You, Me & The Christmas Trees | D-

Hallmark Channel Premiere | October 22, 2021

Four possible reactions to this movie in one photo

In this movie, Olivia is an arborist who specializes in Christmas trees. In fact, they call her the "Christmas Tree Whisperer." Love interest Jack runs his family's tree farm and is troubled by this year's crop, which is suffering from some sort of mysterious tree virus. Jack turns to Olivia for her scientific expertise, hoping that she can cure his trees in time for Christmas. What follows is a strange, pun-filled attempt to bring Christmas spirit to the world of viruses and science. Perhaps Hallmark thought we needed that this year. We didn't.

While watching this movie, I found myself starting every comment with: "I'm not an arborist, but..." The whole thing felt ridiculous, and the focus on science was incredibly forced. There were lots of beakers, chemistry experiments, and notebooks filled with scientific notations to remind us that Olivia is a "scientist." And just in case you forget, she wins a cocktail competition and proclaims: "Science for the win!" This, compounded with festive scenes of Christmas cheer interrupted by flashes of brown needles falling to the ground, was incredibly depressing and heavy-handed. Yes, I know that it's only October, but we deserve better.

Hallmark gets an A on: the hot chocolate bar; the friends who run the brewery; the Winnie/Wayne reunion; the obligatory cookie-decorating scene

Hallmark gets an F on: the fender-bender (the extensive damage to the car makes no sense); the terrible puns; the family motto: "Do one thing and be the best"; CGI snow; the FaceTime calls with Olivia's mom; Olivia's mom; the completely anticlimactic "cure" for the tree virus; the lame romance; the very strange tree farm rivalry; Olivia's heart-to-heart with her parents; no oxford comma in the title; the Scooby-Doo ending

"And I would have gotten away with it too..."

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.