Every year when the holidays roll around, we are bombarded with one bad Christmas movie after another. In the lead of the race to make the most holiday films is the Hallmark Channel, which puts out about 40 Christmas movies every year. The Hallmark Channel has recently added ten new movies on to Netflix. Now, as the holiday season comes around and we’re faced with more bad holiday movies than one person could possibly handle, I’ve picked out which of these ridiculous Hallmark films are worth watching.
“A Biltmore Christmas” (2023)
Christmas meets time travel in “A Biltmore Christmas” starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha as Lucy Collins and Jack Huston, respectively. After Lucy is hired to write the script for a remake of the holiday movie “His Merry Wife,” she faces pushback for her cynical ending. Hoping to invoke some holiday spirit in her, Lucy's boss Michael Balaban, played by Tommy Cresswell, sends her to the original movie's iconic location, the Biltmore Estate. While there, Lucy comes across a strange hourglass that not only sends her back in time to the original movie’s filming but helps her find true love with the film’s star Jack. In cheesy rom coms like these Hallmark movies, I’m usually in the mindset that the simpler the plot, the better — but I was delightfully surprised to see that this film wasn’t entirely awful, despite the confusing time travel element. Jack and Lucy have some very sweet moments and there’s enough intrigue in the movie that I stayed interested for the entire film.
“A Heidelberg Holiday” (2023)
“A Heidelberg Holiday” brings viewers a dreamy Christmas set in Germany. Heidi, played by Ginna Claire Mason, has her Christmas dreams come true when she gets the chance to sell her homemade ornaments at the famous Christmas market in Heidelberg, the town where her grandmother grew up. While there, Heidi stays with the Opperman family and begins to bond with their son Lukas, played by Frédéric Brossier, as he helps her around town. Together they not only uncover Heidi’s familial past, but they help each other realize their respective artistic dreams, and maybe even find love amid everything else.
Now, it would be wrong to say this movie is good. There’s nothing new or special that really makes this film stand out amongst all the other holiday rom coms, but that’s kind of the beauty of it. It’s so quintessentially Hallmark, there’s no crazy gimmicks or unbelievable plot points, it's just a simple story about a girl on a personal journey who finds love along the way.
“Haul Out the Holly” (2022)
Lacey Chabert might be the queen of Hallmark movies at this point, having starred in over 30 films with the production company. “Haul Out the Holly” is just one of many Hallmark films featuring Chabert.
Chabert plays the role of Emily, who returns to her Christmas-obsessed hometown after enduring a horrible breakup and getting kicked out of her apartment, despite being pretty Christmas-averse herself. When she arrives home, she learns that her parents are on their way to Florida, leaving her to do all the Christmas decorating by herself. After being hassled into participating in the holiday festivities by the homeowners association president, Emily’s childhood friend Jared, played by Wes Brown, Emily remembers what Christmas is all about and who she’s meant to spend it with.
Hallmark loves movies about characters rediscovering the meaning of Christmas, and this story is no different. While it feels just slightly insane how hyped some of these characters are about Christmas decorations, their high spirits do get you excited for the holidays. And while Emily and Jared are far from the perfect couple, they do have their sweet moments.
“A Merry Scottish Christmas” (2023)
Now, before you make the same mistake I did when I first saw this movie, the two main characters of this film are in fact siblings and not love interests as I originally thought. But don’t worry — while “A Merry Scottish Christmas” is a movie about family at its core, there is still romance throughout the film.
Siblings Lindsay and Brad Morgan, played by Lacey Chabert (again) and Scott Wolf, have been estranged for many years due to busy work lives and vague unresolved conflicts in their past. But the siblings agree to reunite as they, with Brad’s wife Sarah, played by Kellie Blaise, travel to Scotland to see the castle that their mom owns and has kept hidden since they were kids. While in Scotland, not only do Brad and Sarah reconnect as a couple, but Lindsay also connects with Scottish property manager Mac Bell, played by James Robinson. The two siblings remember what it’s like to be a family, all under the magical setting of a Scotland Christmas.
If you are a fan of the ‘90s show “Party of Five,” which tells the story of the Salinger siblings being forced to live on their own after their parents' death, and stars both Chabert and Wolf, you’ll enjoy this movie. Chabert and Wolf have a fun on-screen dynamic that made them a great sibling duo in this film. This is a film the whole family can enjoy, just don’t get confused by the oddly romantic Netflix cover.
