Mystic Christmas

7.5 stars.

First impression after several minutes of puns, quick witted dry humor, and pithy remarks much too clever for normal humans...this was written by a 'Gilmore Girls' writer. So now I'm looking to see if these writers or director did in fact have any association with Gilmore. And the answer is: nope. To bed with that theory. So if you've seen Gilmore, think of the banter they share back and forth and back and forth ad nauseum and then swap Rory with a shy and hesitant seal loving blond named Juniper (Schram) and trade Lorelai or Melissa McCarthy's character with Juniper's best friend Candice, and then switch one of the more interesting and loquacious men of Gilmore (not Ventimiglia's character who was way too gloomy) with our lead male Sawyer, and that's 'Mystic Christmas' in a nutshell. Come to think of it, now on this soapbox, there were no men in 'Gilmore Girls' with any notable redeeming qualities. I digress.

This will hold your attention mostly, although there are a few slow parts. The leads share a very skittish romance to say the least. They are both frightened of the concept of following through with love or commitment. Question: did the email get sent or not? You will find out, but it's a bit underplayed in my opinion. I liked 'Mystic Christmas', I hope they make a sequel, finger's crossed.

Jessy Schram has at times been at the very top of my favorite actresses list. The leaders often drop down if I don't see them in anything for a while. This movie brought her back to the top for now.

This movie was made for Schram. She gets to use her many talents in acting, romance and comedy. Her comedy isn't one dimensional. She has screen presence. She uses a lot of physical comedy with body language and gestures, facial expressions, and great timing. There were a couple of cases where she and others were delivering lines simultaneously and the timing had to be perfect. And she has great energy.

Schram's timing with Chandler Massey was excellent. There was an obvious comfort level. Their characters had obvious affection.

The story? Who cares. I was enjoying the characters. The story was good enough but followed obvious lines. There was some quirkiness. Some of the Christmas activities were out of the ordinary. No snow ball fights. The ending had a little twist.

All in all a great Christmas movie and I even laughed.

BTW pet peeve. I hate when you can't read text messages. Maybe if you have great eyes. Hallmark don't you know you have a significant audience of Senior citizens many of whom don't have great eyesight? This movie is the worst I can remember for unreadable phone and computer screens.

Mystic Christmas (2023) -

Chandler Massey was incredibly cute, but in his role of Sawyer he was a bit too good to be true and a tad gay seeming. I felt that, if I was ever brave enough, I could approach him to chat him up, without barking up the wrong tree or being dismissed for it, although he didn't seem THAT desperate. But he was definitely a likeable character that I wanted to find real happiness.

Jessy Schram played her part of Juniper well and I wanted her to succeed in love too and in her work at the sea life centre.

I enjoyed the inclusion of the aquarium as something different from the usual Christmas films, especially as Peppermint The Seal (Cork) was almost as adorable as Chandler Massey.

I wasn't sure that I believed in the seals drastic and incredibly convenient improvement however.

I did like that it didn't detract from the Christmas element of the story as it quite often has with this type of films, where they have forgotten that it's supposed to be about the season and got carried away with Trees, Horses or Real Estate.

I also enjoyed the fact that the romance was blossoming right from the start, with Sawyer and Juniper (Jessy Schram) already crushing on each other from their meeting at his sister's wedding.

I thought that the sister, Candice (Patti Murin) was good casting too.

I wasn't sure about Peter though, he was played far too over enthusiastically by Eric Freeman, who was a sweetie and pretty to boot, but turned up to 11. To start with I assumed that he was there to be an alternative love interest for Juniper, which was probably because he appeared to have been directed to be very similar to Sawyer.

I did like the LGBTQ+ inclusion as well. The romantic connection between Eric (Ralph Adriel Johnson) and Nick (Nick Jordan) was not over the top or so obviously thrown for the sake of diversity.

It was all very perfect, sweet and idealistic, but after some of the terrible films I've seen this year, it was actually nice for this one to be so joyous and happy.

It was disappointing that once again the traveller had to settle down, rather than the settled one agreeing to travel though.

They participated in various Christmas activities and made a connection that was cute until they inevitably fell out about something silly, but it was certainly one of the best of this year's release.

If I had cast this one I might have put Chandler Massey as Juniper and Nick Jordan/Eric Freeman as Sawyer with Jessy Schram as Candice or chose other alternatives to work with Jessy.

I really liked this one though.

7.26/10.

Marine biologist Dr. Juniper Jones (Jessy Schram) is a self-declared introvert who likes to travel around the world by herself. Her best friend Candice Adams (Patti Murin) needs her help back home. The only problem is that Candice's brother Sawyer Adams (Chandler Massey) is there. She claims that she declared her love to him in a school crush email. There is a dispute over the facts.

Jessy Schram is always adorable. She does try to be awkward for this role although she could try harder. The comedy is right there for the taking. She needs to be more klutzy for the physical humor. She does do fine with the verbal vomit sometimes. She's a little too put together. Otherwise, I love her as always and the guy is a good match. That's all one could ask for in a Hallmark Christmas movie. It's certainly not drama.

It started out okay, I liked the initial banter and the leads are cute together. The secondary gay romance wasn't interesting.

Jessie's haircut was unflattering, IMO.

The seal was cute, though, and the best part of the movie. But it wasn't enough to remain interesting.

I didn't finish the movie.

I still have 300 more characters, so I'll say that this movie is easy to forget and I don't remember what I saw even now.

It takes place supposedly in Mystic Seaport, Connecticut.

Jessie's character is cute but odd, socially challenged.

The seal's name is Peppermint.

There are some Christmas activities I don't remember.

Met the quota. Done.