Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade

Emily (Autumn Reeser) is in charge of Chicago's traditional Thanksgiving parade—think Macy's but on State Street in downtown Chicago. This year, she's worried when Henry, a rather aloof consultant (Antonio Cupo), arrives to potentially overhaul the parade and, in her eyes, ruin it or even halt it completely. Both are having relationship troubles: Emily has been with Brian, a slightly nerdy marine biologist (Ben Cotton; think Richard Dreyfuss in JAWS but less cute and funny) for years and assumes that when he returns from his latest trip that he will propose to her; Henry has drifted apart from his girlfriend Gretchen, accused of not understanding how to work at keeping a relationship alive. Of course, after a rough few days, Emily and Henry hit it off and smooth out each other's rough spots—but what about Brian and Gretchen?

The movie looks colorful and shiny, and it helps that there is a fair amount of footage shot on location on the streets of Chicago. The two leads are attractive, and after all, that's what really counts in these cable TV romances, and I was pleased that Cupo's "bad guy" personality was a bit more rounded than usual. Cotton was fine as the clueless biologist; poor Gretchen gets almost no characterization at all, only present near the end to provide one more speed bump on the way to the happy ending, and Ali Liebert is quite likable as Reeser's best friend— more of her would have been welcome. The script could have used another draft; once it gets to the last 15 minutes, things are rushed and plot holes are exposed—I'm still not sure how on earth Cupo wind up in a Santa suit??—but given the genre, it's fairly satisfying.

And to "conleytgwinn," another reviewer, the song Reeser sings is Blondie's "Heart of Glass."

What a fun movie! There is a lot of chemistry between the two lead actors. This heartwarming love story set around the Thanksgiving parade in Chicago centers around Emily, the Thanksgiving Parade Coordinator and Henry the handsome consultant hired to cut costs. These two likable characters at opposite ends, argue and banter beautifully as sparks and tension fly between them. The music and the occasional split screen, highlights Emily and Henry's angst and turmoil for each other. This gem of a film is reminiscent of successful romantic films of the 60's. When Emily's fiancée of five years returns, it thickens the plot resulting in twists and surprises. The vintage attire worn by Emily throughout the film is charming and exemplifies the character's love for the past, propelling her to protect the city's history and annual Thanksgiving parade. Autumn Reeser as outspoken Emily gives a performance that is funny, vulnerable and adorable! "Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade" is sheer delight and acted with great comedic pacing. The Karaoke scene is not to be missed. I love this movie!

This was a charming romance with the talented and funny Autumn Reeser and the too handsome to live Antonio Cupo. Despite his fictionally good looks, he managed to be appealing and a worthy match for one of my favorite Hallmark actresses. They had great chemistry. This older effort is so heads and tails above the romances that Hallmark is spewing out these days. No cheesy cheap looking decorations or the phony Christmas tree. No small town with the Christmas name. I absolutely loved that Autumn's character loved and wore vintage clothes. That was a great imaginative detail written in that wouldn't even occur to whoever is writing the efforts of the last 2 years. And it really added even more to the homage to an old Doris Day romance. Her stupid boyfriend was not evil, but such a loser that it was fun to hiss and boo at him. There were a few little glitches, such as Henry dressed up as Santa at the end and making out with Emily in front of everyone at the parade. WTH? but other than that, Great writing, a sense of humor, talented stars, a good supporting cast, and lack of Christmas cheesiness made one of the best Hallmark Christmas movies ever.

Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of my favorite Hallmark movies of all times! The writing, the chemistry between the two leads, the touching moments interlaced with quirky humor make this a can't miss movie. I keep it on my DVR, but it's also available at Prime, but they still show it in a tiny, early window of Christmas films as of 2019. I adore Autumn Reeser and Antonio Cupo in this movie and hope that Hallmark can learn from the older movies that this movie is a model for how to make a good movie no matter what time of year. Enjoy!

1. A classic antithetical romance than works, although the antipathy is one-sided most of the time.

2. In the last half of the movie, many moments made us laugh out loud.

3. Some of the laugh out loud moments are from surprisingly awkward but funny situations.

There's a LOT of screen time with the leads, which is a problem for many movies. And there's a lot of comedic denial. This movie is a treasure, and one we'll watch again. It's that funny.

These leads also appear in A Glenbrooke Christmas, which we'd watched in 2020 and in our own notes suggested it was "meh", but we plan to give it another chance after just watching this.