Hallmark Channel
The ‘Merry Thanksgiving Weekend’ marathon of Christmas movies comes to an end on Hallmark Channel with the one movie this writer was most interested in, Christmas at the Catnip Café. Who wouldn’t want to see this one after seeing all the commercials with those cute little kitties stealing the show?!
Olivia Pierce (Erin Cahill) is a marketing executive from Oakland, California who is this close to realizing her dream of purchasing a condo, but she’s a bit short on the down payment. When she learns that her late great aunt left her half of a cat café in upstate New York, she thinks it’s the Christmas miracle she needed — as long as she can sell and close the deal before the holidays. Olivia’s plan hits a bump in the road when she meets Dr. Ben Kane (Paul Campbell), the veterinarian who owns the other half. The café serves an important role in the town — helping homeless cats find forever homes — and he has no intention of closing up shop. Christmas is the most important time of the year as they plan many activities to help raise funds and get them into the black. Olivia and Ben strike a deal — she agrees to help him plan the fundraising events at the café over the next three weeks in exchange for Ben promising not to drag his heels on selling at the end of that time. Unless, Ben notes, she ends up changing her mind — a lot can happen in three weeks, after all. As they work together and a spark between them grows, Olivia becomes part of the neighborhood, gains an appreciation for the café’s adorable feline inhabitants and what it means to Ben, as well as to the entire community. And when she learns the surprising reason her great aunt opened the café in the first place, that just might be the cat-alyst for change that will give them all a Merry Christmas.
Hallmark Channel
Christmas at the Catnip Cafe has been eagerly anticipated in this household because we love our little rescue kitties, and we’ve always wanted to visit the local cat café … but it is by appointment only. Perhaps one day we will make time, but it probably won’t be anything like the Catnip Café in the movie. (And I’d most likely want to bring all the cats home with me so perhaps it’s best to just watch one on TV.) The movie itself is full of charm, but the script by Tracy Andreen and Elena Valdez has to do the unthinkable — make Erin Cahill the … villain! Cahill is one of Hallmark’s most likable stars, so making her this cold-hearted person who only has her own interests in mind is quite a turn of events. You really dislike her character, Olivia, even after she visits the café, meets Ben, and learns what the café means to the community, and she still does not care, only concerned with selling it off to a developer and getting her cash for a down payment on her dream condo in California, despite the fact that the small upstate New York town is where she spent a lot of her childhood with her aunt, where she herself rescued a kitten in a tree outside the house that her aunt took in because Olivia was unable to take the cat with her as her family moved around constantly. Nope, none of that mattered as she was just focused on that condo. And even in the end when she saw how the town rallied for the holiday festivities at the café, and she learned exactly why her aunt founded the café and left Olivia her half … she was still prepared to sell the place right out from under Ben. Boo. Hiss! Luckily, being a Hallmark Christmas movie, Olivia finally saw the light and Cahill did not have to be the villain any longer. Whew.
Besides the uncharacteristic portrayal, the film’s script is just as warm and fuzzy as a fleece Hallmark Christmas blanket. Paul Campbell’s Ben is an upstanding guy in the community, a veterinarian who trades services for cookies when the patients’ owners can’t afford to pay (much to his sister’s chagrin as cookies don’t keep the lights on), and fully invested in the café and how it affects the entire town. One boy in particular, Joshie, has a deep connection with one of the cats but he is unable to adopt because Joshie himself is awaiting adoption, so without saying it the script just breaks your heart thinking that Olivia is going to be the reason Joshie never gets the cat he loves so much. There is also a nice moment when the barista/server Frank is bringing Olivia a cup of hot tea and overhears her conversation with Ben about selling, and he just turns around and takes the tea back. When she mentions to Ben later that she thinks Frank doesn’t like her, he just tells her that Frank doesn’t like the idea of losing his job. So not only would Olivia be destroying an integral part of the community, she’s going to be responsible for putting people out of work. Thankfully there are a lot of moments that allow Olivia to be more human, to become one with the community, however briefly, and Ben also gets to reveal more of his personal life, from his reticence to be in a relationship to his uncertainty about adopting a dog, even though he really wants one. His relationship with his sister is also written very well, but Ben is definitely the pillar of the community, someone who will give anyone the shirt off of his back, never realizing that everyone in the community would do the same for him. He is one to never ask for help, so when Olivia asks for him as he has taken on decorating a restaurant for the final holiday event all on his own, he is truly touched when the town turns out to lend a hand (it’s very reminiscent of the scene at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life when the town shows up for George Bailey). And you can’t avoid feeling your heart melt every time you see one of those kitties in the café, especially that little gray one!
