Holiday Hotline

While the idea of a holiday turkey hotline is sort of silly, the evergreen rehashing of The Shop Around The Corner/You've Got Mail as a trope in many ways never gets old. While this isn't on par with those films naturally, I think this was pretty well done! Niall Matter sure loves to play widowed single dads, lol, and this was another good performance from him.

I'm not British, but when I Googled the actress that played Abby and found out she was Canadian, I wasn't surprised. At times the accent slipped, but it wasn't too shabby.

The most unique aspect of this film was the juxtaposition of the calls. Seeing Abby and Jack fall in love over the phone while visually it looking like they're in the same room was very clever! I liked it.

I think the quirky side characters really enhanced the storyline overall. Nobody felt like they were overdoing it, which can sometimes happen in these types of movies. Since we can't input half-star ratings, I'm going with 6.5 overall. Good job Hallmark!

Okay, there were a few standard Hallmarkish plot elements but overall this was a lot of fun. Very creative staging with the hot line girl (Emily Tennant) interacting with Niall Matter and other callers. In some ways it felt like watching a stage play. Creative dialogue from all characters. Yes, toward the end, some of the normal Hallmark components found their way in, and the ending wasn't really brought to a firm conclusion (although a fair ending was implied) but overall it worked well. One great character, in addition to the two leads, was Erik Athavale who played. Emily Tennats boss, his interactions and delivery added more fun. Well done and this added some fun to the season.

While I liked a lot of things about this movie, the plotting was lazy and in some cases .... dumb.

First we have a depressed woman who just dumped her lying, cheating boyfriend and quit her job. She's depressed. So her parents' best idea is to send her a quarter of the way around the world, alone, to a place she has no connection with, to stay in the empty apartment of a friend ... where she knows no one?

It doesn't get more contrived and dumb than that.

Then Niall Matter, who we really like, has a melt down when a door knob falls off? Strike two.

Then she's absolutely forced to take a job at a turkey hot line? Strike three.

Then Matter calls the hot line and just happens to get her? Do you get four strikes?

Don't get me wrong, there are some nice things about the movie, but PLEASE, writers, use your brains next time.

A light-hearted, creative movie, and funny at times, "Holiday Hotline" delves too long into "Turkey Chat", and humorous poultry puns revolving around the holiday bird. This tone doesn't allow you to take this romantic premise, seriously. The story's somewhat a farce and the jester (well -played) is "Peggy's" boss at the call center, Roger, a Steve Buscemi (Armageddon, Boardwalk Empire) mimic. After the humor was established, it felt like the story (if it's meant to be a romance) was stretched thin (how many turkey-tragedies can you laugh at?). "Peggy" and "Jack's (our primary couple's incognito names) calls were more co-counseling, than dating, so we get to know "Abby's" and "John's" backgrounds, well. Unfortunately, the director didn't succinctly crossover to Abby and John and delved more into the silliness of turkey tragedies, and even a "hotline awards ceremony". You're left getting anxious for the reveal, but their story should have reached (not dragged) a crescendo, well before the pen-ultimate scene . Instead, we have short heart-felt apologies, and an uncertain relationship (John & Abby v. Peggy & Jack) J, not one that has been duly-established (and time was up). Definitely, okay to watch (and enjoy) this once, but you won't find it memorable, or humorous, enough, for a repeat view in the future.

This movie was such a surprise! The ads really did not do it Justice which probably made the movie even better. It was debuted on a Sunday as if it would be one of the terrible movies this year but it might be the best one so far! I was pleasantly surprised by how refreshing the story was, new storyline, well written plot, and great characters. I wasn't sure about the fake accents but it was really good as part of the story. The manager was so awesome. He had a very small part in Santa summit so I'm glad he was given more lines in this one. I've rewatched it three times now and still find it much better than most of the new movies this year. Highly recommend this one!