Christmas Class Reunion

I love that the Liberty commercial guy is in this. He's actually very charming and was probably the best actor in this movie. I was a huge Friday Night Lights fan and Aimee Teegarden was really great in it. What this says to me, is that the Hallmark writers need to work a little harder with the dialogue they give. Next year I would love to see the successful girl go back to her hometown...she can still fall in love with the one that got away or whatever....just make the man move to the big city. You wanna know why? City life is AWESOME! And you absolutely should live there if you can. Not everyone wants a life in the suburbs.

Elle (Aimee Teegarden) was an over-achiever in high school and still is. I could not figure out why on earth she would want to continually try to oversee class reunions especially since each one since their graduation has been a disaster for one reason or another. She even states that "it's the job of the class president to plan reunions." Devin Ryan, her classmate, says he didn't realize that it was a lifelong position. I thought the same thing. I know our class reunions were never planned by the class president. She is really rude to Devin. A lot. Repeatedly. While Devin with stars in eyes, is the ever-longsuffering male lead who puts up with her excessive, whiny demands just hoping to somehow merit a sideways gland and a smile from the diva who can do no wrong. Crumbs from her table.

Yasmeen Kelders, who plays Devin's daughter, was adorable and spot on in her acting. Watch for this kid. She will go places.

Samantha's assistant, James, is so over-the-top with his gay-ness he is not even believable. I get that Hallmark is trying to make a statement that they are not homophobic, but damn, tone it down a bit. James was literally a caricature.

And WHY is Aimee ALWAYS AND FOREVER clearing her throat? That is so annoying! She does it in every single movie.

And lastly, This movie has little or mothing to do with Christmas other than the word is its title. There were not even any beautiful street decorations to admire. But then again, we were spared the timeworn clichés of the snowball fights and the tree lighting. Finally "Santa" shows up and "saves the reunion". Way to go, Santa. But he can't save the movie. It's a snoozer.

Hallmark just signed Aimee Teegarden (one of the talented stars of the great TV series Friday Night Lights) to an exclusive multi-picture deal. That was a smart move because she is quite charming and very likable, as she demonstrated in Once Upon a Christmas Miracle, New Year's Resolution, and My Christmas Wish List. But she may have been miscast here as Elle, a valedictorian and high achieving tech expert, happily immersed in the Big Tech culture of Northern California. Inexplicably, and despite a high profile and demanding job, Elle has continued to embrace her role as class president long after graduating high school and goes back home (3,000 miles from work) to oversee a reunion.

The movie begins with a scene that seemed like an homage to the movie Carrie, and then jumps ahead 15 years. Tanner Novlan plays Devin, a popular high school goof off who became a single dad and took over his parents' successful event planning company. If he looks familiar, it's because Novlan previously played a struggling actor who couldn't remember his lines in a Liberty Mutual commercial ("Liberty Biberty").

The romance between Elle and Devin seemed more than unlikely (they live 3,000 miles away from each other and she loves her Big Tech career in California). But Yasmeen Kelders was great as Devin's daughter Skyler who, rather conveniently, is presented as a young tech whiz who knew of Elle's achievements. One of the best things about the movie is its promotion of women in STEM fields. And I really liked the father daughter relationship (Devin's support of Skyler's dreams was sweet).

But the estranged real estate couple didn't ring true for me, either as a couple breaking apart or afterwards (I blame the writing, which was weak). There were other problems too. For example, would a successful hot shot tech executive discuss highly sensitive work issues during a FaceTime call on speaker in public and then simply put the phone down (and ignore the urgent matter) when a high school crush walks up?

And what woman would take her gay stylist from Indianapolis to her 15 year high school reunion in Connecticut? I respect and admire Hallmark's commitment to diversity, but if you're going to add a flamboyant gay character to a Hallmark movie, he should be as funny as Dan Levy from Schitt's Creek (not easy to do). This guy was just annoying and there was no reason for him to even be in town. Hallmark's gay characters don't need to be over the top caricatures for Hallmark to be inclusive.

And as much as I like Aimee Teagarden, her character was unrealistic and a bit off putting. Her high school crush (who took a cheap shot at Devin for remaining a local) reduced her to acting like a silly schoolgirl which didn't jive with her successful no nonsense career as a tech executive. She was also very dismissive of Devin for the first hour, blew off her understandably concerned assistant Alma and, in one of the sadder scenes, acknowledged blowing off Samantha after high school when she reached out to Elle. And her Big Speech was mostly about her.

But the most annoying aspect of the movie was how it dealt with Elle's impressive career and her position at a company called ZIgg. She was apparently the CTO of the company and managed its data cloud storage division. She was also featured "on Wired Magazine's 35 under 35 list". And yet the movie never explained what ZIgg does and what went wrong at the company. They also never explained why she never spoke to anyone on the Board or tried calling anyone other than the CEO, and there was no reason to believe she couldn't return to the company just because the CEO was arrested or wouldn't be in high demand at other Bay Area and Silicon Valley tech companies in California (there were no facts given as to why the sins of the CEO would sink the company or taint her).

I should probably give this less than a 6, but I really do like Aimee Teagarden. It's not her fault the story made no sense.

The teaser text for this movie would have made a great movie, potentially. But the writers didn't even try for that. The idea of a class reunion with surprises and successes and disappointments could have been dramatic and humorous at the same time, but the reunion only appears in the last act and the script never really focuses on it very much. Yeah, they have a room full of people, but do nothing with it.

We have a female lead whose firm is collapsing, but they spent so little time on establishing her in it that 'Who cares?' They made a weak pass at an antipathetic romance when she distrusts the "high school goof off" as an event organizer, but they didn't really make much of that, either.

We did find ONE funny moment, when she tells a company that "The North Pole" is a deceptive name for a company, given that it's devoted to "exotic dancers".

Otherwise, these lazy writers showed no originality and wasted our time.

7.2 stars.

This is about a bunch of classmates at senior prom, then we jump forward 15 years to class reunion happening during the holidays. There are lots of highs and lows surrounding it, and few speed bumps along the way, and the question is: will it even happen?

Many people say this was poorly made, or they complain about the storyline, such as how could someone possibly think that a class reunion over the holidays is a good idea for a plot...

I usually only criticize movies that lack the crucial elements: entertaining, chemistry, dialogue, acting, and music. This film has them all, and while they aren't stellar, they are above average. If the minimum requirements are met, the movie is on lock.

Teagarden is one of my favorites for Hallmark and is the reason for my favorite Hallmark film so far, which I rated 9.6 stars. If you're curious, you'll have to read my reviews and find it.

Back to this movie. There is a major variance from most Hallmarks surrounding the fact that our lead female basically loves two different guys, and both guys are really cool. They are both "good" guys, not sleazy, but friendly, not asymmetrical, but very handsome. Of course we can guess which one she will choose, obviously the one who raised a really great kid (and she is a great little actress that one).