Since November, I’ve been watching the season’s new Christmas romantic comedies basically nonstop. There were many mediocre movies, but also a few that hit the right balance of cheesy, cringy and Christmas charm.
It’s a Christmas hater’s absolute nightmare: the annual Santa Summit. What began as a bar’s seasonal promotion for discounted drinks has turned into a crazy barhopping gathering of hundreds of people dressed as jolly old Saint Nicholas. Teacher Jordin (Hunter King) drags her two besties out for the night of holiday fun.
At the start of the event, Jordin loses her wallet and stumbles across Liam (Benjamin Hollingsworth) in her hunt. They strike up a conversation and somehow start to tell their life stories to each other in the span of just minutes. They discover they both love “Casablanca” and tacos! It’s instant love.
But when they go into the bar to get a drink, they get separated in the crowd full of red suits and beards. Of course, they didn’t exchange names or numbers. They don’t even know what the other looks like. Will they get reunited?
You’ll be screaming at all of the close encounters, but this movie has a sweet heart. And Jordin’s besties, Ava and Stella, both have their own cute romances.
Available on the Hallmark Channel; www.hallmarkchannel.com/the-santa-summit
This is a classic story of a romance rekindling after many years. Juniper (Jessy Schram) and Sawyer (Chandler Massey) had one whirlwind romantic weekend, but their love story went nowhere when Sawyer failed to respond to Juniper’s mushy email about how she had a great time (though he claims he wrote back).
Now 10 years later, they’re reunited in small-town Mystic. The sparks reignite almost immediately, despite them being fundamentally different people. Juniper is notorious for moving from city to city, while Sawyer has never left home.
This one is fun because the chemistry between the two leads is good. They’re both very awkward, but also genuine, and eventually, they call each other out on their issues. Plus, a few of our main characters work at an aquarium so there are penguins and seals and lots of cuteness!
Available on the Hallmark Channel; www.hallmarkchannel.com/mystic-christmas
Kenzie (Ansley Gordon) is a dedicated producer for “Breakfast with Brooke,” a morning radio show where Brooke (Denise Richards) gives relationship advice to listeners. The problem is, the show has been tanking ever since Brooke and her husband decided to separate.
After the suits in charge reveal that their show is in jeopardy, Kenzie pitches the idea of setting Brooke up on a series of blind dates on the air in order to find her a companion for their company’s Christmas party. Kenzie starts vetting the potential dates, and we get a series of strange fellows, like the guy who collects vintage Mason jars or the man who is really into sound baths.
Amid all of that, Kenzie sees the beginnings of a romance with Ben (Jonathan Stoddard) a food writer who happens to work in the same building. But things get complicated when Ben’s application pops up to go on a date with her boss.
Available on Hulu; www.hulu.com
This one combines two of my guilty pleasures: home renovation shows and Christmas romantic comedies. Abigail (Ashley Newbrough) has agreed to help her sister and brother-in-law flip a house they just inherited. But things get complicated since it turns out there’s a co-beneficiary, Bo (Marcus Rosner), and he does not want to sell the place. Instead, he’s set on turning the house into a bed-and-breakfast and keeping it an important community staple in small-town Brenbury.
Abigail and Bo decide to just get started on the renovation even though they haven’t decided on what the end goal is. What could possibly go wrong? They’re immediately butting heads, but then a flirty paint fight as they’re arguing over the right color for the walls starts to turn the tide. There’s also a cute snowball fight on a Christmas tree farm — peak holiday rom-com material.
The big bad in this story is the threat of gentrification, which puts both Brenbury’s small-town charm and our budding romance at risk.
Available on the Hallmark Channel; www.hallmarkchannel.com/flipping-for-christmas
Time traveling? A movie within a movie? Count me in! Screenwriter Lucy (Bethany Joy Lenz of “One Tree Hill” fame) is hired to write the script for a remake of a beloved 1940s holiday movie, “His Merry Wife!,” set at the Biltmore House in North Carolina.
But the studio head is not happy with her change to the movie’s happy ending, so Lucy is sent to the historic home to get some inspiration just days before Christmas.
Lucy takes a tour of the estate, and she comes across an old cracked hourglass from the set. She turns it over and — bam! — she’s transported back in time to when the movie was originally filmed. The time traveling doesn’t last for very long, but she finds herself going back to try and figure out the perfect ending to the movie.
Of course, she catches the eye of Jack (Kristoffer Polaha), one of the movie’s leading men. But like all wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff, things are complicated and Lucy knows she can’t stay in the past forever.
Available on the Hallmark Channel; www.hallmarkchannel.com/a-biltmore-christmas
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