Lifetime
People have been flocking to the Hallmark Channel for its feel-good Christmas movies for the last fifteen years, with some of this year’s crop becoming the most-watched programming on cable television. The Lifetime network has gone through various stages of programming to find its identity, from scripted series to reality shows before finally landing on its own brand of original movies that are the polar opposite of what you get on Hallmark, mostly crime dramas during the year but getting into the holiday business in recent years with its ‘It’s a Wonderful Lifetime’ series of holiday romances that have a generally lighter tone than their normal output, but still nothing on par with the general sense of joy Hallmark provides.
That is painfully obvious with the newest holiday romance, The Holiday Junkie, starring, directed and executive produced by Jennifer Love Hewitt — who also gets a ‘Story by’ credit — and her real-life husband Brian Hallisay (with their two kids also making a cameo appearance near the end of the movie). Hewitt stars as Andie, a woman who runs a holiday decorating business, one in which rich folks and companies hire her firm to decorate their homes, offices or events for various holidays. The company was her mother’s but now that mom has passed away, Andie is determined to keep the dream alive. Unortunately, her mom’s passing is still too fresh and painful for Andie, her memory infusing everything she does, and she even goes so far as to leave her mom voice mails telling her what’s going on just to feel like she’s still there (and probably to hear her voice). Unable to get past her emotional turmoil is also putting a damper on her romantic life, and no amount of nudging from her friend — who reminds us several times that she’s gay — can get Andie to consider opening her heart.
But after being hired by a wealthy venture capitalist to decorate his home for his family while they go on a brief vacation, Andie meets the ‘house manager’, Mason (Brian Hallisay), but they initially attempt to stay out of each other’s way. As Andie is tackling this job by herself — and the result could only have been done with the help of a crew because she’d still be working on it today on her own — she finds that she needs some help from Mason and his truck, and the long hours also leads him to invite her to stay at the house (which the owner already said she could do). As she continues to decorate (and we see major installations but rarely see her doing the work) and rely more and more on Mason, they both begin to feel a spark that is undeniable, eventually hitting the sheets (suggested but not shown). All of their friends are thrilled the two are making a connection — Mason has his own ‘I hate Christmas’ backstory — as are the nice folks who own the local coffee shop (this is apparently set in San Francisco, but in a town so small everyone basically knows everyone else like in a Hallmark movie). While Andie’s time on the job keeps getting extended by the family’s constant delays to return home — weather being a big factor — they finally do get back in time for Christmas, but will the relationship with Mason survive after he panics and shuts down?
The Holiday Junkie is probably one of the most joyless Christmas movies we’ve seen this year. The whole ‘dead mom’ plot point could be triggering for anyone who’s lost their mom right around the holiday. Andie’s constant voice mails to her mom are unnecessary to the story. Once or twice is fine, but these are on the daily so perhaps she needs therapy to help her deal with the loss. This sadness in the character sucks all of the fun out of what could have been a fun mismatch-romcom. Hewitt at least does a good job with the character, but even when she should be happy there is that sadness underneath and it makes this a difficult watch. We feel sympathy for Andie, but we also want her to find some joy in her life and what she does. Even when she is briefly happy after sleeping with Mason, it’s too short-lived to rescue the story from its moroseness. I also have to mention the bizarre plot point in which no one but Andie has ever heard of a ‘hot chocolate bomb’, from the coffee shop owners to the family Andie is working for. Are these things more exotic than I thought they were?
Lifetime
For being married to the star, you’d think Hallisay would have more chemistry with Hewitt, but let’s just blame that on the story which keeps them either at odds or at arm’s length even when they are attempting to see where things are going. His performance and line delivery is a little too lackadaisical for anyone to believe Andie would be interested in him beyond his physical attributes. Greg Grunberg and Sarah Adina tend to go a little too over-the-top with their dialog, but Lynn Andrews actually fares the best as Andie’s friend (although the writing gives us one bizarre moment where it seems like the married Grunberg character is flirting with Andrews’s character which leads to another ‘comedic’, ‘I’m gay’, line of dialog). The actors who portray the characters who run the coffee shop also come off very warm and genuine … it’s just a shame that Lifetime doesn’t feel the need to give these actors with pretty major roles in the movie any kind of credit on IMDb or in any of the press material.
Hewitt also directed the movie, so maybe she was too close to the material to be able to find the joy in the story. In an interview she mentions how she thinks it’s nice for her children to watch their parents ‘fall in love’ on screen, but it takes them a very long time to get to that point (and the kids seem to be at that age when they really don’t want to see their mom and dad getting all mushy with each other). The sadness over Andie’s mother’s death also permeates the story. Hewitt has her own tragic story about her own mom’s passing in 2012, and maybe this is a way to honor her mother but there is no joy that comes out of her grief even with what is supposed to be a happy ending. With a Hallmark movie you know that the lovebirds at the end of the movie will be together for life, but here the future seems iffy for Andie and Mason which makes the whole experience of watching the movie a depressing waste of time. Yes, this movie probably does reflect life in the real world, but audiences want escapism in their Christmas movies as they deal with their own real life issues during the holidays. The Holiday Junkie is not a movie anyone is going to get addicted to.
The Holiday Junkie has a run time of 1 hour 30 minutes, and is rated TV-PG.
Official Trailer: The Holiday Junkie
Lifetime
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