena Witz hung out).
No. I wish I could just sit back and enjoy them instead of finding them vaguely right wing in their evocation of a Wasp, happy America. I probably would have a lower blood pressure if I could. Maybe I wouldn’t need sleeping pills either.
As close as I get is a movie like Pillow Talk.
Patti, I have a copy of PILLOW TALK around here somewhere. It would be fun to watch it again! I do drink a glass of red wine before I go to bed and it puts me to sleep in minutes.
I’ve noticed that an addiction to Hallmark movies is accompanied by an addiction to Lifetime movies. Since I don’t watch either of them I’m not sure how similar they are. Is Diane into Lifetime?
Michael, no, Diane is not into Lifetime…yet. But if this chaos continues…
Not my cuppa. I place them just a tad lower than the Lifetime Original Movies. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
If you pay attention to the titles, the Lifetime movies have gone dark lately. They are all THE RAPIST NEXT DOOR or MY PSYCHO MOTHER IN LAW or the like.
Here you go, all on Lifetime Movie Club:
A Daughter’s Revenge
A Daughter’s Deception
A Daughter’s Plan to Kill (can’t tell you if this is a trilogy)
A Mother’s Worst Fear
A Sister’s Secret
A Sister’s Revenge
A Student’s Obsession
Babysitter’s Nightmare
Amish Abduction (a favorite title)
Baby Monitor Murders
Boyfriend Killer
Dating a Sociopath
Deadly Influencer (very topical!)
Deadly Sorority (plus 5 more Deadly titles)
Fiance Killer
Killer Under the Bed
Killer Twin
Murder In-Law (see, I told you!)
My Mother’s Split Personalities
Nanny Killer
the Psycho series (Ex-Girlfriend, Mother in Law, Nurse, and my personal favorite – Psycho Party Planner)
Stalked By My Patient (also By My Ex, By a Reality Star)
The Doctor Will Kill You Now (another favorite title)
Twisted Nanny
Believe me, there are dozens more. No, I’ve never seen one. I’d take any Hallmark movie instead.
Jeff, thanks for the list. Like you, I’d take a Hallmark movie any day rather that sit through one of these Lifetime horrors!
Jeff, the Lifetime movies I see advertised seem very much darker than the Hallmark movies. Which kind of defeats the purpose if you’re like Diane and only want a Happy Ending.
Jeff—I don’t see my favorite Lifetime movie title, “Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?” A Tori Spelling Classic!
Jeff, that list of movie titles sounds really crazy to me!
Since I don’t watch tv I can’t even say whether they are available in Europe/synchronized into German or Hungarian. But I’m happy that my wife thinks the same – we’d rather watch a rock concert at full volume. 🙂
Lifetime movies trend toward he supermarket gothic formula–as Joanna Russ put it, Someone’s Trying to Kill Me and I Think It’s My Husband. Sub GASLIGHT.
Deb–MOTHER MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER? was actually an ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK back when Lifetime ran medical equipment programming and surgical instruction video–no kidding—on Sundays (a legacy of its original nature of being a medical channel) (which is scarier, that, or Pat Robertson keeping a clause that each purchaser of the CBN Family Channel has had to keep a clearance for THE 700 CLUB on the schedule?). But I believe Lifetime has commissioned sequels.
Jerry, I think the Hallmark movies are just a retreat from Reality. Everything is predictable. Big different from the Real World!
I’d rather eat ground glass. When I was dating I had several deal breakers. Country music, a fondness for The Brady Bunch, Celine Dion and Kenny G cd’s, and Hallmark movies. If I saw a liking for any of these that and was the end of that.
Steve, I’m with you on three of your Deal Breakers. I can live with the others.
Smoking and/or being part of the Trumpenkult. In a big enough house, anything else is negotiable.
Deb, you are remarkably accommodating! I’m with you on smoking and the Trumpenkult. I would add drug abuse and book burning.
I forgot to add romance novels.
Steve, I’m okay with romance novels as long as I don’t have to read them.
Steve, same here!
A bit OT:
When I took that lady home that was supposed to be”the ideal partner for me” I also was skeptical so at her home while she got a glass of water for me I looked at her book shelves – and saw Asimov and other SF authors and D H Lawrence!
Suddenly …
So the next day she came to my house and …
One of the two, either Hallmark or Lifetime, or maybe both, seems to have an endless series of Royal Wedding movies. The broadcast networks’ line-up of junk like Love Island and Ellen’s World of Games is hardly much better, and arguably even worse.
Fred, I know Hallmark movies series includes at least a dozen Royal Wedding offerings. I can’t speak to Lifetime’s offerings since I never watch that channel.
This is SEPTEMBER.
Christmas is in DECEMBER.
Just sayin’.
Rick, Christmas is a state of mind around here. Plus, I have a sister who manages to get all her Christmas shopping done by Halloween!
I’ve seen several other people mentioning that they’ve watched Christmas movies during the pandemic for very similar, or exactly the same, reasons as your wife.
This one looks fun, I’ll put it on our list for movies to watch come November, when we start our early Christmas season celebration.
Carl, my wife finds that watching a Hallmark movie calms her down.
George, that’s YOUR job.
Note to Deb: Believe it or not, Lifetime did make a remake – with added vampires! – of that Tori Spelling classic in 2016, under the same title. Tori appears in a different role, as does Ivan Sergei from the original. The story was “conceived” by star James Franco. I’m sure it can’t compete with the original for camp value alone.
Ah. I forgot about the “less-innocent” remake!
George – Peter O’Toole (yes, Lawrence of Arabia himself, only older) co-starred in a movie I caught on Hallmark called “Thomas Kinkade’s The Christmas Cottage.” He played the painter’s mentor.
Elgin, I’m impressed with your knowledge of Peter O’Toole and Hallmark movies!
Alicia Witt was briefly in TWIN PEAKS (a child prodigy a the keyboards, she plays behind the closing credits of one episode), was a co-star of CYBIL as cited (a decent series till they let Cybil Shepard decide she could write it–a common failure point for sitcoms in those years), LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT for a season, and JUSTIFIED for a season, to cite what sticks in memory. So, I will give any project she’s in at least a cursory look.
At the keyboard.
Todd, I’m with you on Alicia Witt’s talent. I’ll watch whatever she’s in!