The Holiday Sitter

I really liked the Holiday Sitter. The 2 leads are great together. I love Jonathan Bennet and all that he is in. The other lead was new to me. It's sort of your typical set up on most Hallmark movies. We've seen this done before but this was a different twist on 2 leading men being gay. The comedic antics of Jonathan's character could be a little over the top an times but it didn't rub me the wrong way. He's your typical commitment phobic man while the other one is having hard time finding anyone. He wants a family so he is starting to adopt. The script was well written. I would definitely recommend.

Much is made about the gay theme of this movie, but the bottom line is, is it entertaining ? What we came away with is that Hallmark should let its stable of actors continue to do more directing and writing for its movies. Jonathan Bennett, who plays the main character here (Uncle Sam) participated in the writing of this story. Like Paul Campbell and Kimberley Sustad have demonstrated in their writing for Hallmark, the script is fresh, with snappy dialogue, and very natural and true to life. This was directed by Ali Liebert, who, like Sustad, is one of Hallmark's best and most natural actresses, and here she demonstrates a real talent for directing a movie.

That said, the first hour of this movie is very funny, mostly due to Bennett's performance, which doesn't hinge on him being gay or straight. His character is simply funny as a person, and Bennett plays it wonderfully.

The second half of the movie is pretty standard stuff for a Hallmark romcom, but it is still entertaining because of Bennett's sincere and endearing performance and because the supporting cast of players are all quite good, particularly Chelsea Hobbs (who played the wicked Blair in the now beloved "Nine Lives of Christmas") as Sam's sister, Mila Morgan (one of the best of Hallmark's child performers) as Sam's niece, who also has a couple of pretty hilarious scenes in the first hour, and George Krissa as Jason, the neighbor Sam is attracted to.

All in all, this was a fun, sincere, and entertaining two hours that, for us, just demonstrates that Hallmark should encourage its talented performers to continue writing and directing - gay or straight, who cares ? - they bring something different and fresh to the Hallmark Christmas schedule.

Added this to my favorites and will have this on my yearly watch list. The chemistry between the leads was electric and I loved that the main character expressed that while his family was supportive of his sexuality, not everyone in the world is (as shown by the conversation and buzz around this movie before it even released).

Follows the very predictable Hallmark formula and I love it for that. It told the same types of love stories they tell with same sex couples, but this one just looks a bit different. Just like same sex couples in real life, just two people in love. Give this movie a try!

This was Hallmark's first Christmas movie featuring two gay characters in leading roles The Christmas House also featured Jonathan Bennett as a gay character, which was. Nice, but he and his husband played more as secondary characters.

This one was about a love story. The plot was fine. The performances were pretty good. But.... I love Jonathan Bennett. He's great looking, and I've seen him give some really good performances. I have noticed that when he does comedy, he tends to go over the top. Lots of mugging and big eyes. He doesn't need it. I think a toned down performance would play better, even in a comedy. Bennett's final scenes show how good he can be.

Hallmark seems to be diversifying. Not only in types of characters, but in plots as well. I've seen a couple of new movies this year that don't feature a love story as the main plot line. It's a welcome development.

This movie had such wit and a minimal amount of the usual "Hallmarky" tropes, I almost had to check and see if I fell by accident into Netflix!

Jonathan Bennett is charming as all-get-out. As Executive Producer, I am assuming he got the script he wanted, which is well above the average for the Hallmark Machine. And he is clearly very invested in what he is doing. Of course, the usual things happen--a near-kiss at the one-hour mark and a misunderstanding at the one hour forty-five minutes mark, etc. But, this one has a distinct lack of cheese and the usual overstuffed silliness.

The Gay angle really works here, as opposed to some other films they make when they try to shoehorn Gay characters into one of their usual plots (listen to a podcast by the brilliant Bobby Leiber for more on this topic) and expect it to work. But, as this film is set in the NYC Metro it is very plausible that their romance could bloom in a friendly, accepting environment. Honestly, I was watching this with the intention of having an amusing "Hate Watch," but was pleasantly surprised. HALLMARK: Keep on breaking that cookie cutter with which you make WAY too many movies. Doing something different might engage more viewers!