HotToastyRag

Christmas at the Catnip Café is the big showstopper for the 2025 Hallmark lineup and I've already watched it twice. You have to watch it twice to pay attention to the humans (the first time you'll probably just be squealing over the cute kitties). You would think the studio would cast the most untalented, unlikable, unattractive actors they had, since they knew the cats would still draw in high ratings; but, thankfully, in the spirit of Christmas (and perhaps pride in their work), Hallmark put in Paul Campbell and Erin Cahill. We can all relax. Not only will we see cute kitties, but we'll also get to see two good-looking, talented people fall in love. Thanks, Hallmark!

You might not care what the story is. I certainly didn't when I turned on the television. Cat café - I'm sold! But, if you do care about the story, here it is: Erin's aunt has died and left her a half ownership of a cat café in rural New York. But, as she's a successful careerwoman in the Bay Area about to purchase her dream condo, she doesn't want to abandon her life and relocate. When she travels to the small town to tie up loose ends and sell the café, she meets the other owner: Paul. Paul is a selfless veterinarian and do-gooder, and he makes a bargain with Erin: if she stays in town and helps host the cat café's Christmas events, he'll agree to sell. Of course, he hopes she'll fall in love with the café and see how important it is to the community. In addition, she might just fall in love with him as well... Paul hasn't been dubbed "Prince of the Christmas romances by Entertainment Weekly" (watch The Santa Class to get the quote) for nothing. He's always wonderful, going all the way back to his first Hallmark, Window Wonderland (which I have watched faithfully every year since 2013). His comic timing is impeccable, his romantic style blends charm and realism, and he finds the underbellies of his characters and shows their struggles. And he manages to do it all without letting the audience sense his ego through the screen. (I'm sure he has one, as all actors do, but it's refreshing for us not to notice it.) Obviously, I think he's the best - I even mailed him a fan letter from California!

With Hallmark's most popular actor as her costar, plus a bundle of adorable cats, Erin has an uphill battle to get the audience's attention. It's a good thing she's a strikingly beautiful woman! She also has a lot to work with in the script, as we see flashbacks to her childhood and her first kitten. She gives enough emotion as this light, fluffy, sweet movie will allow, and when her heart softens, it's very believable.

I don't know if you've noticed, but frequently, when you watch a Kimberley Sustad movie, her friend Paul Campbell will make a cameo appearance (and vice versa). In Three Wise Men and a Baby, Kimberley plays a doctor who practically winks at the camera when she says, "You can't write this stuff!" (she and Paul co-wrote the teleplay). Paul dons a uniform in The Nine Kittens of Christmas for a minute or two, and Kimberley dons an apron in Magic in Mistletoe. This one features a particularly cute cameo (but nothing will really top The Santa Class) of Kimberley visiting the café in character as Marilee White. She's not there to adopt, she says, but just to offer a suggestion: bring in a firefighter to boost sales, since we all love a man in uniform. "I have one at home!" she grins, putting the audience in stitches.

You've probably seen this one at least once already. It's already been on-air for weeks, after all. If you haven't, then you either hate animals (and why are you reading Hot Toasty Rag reviews?) or you have just been very, very busy. If you've had a tough year, make time for just this one Hallmark movie. It's guaranteed to cheer you up, at the very least, for eighty-four minutes.

Seven years after the beloved Hallmark Christmas flick The Nine Lives of Christmas, the studio made a sequel. Almost everyone came back for it (except firefighters Dalias Blake and Sean Tyson) even Ambrose the cat! Unfortunately, the opening sequence shows us a memorial plaque for Queenie the cat. It's sad, but I appreciate the memorial for her, rather than just recasting her with another cat. And there are plenty of new kittens in the film to take the sting out of our hearts when we miss Kimberley Sustad's feline companion.

There is a lot of good in this movie, which is unusual for sequels. Gregory Harrison has a very large part (yay!), and his character is considering retirement, leaving a vacancy for the position of fire chief. Also, the two leads are tasked with finding homes for an abandoned basket of nine ridiculously adorable kittens! Seeing everyone together again is also a great treat - but now for the bad news: the premise. At the end of the first movie, Brandon Routh declared his intentions for Kimberley, saying they'd be together forever. The start of this sequel shows Kimberley living in Florida running her own veterinary clinic with her business partner and boyfriend. What is going on? The wonderful couple with a solid foundation for their relationship actually broke up and stayed apart for years?

If you can get past that (and you have nine adorable reasons to do so), you'll get to see Kimberley and Brandon reunited. Of course there is some awkwardness at first, but they still love each other. Can she trust him again, and can he get over his commitment issues? He keeps saying that good is good enough and shouldn't be tampered with; but if you think the spirit of Christmas and nine baby kitties will get him to understand that good can be turned into great, you've got a great shot at enjoying this movie. I was very happy to see Ambrose still going strong, seven years later, and the two leads still had great chemistry together.

In what would have been a perfect Paul Campbell role, Robert Buckley bravely stepped into Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! And tried to make audiences forget about the bigger Hallmark star. And you know what? He pulled it off. (And, since Buckley himself came up with the story idea and cowrote the teleplay, I'm pretty sure Campbell was never mentioned in the casting process.) Remember the delightful The Christmas Contract? Buckley had a checklist of romantic plot points for his upcoming novel, and he ended up experiencing all of them in real life. Instead of a romance themed checklist, in this one, he has an injury checklist. Buckley plays a tv weatherman who is very accident prone during the holidays. His colleagues at the station place bets on which mishap will befall him this season, including choking on a candy cane, electrocution from Christmas lights, and getting impaled by a reindeer antler. The missed opportunity is that he doesn't check off all the items. Can you imagine how hilarious it would have been if the audience saw a reindeer and immediately cringed, knowing he was about to get in another accident? He does go through a few of the items, but not all. While floundering through the season, he returns to his hometown and reconnects with his high school crush, Kimberley Sustad. Sustad is a doctor, so it's understandable that they spend a lot of time together.

All in all, there is a fair amount of modern humor and strangeness thrown into a seemingly light and fluffy story. Buckley takes Sustad to an escape room for a date night, and the moderator is hung over and falls asleep, trapping them there all night. Meghan Heffern, Buckley's sister, constantly insults him, even though they're supposed to have a close relationship. And, unfortunately, when you get to a certain decade, you're expected to dance terribly in order to get a laugh. There are some sweet moments, though, so you might want to watch this one during the season. Brendan Penny has a hilarious supporting role as a competing anchor, and practically everything out of his mouth will make you laugh. Buckley is a true sweetheart, and he makes friends with Barbara Pollard and joins her walking group; how many guys would do that?