Sealed with a List

Evan Roderick and Katie Findlay are wonderful in this romantic Hallmark Holiday film in which Katie's character Carley makes some New Year's Eve resolutions to change her life and then proceeds to not follow them until her best friend calls to say she is coming for Christmas and wants to know how many she has checked off her list. With limited time to do the items on her list, Carley enlists Wyatt...the boss's undeserving son who was given the job as Carley's boss...the job she should have been promoted too. Carley begins by quitting her job and Wyatt, who does know how to have a good time slowly gets Carley to loosen up as she gets him to wake up early to an alarm and read the analysis reports that make it on his desk.

This film was fun and not your typical Hallmark film. It was nice that both characters had something to offer the other...but what really made this a must see Hallmark Holiday film for 2023 was Katie Findlay and Evan Roderick. Somehow these two suited one another in the best way possible and their interactions were very natural, including their comic delivery. This is recommendation from me and one of the better Hallmark holiday films of 2023.

This wasn't one of the cookie cutter Hallmark scripts, although in a romance there are only so many tropes.

Here we start off with an antithetical romance when a capable young woman is overlooked for promotion to put the boss's lazy son in charge of her QA department. She suffers through doing his job while he gets the credit for almost an entire year.

Then when he screws up and almost loses an important account, she decides she's had enough and takes the blame, and also takes up a list of resolutions she neglected for that (almost) entire year.

Oddly the young woman and the son wind up making a pact to each help the other one attain goals they could not face alone. Thus the antithetical relationship begins to break down and this script does something so few accomplish ... provide a steady and believable set of scenes for solid relationship building.

There is no "sudden turn", no "mistaken sighting" or "half hidden conversation", just the gradual realization that something more is happening than either had planned ... and on to an entirely believable and satisfying ending.

Well done.

7.6 stars.

If I had to describe this movie in one sentence, I'd say: 'Sealed with a List' is quirky and original'. You have two young adults who are forced to work together. He has been given everything in his life on a silver platter by his rich father and she has earned a coveted position in his father's company. Some unfortunate things occur and lives are altered and now the pieces don't fit in the puzzle of her life. So now she is focusing solely on self-improvement and he is trying to find his place in his own life. They boost each other over the holidays and everything works out in the end.

How is this different than most UP, Family, or Hallmark films? In every single way this is original, fun, and just...fresh. She doesn't fit the norms for lead females, he is new to the scene (as is she) and they totally bring out the best in each other. This is what real friends would look like if I were on the outside looking in. And somehow these true friends turn into more than friends, but the transition is so natural and unnoticeable and feels so genuine. Great way to tell a story, so different, so entertaining, so fun, yet laid back and authentic.

From the start, I liked this Hallmark romantic comedy set at Christmastime because the female lead was different. Katie Findlay plays Carley Kincaid. Carley is not glamorous but cute and bright and likeable. Her best friend is leaving the country, and makes Carley promise to make a list of things she is going to do to change her life for the better. Almost a year later, Carley finds herself still stuck without having made the changes on her list.

Evan Roderick plays Wyatt Redmond, Carley's coworker. He is a spoiled rich kid, son of the owner of the company, and also feeling stuck and unfulfilled. He wakes up late and is late to work every day. He puts zero effort into doing his job. Carley does not like or respect him. Then something happens that requires the two of them to help each other and work as a team.

The movie draws the viewer in because of the likeable, relatable characters. Refreshingly, it does not follow the traditional pattern of a Hallmark romantic comedy. The only thing that I didn't like about it, is that it was too short. I would like to see more develop between Carley and Wyatt. Perhaps Hallmark can make us a sequel?

As a husband who is held hostage to Hallmark Christmas movies for the entire month (yes she even has a clipboard), I liked this movie.

A company's owner installs his spoiled slacker son Wyatt in a recently vacated executive position, and instructs Carley (who should have gotten the job) to show him the ropes. Wyatt soon screws up big time, and Carley falls on the sword and gets fired to force herself to start checking off items on her self improvement list. She then tells Wyatt she expects him to help with her list. He teaches her to take more chances, while she teaches him to survive on his own after his dad forces him to live without a trust fund.

New actors with a newer premise that didn't include a baking contest or fake royalty... Minimal voice overdubs and very few obviously empty coffee cups.

It definitely didn't follow the rulebook of cliches and details that usually drive husbands crazy. I would actually watch this one again.