Take Me Back for Christmas

There's so much to love about this particular Hallmark movie. I was pleasantly surprised how much I genuinely enjoyed it. The story is very well written and well thought out, which cannot be said for many TV romcom movies. The acting is topnotch as well. Vanessa Lengies and Corey Sevier are perfectly matched and pull off their roles with aplomb and then some. Their easy chemistry and comedic skills are particularly notable. Kudos to Kate Pragnell for crafting such a terrific script and to Sevier for his directing skills as well. Lengies really shines and connects, with Sevier, with the actress who portrays her mom (Paula Boudreau) and with the audience. This one is worth watching over again for its message and all-around enjoyability. It won't be a surprise to me if it ends up being one of Hallmark's most successful movies of 2023.

Christmas aside (it was a minor part of the story and actually could have been Thanksgiving or no holiday at all), this is a sentimental story about balancing family, friends, work, and personal ideals.

Our protagonist has a lot going on: work, husband, mother, and house--as well as fear.

I love the genre of going back in time or into an alternate dimension. It's always fun to see the individual in flux while getting familiar with the new setting into which they have been magically placed.

Self-discovery is always interesting to me and I found the ways of the protagonist's learning in this film to be unique--we're talking tear-jerker potential.

Endings and new beginnings. Love and loss and love. A romcom happy ending.

This movie is very much centered on the heroine, Renée. Both of the leads were charismatic, and I appreciated that the elf wasn't an old white guy.

The heroine was a bit of a wimp in the workplace, in both scenarios. That seems especially unfortunate in the fantasy, where she is supposed to be an über-successful businesswoman.

For much of the movie, this very fact frustrated me. However, I think it was necessary in order for the ending to have all the emotional resonance that it did.

Several recent Hallmark movies have been, shall we say, cluttered with multiple couples and several subplots. This script does not have that issue; since we always follow Renée, the plot is very unified.

It's flawed (like most Hallmark movies) but it has a big beating heart at its center that makes it one of Hallmark's better Christmas movies.

I'm an unapologetic fan of time travel/alternate reality movies. It's a trope that has worked ever since "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life". Hallmark has made a bunch of really good "What if?" movies. Some of my recent favorites include "Next Stop Christmas", "Love Strikes Twice", and "Ghosts of Christmas Always". Some of my older favorites include "Family For Christmas" which starred Hallmark Queen Lacey Chabert, "A Dream of Christmas" with Hallmark King Andrew Walker, and "Just in Time For Christmas" which starred Eloise Mumford, one of my Hallmark favorites.

This alternate reality movie reunites Vanessa Lengies and Corey Sevier, who were last paired together in "Heart of the Holidays". That movie, and this movie, was directed by Corey Sevier and written by his wife Kate Pragnell.

This fits in nicely with those other Hallmark movies despite a bit of a rocky start and, as is the case with many Hallmark movies, a complete disregard for the financial realities of starting and running a business. But Hallmark movies often succeed or fail based on the quality and chemistry of the stars, and Vanessa Lengies and Corey Sevier are both excellent and have great chemistry together. Lengies is especially effective at making her character adorably clumsy and flustered, and then believably emotional. I'd like to see more of her.

Unfortunately, the movie begins inauspiciously with an either/or discussion between Renee and Aaron. Note to homeowners who are stretched thin financially and feel like selling their treasured family home is the only option if they want to move: refinance the home and then rent it out. You'll be able to keep an appreciating asset, pay the mortgage with the rent, and free up the cash you need to start somewhere else. You can always sell later if you really have to sell.

The next scene features Renee working at what appears to be a small seasonal Christmas store that sits all by itself in the middle of nowhere. Usually, the unprofitable small store in a small Hallmark town is at least in a quaint town center area, but not here. And yet Renee's career goal is to one day becoming the manager of that small seasonal out of the way store. Could her career goals be any lower at that point? And then she's shown to have the spine of a jellyfish when she fails to mention to her manager that a gift basket she gave to her co-worker was not an unauthorized purchase. That was cringey, as was her initial fish out of water transition to her alternate life. And her idea for saving the Big Company in her alternate life? Let's just say it was impractical and unlikely to have the long term impact her Big Company needed.

But the rest of the movie had me hooked. And Renee's mother? Ugh, that was, for me, the most emotionally powerful part of the movie. That had me crying and was a big reason why I recommend this movie. Take Me Back To Christmas is a winner because it captures that quintessential ingredient that's in the best Hallmark movies- it has its heart in the right place and reminds viewers what really matters in life. I love lines like this:

"At a certain point in life, when you've met your person, home becomes less of a place and more of a feeling. It's wherever they are."

Also, I don't often notice the background music in Hallmark movies, but the music playing during the end of the alternate life segment was a perfect fit for the moment.

I loved the ending. It was just bursting with joy, love and gratitude and made me forget my relatively minor complaints. That feeling is why I keep watching Hallmark movies.

I must confess I approached this new Hallmark production with caution. Did we really need one more spin on the plot of a dissatisfied person allowed to live an alternate life? What's more, I was not much impressed with a previous couple of movies starring Vanessa Lengies. Yet, this is a fresher look that somewhat departs from the old ones. The heroine, Renee, is not a Scrooge-like individual who needs to mend her ways and, actually, does not even try to dwell in her new successful life. From start, her only concern is to win back the love of her real life husband, Aaron, firmly asserting the fact that her basic priorities have been sound all along. This, I have found endearing .Also, I have developed a greater appreciation for Lengies, who, I believe, shines in her role.

At a close scrutiny, many details of the movie do not make much sense. Yet, should anyone expect sheer rationality in a fable where a person is granted by a Christmas Elf to experience an alternate life?

Let's take this movie for what it is: a tale, with a little Christmas magic, in which an intrinsically wholesome and loving woman learns to let go of her inner fears, to embrace her true life priorities, and how to better express her love for her dear one. Seen in this light, the film is a success, conducted with measure and gentle tones, that offers some moving moments and leaves you with a little Christmas spirit. You may probably agree with me that it takes Hallmark a step forward and proves that somebody there has not lost the heart.