The Best & Battiest Moments From This Past Weekend’s Holiday Movies

‘Tis the season to be merry and watch every new holiday movie as it debuts. Each Monday, we’ll take a look back at the previous weekend’s premieres to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year with a new list of superlatives. 

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Worst Romantic Cliché

Whisking eggs while baking cookies is not romantic, contrary to what Hallmark Movies Now’s An Ice Palace Romance wants us to believe with this closeup of rink owner Mark (Marcus Rosner) and competitive figure skater-turned-journalist Lori (Celeste Desjardins).

Best Turnaround

There was no way we were going to warm to Dan (Richard Harmon), the heartless boss who made widowed waitress/single mom Imani (Krystal Joy Brown) come into work on Christmas Eve in Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ Heaven Down Here. He did, however, start to redeem himself with a genuine apology and by donating food to pastor Felix’s (Ruan Riedinger) cause after all. Plus, if Dan hadn’t been such a horrible boss, Imani wouldn’t have gotten stranded with Felix (they’re a couple now, right?) and hospice nurse Clara (Tina Lifford), who discovered Imani was her patient’s (Phylicia Rashad) long-lost granddaughter!

Most Satisfying Ending

Why would you hold any event on CHRISTMAS EVE, let alone the grand opening of an art gallery in OWN’s The Christmas Detective? But we loved everything else about private eye Kate (Javicia Leslie) wrapping up the story: She found a friend for the new teen in town; she helped the former bar owner find a new place in his beloved building as an artist; she asked her father to be her new associate; and she kissed her old high school flame-turned-police detective (Brad James). Let’s hope for a sequel.

Wildest Ending

Those of us who enjoyed 2006’s Holiday in Handcuffs have no room to judge BET+’s Christmas Rescue, which revealed Keith (Cameron Bailey) had kidnapped his ex-girlfriend Chelsea (Samantha Neyland Trumbo) on her wedding day to show her that he’d used the large payoff her dad (Mario Van Peebles) had given him to walk away years ago to help build a school that her late mother had dreamed of.

Most Outlandish Job

We’ve heard of personal stylists and personal shoppers for groceries, but has anyone ever met a professional gift buyer or is that just a profession that exists in Hallmark movies (shout-out to 2015’s excellent 12 Gifts of Christmas). How many clients does Gifting Spree founder Bonnie (Meghan Ory) have in The Secret Gift of Christmas to afford an office and a receptionist? Does she charge a set rate per present she finds?

Most Gratuitous Shirtless Scene

Did Kip (Jesse Kove) really need to do his morning meditation in the hot tub in Lifetime’s The Holiday Proposal Plan?

Employee of the Month

Jackée Harry’s Cecilia in Lifetime’s A Christmas Intern = Robert De Niro’s Ben in 2015’s The Intern. The marketing exec retiree helped her entrepreneur daughter Alexis (Ciarra Carter) save Cyber Santa, a one-stop shop for all things Christmas, by targeting the demos (print readers and radio listeners) that get overlooked — while also advising Alexis on her love life and finding a new partner for herself.

Worst Forecast

Was it ever not flurrying in Great American Family’s Designing Christmas With You? Definitely the most snow we’ve seen in a holiday movie, which would’ve been fine if interior designer Colbie (Susie Abromeit) and sexy estate manager Ben (Liam McIntyre) had always been dressed for it. Which leads us to…

Worst Dressed (for Winter)

Yes, yes, aspiring fashion designer Carley (Katie Findlay) needed to show off her gown in Hallmark Channel’s Sealed With a List, but it’s December in New York City and she’s standing on a balcony. Offer her your tuxedo jacket, Wyatt (Evan Roderick)! But kudos to this film’s fun Two Weeks Notice-style chemistry and Findlay’s beautiful short hair (which, now that we’re thinking about it, is quite rare for a Hallmark heroine).

Best Cameo

That appears to be Hallmark fave Chris McNally in an unbilled cameo as the competitive reindeer defeated in Sealed With a List‘s Central Park 5K.

Most Welcome First

Friends & Family Christmas featured Hallmark Channel’s first lead lesbian romance in a holiday movie. The story, a classic opposites-attract fauxmance, honored the idea that family can be chosen but also that parents can be supportive — the fathers of photographer Dani (Humberly González) and lawyer Amelia (Ali Liebert) set them up, and Amelia’s dad was beaming when the couple danced at his firm’s Christmas party.

Best Musical Performance

Imani (Krystal Joy Brown) singing Mickey Guyton’s “Heaven Down Here” in Hallmark’s movie of the same name was moving, but we’re gonna go with gospel singer Cam (Darrel Walls) serenading his wife Amber (Loren Lott), who’d been trying to conceive, in BET+’s Favorite Son Christmas: “Just looking at my beautiful wife/It’s been a minute/Since I been up in it/And I know that we’re way off schedule, baby/Days off schedule/And I need it now/Need it right now, right now, right now.”

Sexiest Xmas Sweater

Lord, forgive us for taking this screenshot of Favorite Son Christmas’ pastor Blaine (Durrell ‘Tank’ Babbs), from a scene in which his wife Dawn (Serayah) is accusing of him of cheating again.

Christmas Time Is Here! Your Guide to 110+ Holiday Movies on Hallmark, Lifetime, Netflix and Others

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