The Holiday Stocking

'The Holiday Stocking' (2022)

Opening thoughts: The previous 2022 Hallmark Christmas films were pretty patchy. There were some good ones, 'Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas' in fact was great. There were some bad ones too, such as 'Christmas Bedtime Stories' and 'A Maple Valley Christmas'. It is always good to see non-Hallmark regulars in lead roles and here the leads were relatively unfamiliar names to me. Have no problems with many actors and actresses being featured regularly as there are Hallmark regulars who have consistently impressed, just that it is nice to have new actors to shine.

While not as great as 'Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas', 'The Holiday Stocking' was very well executed, well-meaning and poignant. As far as 2022 Hallmark Christmas films go, 'The Holiday Stocking' is one of the best ones. Also one of the best 2022 Christmas films in general, being one of the few to be close to great. It is another example of serious themes and drama being done well by Hallmark, one of the best from 2022 to me.

Bad things: It is not flawless, though there is little wrong with it. For my tastes, it could have been longer by about 10-15 minutes in order to flesh out some of the supporting characters more.

Particularly the male roles, here on the underwritten side.

Good things: However, 'The Holiday Stocking' is very well acted by the whole cast. BJ Britt in particular has some very powerful dramatic moments, particularly when opening up (very difficult to do and worthy of admiration whenever anybody does it). It was very easy to care for the characters, ones that will resonate for anybody who has had, or has, dysfunctional family relationships (speaking from experience).

Furthermore, 'The Holiday Stocking' is very sincere emotionally and true to life. It never feels melodramatic, a very easy trap in this type of film and fallen into a lot, or overly sappy. The ending did make me cry. The twistier parts of the story didn't come over as predictable, too simple or/and shoehorned, a surprise actually. The script flows well and is well meaning and honest with little fluff, filler or mawkishness. It is beautifully filmed, with lovely scenery, and appropriately scored.

Closing thoughts: Overall, very well done.

8/10.

What a lovely Holiday film to remind us of giving, family, and forgiveness! The siblings are all fully-formed people with real-life issues, like marital problems, exhaustion from long work hours, money issues and loneliness. The sibling reunion 100% made me tear up, truly capturing how special family is.

The Holiday Stocking Summary The Holiday family with two sisters and one brother have a tradition of The Holiday Stocking: 5 searches with 5 riddles and 5 good deeds done as a family. Decades later, the siblings have drifted apart and Robert, the brother, has passed away. He returns to earth as an angel to reunite the sisters through their family holiday tradition, The Holiday Stocking.

Holiday Stocking Tradition The stocking contains five searches, five riddles and five good deeds done as a family as there are five family members in the Holiday family.

Whoever finds the holiday stocking first gets to read the Holiday Riddle. Whoever guesses the riddle gets to pick the good deed that the family does.

The riddle as young children we witness is buying coats and give them to the homeless.

Decades later, the brother, Robert passes away and disguises himself as an angel, RJ

His mission is to reunite estranged sisters to participate in The Holiday Stocking and serve Friends of Chicago.

7.6 stars.

'The Holiday Stocking' does not disappoint. A man has died and his last request is to mend the rift between his younger sisters who are still alive. There are some rules and caveats since he's an angel (I think he's an angel) and all that good angel tropes we've seen on Hallmark every season. The cool aspects of this film are that it's done in very good taste and to me it seems realistic, but I don't want to overstep with my assumptions with the culture being different and all.

There is a wonderful message expressed about forgiveness and family and Christmas, from the perspective of very civilized, hard working, and wealthy city dwellers. Breath of fresh air.

This time the angel is part of a deceased brother and his targets are his sisters who have become bitterly estranged. The journey is a rocky one with a lot of anger which is expressed mostly in words and turning away from each other. Romance is not really a focus in this story, although one of the sisters develops a new relationship.

There is a strong emphasis on charity work which was a big family tradition when these siblings were children. Dani is a rich CEO and her motives are questioned by both her sister and potential beau. This rich snob softens considerably as the story progresses.

The acting is good and the script is decent. There were not any real highs or lows or surprises.

The Holiday Stocking (2022) -

It was a different story and one that I wasn't expecting to even get through. Based on the TV images and IMDB thumbnails, it looked over the top and cheesey, but I was soon engaged and enjoyed the way that the story went, not focussing on romances, although there were some, but rather concentrating on the idea of family at Christmas and reuniting estranged sisters.

Overall I felt that it was enjoyable, heartfelt and easy to connect with. In fact the whole production was well done and a new spin on the Heavenly intervention of a Guardian Angel at Christmas trope, whilst also being cheerful and festive.

Nobody gave a bad performance and while some of it was a bit of a stretch, nothing was so unbelievable that I couldn't get on board with it.

I might have liked handsome men to come in to the ladies lives more prominently, which they probably could have achieved with just another ten minutes, but I did appreciate that the focus was on the family relationship this time.

A film that was full of the importance of family and shared the joy of the season will always be alright by me and I would definitely look to watch this one again in the future.

7/10.