La Parade de Noël

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!

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.

Yes, it's "typical" Hallmark feel-good romance, but the actors have great chemistry that makes the characters more believable as a couple than some other Hallmark movies. It's cute and quirky and refreshing compared to the many Santa-is-real movies that abound this time of year. Loved the reason behind her passion for vintage clothes -- that explanation had never occurred to me. Some of spliced scenes when they were in their respective beds thinking about each other reminded me of old classic movies which actually lended another layer of believability to her vintage clothes and determination to keep traditions alive. I like that Hallmark makes so many different kinds of Christmas movies that range from comedy to drama and different levels in between. I give this one a 10.

This is pretty standard fare for Hallmark Christmas movies. But it is very well done.

Autumn Reeser and Antonio Cupo work very well together. Reeser is perfect as a quirky, idealistic woman who loves vintage things and tradition. That is only part of why she always wears clothes that are from decades past.

There were some good laughs. Reeser made a good drunk (on one drink) singing and dancing karaoke. She constantly embarrasses herself with humorous consequences while rehearsing things she will say to Brian or Henry. Another nice touch is the split screen of Emily and Henry at different times when they are by themselves at night.

The typical Hallmark story has a couple of nice touches near the end.

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."