Scouting for Christmas

7.2 stars.

Somebody tell the main female character to wake up. She does some things to distance herself from all the people around her. The character is obviously self sabotaging as a consequence of overwork and being too busy a single and recently divorced mother of one.

Her daughter is trying to match her with a pastry/bakery shop owner in town. He is a well-known Hallmark staple, you've seen him many times.

Something is off with the interactions. There is chemistry, that's not the issue. It's something about her personality that is offputting. Perhaps that's part of the story, and she portrayed it quite well, a bit too well in fact. It was hard to watch her sarcastic moments, she was very unbecoming.

But in the end, this movie is not bad, it's entertaining enough for at least a one-time viewing. The romance is endearing, I like the characters and it improves over time.

I recommend you give it a try. You might really like it or you might think it's average like me. But I can't imagine this is a dumpster fire by any means.

Another Hallmark Christmas movie that I had never even heard of. But I had the opportunity to sit down and watch director Jason Bourque's 2024 movie "Scouting for Christmas" as part of my December Christmas movie marathon. And while I had never heard about the movie, I suppose that the writers had every opportunity to impress and entertain me.

Writers Ali Spuck and Casie Tabanou put together a good script. True to the classic Hallmark formula, the writers delivered a storyline that had elements of romance, family, and holiday season; all in all, what you would expect from a sappy Christmas movie. And it worked out nicely, because the narrative proved entertaining. Predictable? Sure. Sappy? You betcha. But isn't that what makes for a good sappy Christmas movie? And that is what Hallmark usually do quite well.

The acting performances in the movie are good. The only familiar face on the cast list for me was leading actress Tamera Mowry-Housley.

If you enjoy sappy Christmas movies, then you should definitely take 84 minutes to sit down and watch this 2024 Hallmark movie.

My rating of director Jason Bourque's movie lands on a six out of ten stars.

Tamera Mowrey-Housley and Carlo Marks are such a sweet couple on screen. From the first scene that Mowrey-Housely enters the Mr. Bakes A Lot shop and she and Marks lock eyes, there's just such a tenderness between them and the story unfolds like the fun, sweet holiday movie that this is. It's Hallmark, so I was already expecting sometimes silly plots and often outlandish coincidences; but that's what I come to Hallmark movies for. Yeah, there was all of that plus a meany mom scout leader and a hunky ex who suddenly shows up. But Mowrey-Housley and Marks were the main event, no question about it.

Also, I have to say that Audrey Wise Alvarez has such wonderful timing and delivery; she's such a natural. Made the sometimes silly script feel more like the fun romp it was intended to be.

And I appreciate the diversity in this movie, with diversity sometimes missing from rom-coms. Not only are Marks and Mowrey-Housely a mixed race couple, she's also Alvarez's stepmom, and she's a working mom with a busy and successful real estate business. Often these female leads are wedding planners or bloggers or podcasters. It was nice to get a job that a single mom might have. And Mowrey-Housely is believable as a professional.

The only issues I might have with this are the ex, who is very attractive and the actor was good in scenes with the little girl, but he was kind of flat with everyone else. I also thought that Marci House was pretty wasted as the sister.

We really enjoyed the storyline in this movie. This is what Hallmark does Best in my opinion. There's so much negativity that we're fed in the news, social media, and movies, it's nice to watch something that gives you the warm and fuzzies and the whole family can watch without worrying that kids can be exposed to something that isn't appropriate. Watching Tamera Mowry Housely on screen as Angela, and her daughter Brooklyn played by Audrey Wise Alvarez was a great match, the chemistry was natural, they really shined in this movie. We look forward to the Countdown to Christmas movies every year, and will definitely be adding this to our collection, because we watch Christmas movies throughout the year!

I have to say this movie was a breath of fresh air. Pretty much all Hallmark movies are the same and after a while it starts to get boring. I felt this was a sweet and happy movie that just felt good. All the characters meshed well together and the two leads were fantastic. Great chemistry between each other and the rest of the cast. So much negativity out in the real world, I want to escape into a place where good always wins and happily ever after. I would not understand what it is like to be a single mother, so I do feel they did a good job in trying to show the struggles that someone would go through.