Hallmark Channel
Director Lucie Guest, who also helmed An Alpine Holiday this season, really brings a warmth to the story by Andreen and Valdez. Working with animals is tough, but all of the cats here are pros, and there is one almost certain unexpected moment when Olivia first meets Ben, and when she reaches out to shake his hand the cat he’s holding extends its paw to her. Both Cahill and Campbell seemed surprised — pleasantly — and the kept going with the scene. It was just a wonderfully impromptu moment that no one could have expected. The story also hits you hard when Olivia realizes why her aunt left her her share in the café, because up to that moment it was never clear what Olivia’s connection to that was. It was really a touching moment and Cahill plays it beautifully … but that wasn’t even enough in the moment to make Olivia change her mind about selling. The script also allows the relationship between Ben and Olivia to develop naturally over the course of three weeks (instead of three days as seems typical with a Hallmark movie), so when she leaves it truly does hurt but it’s even more emotional when she has her epiphany (and when Joshie gets the news he’s waiting for … so keep some tissues handy). The whole story is just so wonderfully crafted that you can’t help going on this emotional rollercoaster ride with the characters.
Cahill is terrific as Olivia. She does have to be self-centered but not a complete egomaniac, convincing us that she’s not really a bad person, she is just trying to make something for herself that she never had — stability. It’s surprising that Olivia goes to all the trouble to decorate her aunt’s house for Christmas even though she has no plans to stay once she sells the café, and Cahill allows us to see that Olivia may be falling not only for Ben but for the town itself even though outwardly she maintains that she will be returning to California. Cahill has to make sure we can still be on Olivia’s side even when she’s behaving more like mean old Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life, knowing that she will finally have a change of heart at the end. Paul Campbell is also wonderful as Ben, a complete change of pace from his neurotic Three Wise Men character. Here he is warm and caring, totally selfless, devoted to the people and the animals of the community. He does not fall for Olivia quickly, mainly because of the hurt he experienced in his past relationship, but also because he doesn’t want to be hurt if Olivia does not change her mind, which he is sure she will but when she says she’s leaving, you feel his heart breaking for himself and for the town. Both actors just do some exemplary work here, making you feel for both of them.
Meganne Young also does a nice job as Ben’s sister Meredith. She works with him at the vet clinic and she is the one who has to keep him on an even keel when it comes to finances and putting professionalism over personal feelings. William Carson is so engaging as Joshie. We don’t know at first his situation, but watching his bond with the cat he so adores at the café just warms your heart, and you become even more invested in his story as his adoption status is revealed, Carson just totally endearing, making us hope that he will get everything he dreams of, including the kitty. The rest of the supporting cast all make the town come to life, a place you’d want to put down roots just so you could hang out with folks at the café. This may not be the flashiest Hallmark Christmas movie of the season, but it is certainly the warmest, the most inviting and engaging thanks to the story, the direction, the production in general, and the delightful cast of characters brought to life by an expert group of actor.
So grab a latte, cuddle up with your favorite furry friend, and settle in for a night at the Catnip Café.
Christmas at the Catnip Café has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, is rated TV-G, and is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview – Christmas at the Catnip Café
Hallmark Channel
Listen to songs featured in Christmas at the Catnip Café – Santa Claus is Coming to Town by Brad Paisley, I’m So Glad You’re Here by Forest Blakk and Timeless Christmas by Wes Brown & Ginna Claire Mason