MISS CHRISTMAS (2017)

As I seem to have mostly exhausted classic era holiday movies for review, I'm going to focus on some made-for-TV films this year, mostly from the Hallmark Channel which has become a Christmas movie machine, pumping out 20 new TV-movies this year alone, to add to their preexisting library of some 20 years worth of such films. In this one, Holly (Brooke D'Orsay) works in Chicago for the Radcliffe Center, finding and overseeing the decoration of a gigantic Christmas tree for the annual lighting of the Radcliffe Tree. (Radcliffe, we're told, was once a small community near Chicago, but the tree appears to be set up downtown on Lake Shore Drive. This is the kind of plot detail that Hallmark viewers learn not to notice.) She loves her job because she loves Christmas—and because the lighting ceremony is telecast nationally, and since she solicits suggestions for the next year's tree, she's somewhat famous as Miss Christmas. This year, just before the tree is due to be delivered, it's discovered that it's been irreparably damaged, so Holly has a week to find a new tree. As she desperately looks through viewer suggestions, she finds a letter and photo from a young boy who lives in Klaus, Wisconsin. The tree is huge and beautiful so Holly sets out to claim it. Most of the McNary family is willing to give the tree up, but Sam (Marc Blucas), a hunky, salt-of-the-earth single dad, is dead set against it—his mother died recently and the tree is full of family memories for him. Holly stays in town for a few days, hoping she can change his mind; he's willing to listen but he remains recalcitrant—even as the romantic sparks develop between the two.

This fits so straight-up snugly into the Hallmark Christmas mold, it could serve as the platonic template for the made-for-TV holiday romance: successful woman in the big-city business world, too busy for a relationship (or recovering from a break-up), meets a handsome down-to-earth guy who works with his hands (or has his own small business) and lives in, or has a connection to, a rural area or small town. They meet cute, and the closer they get to Christmas, the more the romantic interest builds. Then, just as one of them is about to give in to their wholesome attraction, an obstacle appears—an ex-partner, a cranky child, a misunderstood situation, or some act of God. But it all gets cleared up in the end, usually accompanied by lit-up Christmas decorations or gently falling snow. Hallmark doesn't let their filmmakers stray very far from these guidelines. The couple is always white and shiny—she's usually blond, he never is—and the businesswoman always has a friendly assistant, usually the only person of color in the film. The amount of humor varies, but rarely is it ever snarky or biting. I may sound critical, but I know that one of the chief pleasures of any genre (mystery, fantasy, heavy metal) is its predictability. Of course, another pleasure is seeing how far the work differs from the norm, and that's a pleasure that is rare with Hallmark movies.

The pleasure in this one is the performances. Brooke D'Orsay and Marc Blucas may never win Oscars or Emmys, but they can deliver the rote dialogue and the canned emotions with seeming sincerity. Blucas in particular is very good: Sam is unthreateningly masculine but almost always has a smile on (or playing about) his face, even when he's frustrated with Holly's love of all things Christmas. Blucas (Riley Finn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, though I remember him in a small role in John Sayles' Sunshine State) is a real charmer who could become a Hallmark regular. It's a little strange to compliment this one on its Christmas atmosphere, since these ARE Christmas movies, but some of them use the holiday background as romance filler, not as an essential ingredient. This drips with Christmas atmosphere; the small town of Klaus is known as a Christmas tourist destination so every scene is packed with colored lights, trees, toys, and snow. One of the more enjoyable entries in the Christmas romance category. [Hallmark]