'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (2022)

Actor Madison Rush is trying to escape her past fame (she seems to have been known as a child actor whose catchphrase was "Great googly!”" and stretch her talents by directing a play she has co-written to be staged for one night only in the town of Troy, New York during their Victorian Christmas recreation festival (the Troy Victorian Stroll is a real thing). The play, called The Trial Before Christmas (again, based on a real play that has been staged in Troy), is a mock trial in which two lawyers attempt to establish authorship of the poem famously known as The Night Before Christmas—was it Clement C. Moore, as is usually credited, or Henry Livingston Jr. as others have claimed? At the end of the play, the audience votes on which man is the real author. Madison gets Connor Avery, an actor friend of hers who is entertaining ideas about switching from acting to law, to play one of the lawyers. Lena, the producer's girlfriend, is the other lawyer. Lena can't really act, but with expert tutelage from Madison, she eventually nails the part. In fact, she's so good that a Hollywood producer signs her for a big supporting role for a movie to be filmed in New Zealand so Lena has to leave the play. Who will take the role? Why, Madison, of course, who is striking romantic sparks with Connor. During rehearsals, two men in Victorian garb calling themselves Moore and Livingston show up arguing about the poem's authorship. Assuming them to be players in the Victorian Stroll, Madison rewrites the play and hires them as the ghosts of the authors who appear at the trial. Might they actually be ghosts?

I appreciate it when Hallmark tries to stretch a bit (just like Madison Rush) beyond its formulas, and there are definitely pleasures here. Torrey DeVito (Madison) and Zane Holtz (Connor) are very good and have great chemistry. The romance plot is actually underplayed here to give more time to the play and the characters. The supernatural twist, unusual for recent Hallmark films, plays out nicely. I loved the handful of cute 1960's pop culture references (My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, and the spy show The Avengers). I even suspect that the bad actress is named Lena in tribute to Lina Lamont of Singin' in the Rain. But man, did that script need a rewrite. When the producer wants the play to actively push a solution, Connor suggests some research; wouldn't Madison and her co-author already have done plenty of research? Lena, a strictly amateur actor, gets a major part in a movie and has to leave the night before Christmas Eve? (Hallmark's time-pressure gimmicks are always glaring weak spots.) No one involved in the production would be bothered by the fact that the "ghosts" pop in and out unreliably and sometimes appear in puffs of animated smoke and glitter? The ghosts basically improvise their speeches, apparently derailing the play as written? A legendary Broadway producer shows up to watch the first full run-through of the play? Don't even get me started on their definition of what an intermission is—Madison refers to the audience coming back after voting at intermission, but when they come back in, the verdict is announced and the play is over. That is not an intermission. My brain kept hurting over sloppy plot points, most of which could have been easily cleaned up. But, tis the season and all. I watched this on a below-zero snow day and mostly enjoyed it. More DeVitto and Holtz (pictured), please. [Hallmark]