Christmas in July is upon us so I’m starting this post earlier than expected! I’m back to review ALL the new Hallmark Christmas movies so you can sift through the noise, and only watch the best of the best. Last year I watched 28 movies and only two of them ended up earning 5/5 stars, and In 2022 I watched 22 movies with one 5/5 rating- but overall I would recommend anything that I gave a 4/5 to, so bookmark those for later!
Let’s get to it!
All I Need for Christmas | Rating 3/5
Both of these actors are great, but I feel like together they lacked the chemistry needed to carry the movie. I did enjoy the sibling relationships that they focused on, since that’s often overlooked in Hallmark movies, but in general this one just didnt draw me in for some reason!
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Leah’s Perfect Gift | Rating: 4/5
Leah and Graham were such a cute couple. The progression of their relationship felt very believable and a lot of this movie was based in reality. Although the mother was other the top awful to Leah and I’d like to think in real life Graham would have stood up to her more often. Leah’s character was one of the more likeable female leads I’ve seen this season!
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The Christmas Quest | Rating: 4/5
When I tell you I thought this was going to be such a bad movie, and I was surprised to find out it’s essentially Fool’s Gold- reimagined as a Christmas movie. Yes, there were some insanely cheesy moments (similar to a The Christmas Charade), but overall I thought these two had great chemistry and the setting of Iceland was stunning! I will say the ending fell completely flat for me, and lacked excitement.
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Holiday Touchdown: A Chief’s Love Story | Rating: 2.5/5
I really wanted to love this one, since it got so much hype! This one definitely has one of the best casts Ive ever seen on Hallmark- lots of familiar faces! I think the plot wasn’t exciting enough from the jump. I love that Alana and her family own a Chief’s merch store and felt like maybe they should have focused on that more, instead of the “fan of the year” contest. I didn’t have a chance to finish this one, so maybe it picks up!
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The Finnish Line | Rating 4/5
This movie follows Anya, a dog racer, who travels to Finland for a competition, against her father’s oldest opponent. The plot felt a little far fetched but when you look past that this movie has solid acting, dogs (!!!), and beautiful scenery. I had never seen Beau Mirchoff (Cole) in a Hallmark film before and he stood out to me as being one of the better male leads! I thought the whole cast had great chemistry.
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A ’90s Christmas | Rating: 4/5
I was looking through my list of Hallmark movies to watch today and landed on this one because the reviews said it was perfectly cheesy and that is spot on. I am usually hesitant of the “A Christmas Carol” type plots in which the protagonist needs to go back in time and right their wrongs, but it worked in this case since it wasn’t a huge jump into the past and we all love the nostalgia of the ’90s. Matt and Lucy were really endearing and had great chemistry. The end was insanely cheesy, but in the best way!
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A Novel Noel | Rating: 2/5
I tend to like Julie Gonzalo’s characters, but for some reason I founder Harper a but insufferable and the whole storyline felt a little dragged out. I also didn’t think Harper and Sawyer had any chemistry. It’s a shame this one wasn’t a home run, since I love most movies set in a bookstore!
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A Reason for the Season | Rating: 3.5/5
This movie surprised me! Both the storyline and acting were solid, and there were some very touching moments. I like that they made Evie redeemable, despite her being a bit spoiled and aloof. Kyle balanced her out well, and I loved the whole ensemble cast of townspeople that Evie meets.
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Confessions of a Christmas Letter | Rating: 2/5
I love Angela Kinsey and am an avid Office Ladies listener, so to say I was excited about her Hallmark movie would be an understatement. Although I found her character to be fun and bubbly, I could not see past this absurd storyline. The beginning was so confusing to me, because I could not wrap my head around caring about a Christmas letter this much. Unfortunately I couldn’t even finish this one!
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Five Gold Rings | Rating: 3/5
I think I set my expectations too high for this movie, because I enjoy both lead actors. I saw a lot of reviews saying that Nolan (as Finn) was very wooden and expressionless. For the most part I find this to be true of most Hallmark leading men, and it didn’t necessarily bother me in this movie, although I would have liked to see a little more emotion from Finn. It almost seemed like at times we was trying to counteract the cheesy script by playing down the emotion, because we know Nolan Funk can act! The storyline of finding the five gold rings was a little boring to me, but the characters made this enjoyable nonetheless.
