Hallmark Channel Premiere | November 2, 2019
In this movie, Cate is the small-town CEO of her grandmother's candy cane company, and Gabe arrives from New York to help her company turn a profit. They fall in love, he wrongly tries to convince her to sell chocolate (how dare he), they fight, and she saves the company with - wait for it - flavored candy canes. There's also a background couple that gets engaged after four years of dating, and Cate's mom adopts a dog. That's about it.
What I really want to talk about is the advertising involved with this movie. Unsurprisingly, there is a Balsam Hill commercial within the first half hour. The commercial starts with the usual heartwarming scenes of a family gathered around their beautiful tree, enjoying the joy and wonder of Christmas. It is so lovely, in fact, that I almost missed the Flip Tree shown at the end of the commercial. In case you have not yet experienced this product, it is a fake tree that comes packaged and ready to unbuckle, "flip," top, and plug in. Intrigued, I looked on the website and watched the Flip Tree video. Frankly, I am horrified. It's like I just watched them kill Christmas: https://www.balsamhill.com/c/easy-setup-artificial-christmas-flip-trees
As if the flip tree were not enough, the last commercial of the movie is from the Diamond Producers Association. Suddenly, all of the talk of Christmas proposals and diamonds in this movie makes sense! The commercial was super weird, and it cheapened the movie's final moments for me. "Romance sparkles like a natural diamond." Really, Hallmark?
Hallmark gets an A on: Hair and makeup team (bravo); good meet-cute; any of the scenes with the dog; the candy cane company aesthetic (it was all very Willy Wonka)
Hallmark gets a D on: The awkward dog exchange (you keep him - no you keep him!) at a formal party; creating way too much conflict over chocolate vs. candy canes; kissing 30 minutes ahead of schedule; general lack of depth
Grade: C
* 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.
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