Confessions of a Christmas Letter

I almost clicked away from this Hallmark Holiday film because the beginning is frenzied and crazy...and I thought it was about to focus on representation vs story, but I am thrilled that I stayed till the very end and really appreciated the ultimate message.

This film stars two former Office actors...Angela and Kevin. Angela Kinsey Plays Settie Rose, a mom who is a little Christmas crazy and for years has been trying to win the best local Christmas Letter of the year. She has been continually beat out by her vicious neighbor and HOA leader Sue. She has gotten so creative in her efforts to win that she has gone so far as to make up careers and sculpture classes for her kids to teach. This year determined to win and told by the postman that her letters lack prose...she is inspired by her husband volunteering to write this year's letter to hire a professional. The professional she picks ends up being new Puerto Rican author Juan (Alec Santos). Settie's email to Juan is intercepted by his abuela and Tio, who know Juan is suffering from writers block...and after a conversation about the film Misery being set in Main...they decide sending Juan to Main for this "job" for Christmas might be the perfect trick to get his creative juices flowing.

Unfortunately, Juan doesn't realize that the job is to write a family Christmas letter, a custom he is unfamiliar with, until he arrives from the airport in a ride share with Settie flaky wannabe actress daughter Lily. Once he gets the lay of the land and determines it's a family Christmas letter he has been hired to write, Juan almost quits and walks out...but then he encounters Sue (the usual winner) and her snooty, rude, arrogant attitude and his competitive spirit kicks in. Juan proceeds to take his job seriously, interviewing each family member, which includes getting rid of their cheat sheets provided by Settie, all while pretending to be Lily's new fiancé thanks to a misunderstanding by Sue.

There is some great comedy in this after the initial ridiculous frenzy...but more importantly is this "perfectly imperfect" message about what makes families special and about how often women don't get to enjoy the holidays because they are too caught up in trying to make it perfect for everyone else. I loved that Settie's son said he didn't want to be in any more Christmas letters...so the whole family had to not mention him until Juan finally picks up on a reference to Jack! I also loved that one of Juan's conditions was his own onesie that hadn't been worn by anyone else.

I really appreciated that I thought I was going to hate this film in the beginning but grew to love it because of its heartfelt message. I loved the reading of the night before Christmas in Spanish and some of the Puerto Rican flair scattered throughout, but mostly I loved the message that perfectly imperfect is not only ok, but good. What happens with the final letter was absolutely perfect.

I confess I have nearly stopped writing TV movies reviews. They seem to get dumber every year: are scriptwriters running out of ideas? Hallmark Christmas movies, this year, seem to have engaged the perilous slope of the farce. Almost all, so far. Somebody there must be confusing the concept of intimate joy with epidermic silliness. This one is barely saved by the final attempt to give it a more serious, constructive moral. Unfortunately, the basis for the plot is preposterous and idiotic, the acting is amateurish and frantic, the gags are juvenile at best, all through the movie. I wonder if at Hallmark all goes to the direction of a farce because they have lost the ability to take Christmas seriously. The results are that most of their dramas are a laugh and their comedies make me cry.

Due to the advent of social media, the tradition of writing a family Christmas newsletter has become old-fashioned, but not in the town of Holly Hills, where the best Christmas letters are honored on the wall of fame at the post office.

Settie (Angela Kinsey) struggles with writing her family newsletter each year while trying to compete with her neighbor, the villainess Sue (Colleen Wheeler). Sue is a straight villain through this entire movie which is a rare thing for a Hallmark movie. Typically at the end of the movie, the villain's icy heart is melted, but nope, she's a straight up baddie.

Settie hires an author named Juan (Alec Santos) to write her Christmas letter, offering him a two week stay in Connecticut at their house and the chance to interact with the family throughout the holiday holiday season. Juan, suffering from writer's block, accepts, and gets a chance to learn the wacky family and meet their single daughter Lily (Lillian Doucet).

The first 15 minutes of this movie was simply awful. It felt like we were dropped into a scenario that we didn't understand and I actually had to rewind and start over to make sure I didn't miss an explanation, but the movie surprised me and got better over time. When the movie concluded I felt some actual emotions towards the outcome as Settie reads from the aforementioned Christmas letter.

The love story was definitely the B storyline, taking a backseat to the family learning to love their intricate quirks and battling the evil woman next door. Dang Sue!

Funny scene: There's a scene where grandma carries a tray of fully engulfed cinnamon rolls to the dining room table and serves them like they were not on fire seconds ago. That takes guts.

Measuring Christmas magic: Yes, we had Christmas magic and the sets were decorated very well for the holiday. Although I would question the safety of having fully lit garlands covering the kitchen cupboards, and every headboard in the house.

Cast kudos: Juan for the win.

Alternate movie titles: This is tough because Confessions of a Christmas Letter is actually probably the best title of any Hallmark movie so far this year. So I'll give one option: The Christmas Letter Wall of Fame.

I must admit I get hooked on Hallmark Christmas movies despite their formula, predictable, corny format. This movie though, I had to turn off shortly in. I tried to watch it again and yes, I made it further, but it is the worst Hallmark movie of all time. The acting, I guess I will call it that, is beyond awful, the premise is ridiculous and there is nothing about the characters that makes you have the slightest bit of interest in them. I really like Angela Kinsey (The Office) and Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas), but what were they thinking taking on roles in this horrible movie!!! I would definitely recommend giving this one a pass.

Sometimes I feel guilty about a rating and review for a movie I couldn't finish, but this isn't one of those times.

This is the second movie we've seen this year where Hallmark has taken actors from a long-vanished sitcom to insert them into a Christmas movie. The first time was the aunts from Sabrina, and this time it's two characters from the office.

Now, the office had several annoying characters, and for some reason this casting picked two of the most annoying. I always regarded Angela Kinsey's character as the MOST annoying from The Office, and if this movie is any indication, it's not just the character.

She was equally annoying here, to the point we canned this one without wasting too much of our lives.