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Santa Tell Me | Rating: 3.5/5
I am of the opinion that most Hallmark Christmas movies feel like watching a a play. The acting is very over the top, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but this movie solidified that opinion for me. The female lead was a good actress but some of the more dramatic scenes felt so forced. With that said, Olivia and Chris had great chemistry and I thought their relationship developed really naturally, even as Olivia was dating three other men. Overall I enjoyed this one, and really loved seeing the house come back to life!
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Trivia at St. Nick’s | Rating: 2/5
This movie seemed so promising to me- we have two leads that have worked together before (on Pretty Little Liars), and a bit of a modern storyline that centers around a Christmas trivia competition. I love an ensemble cast, so I appreciated that aspect, but the plot felt really forced and silly, and the leads didn’t have magnetic chemistry. I also found myself getting so annoyed at Celeste and how seriously she took everything, but I think that leads back to the plot feeling forced.
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Holiday Mismatch | Rating: 4/5
Another favorite this year! First of all, I LOVE to see these two ladies reunited. They have the absolute best chemistry and play enemies so well. I thought the storyline was innovative- we usually don’t get an enemies to friends storyline, or a plot that centers around middle aged characters. The son and daughter also had great chemistry and rounded out the foursome well. Only not giving it a 5/5 since I thought the fake dating troupe was unnecessary and clunky.
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Christmas Charade | Rating: 3/5
I usually don’t love an opposites attract romance, but Whitney and Josh had great chemistry, regardless of their differences. I felt like they complemented each other well- Josh made Whitney less risk averse, and Whitney made Josh less robotic. I didn’t mind the undercover aspect of this storyline, but they absolutely lost me during the whole heist scene at the party. It was way too over the top and cheesy. I did however love Whitney’s parents and felt like their presence (and the twist) was a welcomed distraction.
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Operation Nutcracker | Rating: 3/5
I knew by the premise that this movie would be a little silly, and my instincts were right. The plot focuses on two grown adults traipsing all over the city looking for a lost nutcracker. I wish they would have focused more on planning the charity event, and less on the lost nutcracker. I do like the two leads but overall this was a one and done for me.
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Twas the Date Before Christmas | Rating: 5/5
When I read the plot for this movie I was not excited about it, but it was an unexpectedly cute holiday watch! The two leads had great chemistry which really carried the movie. The holiday olympics that Jesse’s family put on kept the movie fun, and really balanced out Jesses past tragedy. All the supporting characters had purpose and I loved her friend’s cute candle store.
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Holiday Crashers | Rating: 3/5
This is the first Hallmark Christmas movie I dove into as part of their Countdown to Christmas. I like that it was more focused on two best friends, navigating their 30s, than a romantic relationship (although there’s that too, of course). Overall the premise of them crashing fancy Christmas parties was a fun plot, and I enjoyed this cast. I only wish they would have focused on the girls careers instead of them pursing romantic relationships. It felt a little disjointed and I wasn’t necessarily routing for either couple.
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Rescuing Christmas | Rating: 3/5
Same Page is one of my favorite Hallmark actors (I loved him on The Bold Type) so I think he can usually save any movie. The plot of this one wasn’t my fave but it was fine- it follows Christmas curmudgeon, Erin, as she’s granted three wishes by Santa’s elves and inadvertently does away with Christmas. Sam meets Erin through mutual friends and they work to bring back Christmas. I thought the leads has some chemistry and the sets in this one were super cozy and screamed Christmas.
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Falling Like Snowflakes | Rating: 1/5
This film follows a photographer who recruits her ex-boyfriend to help her find a rare snowflake to photograph. A SNOWFLAKE. I felt like this plot was so far from reality and the two leads lacked chemistry. This is harsh but often times the children in these movies aren’t great actors and it can ruin the whole movie for me. I found this to be the case with the girl who plays Noah’s daughter. Not a great start!
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What’s your favorite Hallmark Christmas movie?
xx, Britta