Making Spirits Bright | D-

Hallmark Channel Premiere | November 27, 2021

Are you saying this entire premise was a bad idea?

Despite its catchy title, this movie did not make my spirit bright. Instead, it made me question why I was still watching it.

Grace and Tony were childhood friends, but their dads have been feuding for twenty years over a Christmas decorating argument. You see, Tony's dad is a slow decorator, and Grace's dad's festive ideas have gotten stale. This is why their business failed and they haven't spoken in two decades. Do you see the problem for our yuletide Romeo and Juliet? I don't either.

The feuding families enter a Christmas decorating contest in which Tony's dad fears he will get disqualified due to time constraints, and Grace's dad wonders if his ideas are good enough. They face a formidable foe in Glowscapes, a modern company that creates light shows choreographed to music. Wade, the CEO, is our villain, and he is absolutely ridiculous. Also ridiculous? The idea that Tony's truck (likely 4WD) would get stuck in an inch of parking-lot snow.

Mostly, I have a problem with the premise of this movie. Do people really hire companies to decorate their homes for Christmas? Grace's dad apparently decorates 30 homes a season, and in this movie, that's likely the entire town. The idea that there would be enough Christmas decorating companies to stage an annual Bright Nights contest leaves me scratching my head, as does the execution of said contest. Furthermore, the not-so-subtle message that good old fashioned decorations are better than computerized ones falls flat, since the display that wins it for our main characters is choreographed to music. Finally, as if the storyline weren't bad enough, the writing brings us some eye-rolling gems such as: "I love how it lights you up" and "so that's when grandpa opened the furniture store and turned Making Spirits Bright into Deck the Hall."

Hallmark gets an A on: um....

Hallmark gets an F on: almost everything. The only reason I gave this movie a D- instead of an F is because I did, in fact, make it through the entire two hours.

Grade: D-

* Note Grading Scale:

A = This is seriously a good movie. It will remain on my DVR for the season.

B = Totally exceeded my expectations. I'm happy to recommend.

C = This is an average Hallmark movie. Good holiday fun.

D = I'm disappointed... but I watched it. Why not?

F = I actually had a hard time getting through this one. And that says a lot.