‘Tis the Season for Love (G)

The Holiday Season opens on November 1st, and just twenty-four short hours after snuffing your Jack O’ Lantern you’ll begin seeing the barrage of Christmas commercials, decorations, and of course holiday movies.The Hallmark Channel wasted no time entering the fray – their annual countdown to Christmas began on November 1st with the debut of their own original movie, “‘Tis the Season for Love.” Still buzzing from Halloween candy and the enjoyment of October in the mountains, I filled a mug with hot cocoa (as is required for all holiday movies) and began the inevitable journey into the 2015 holiday season.

“‘Tis the Season for Love” wastes no time putting the viewer into the prototypical Hallmark state of mind; family festivities, the cheeriness of the holidays, and of course romance – all with the obligatory backdrop of the Christmas season.

Like a heavyweight fight, “Season” pits the glamour of the big city against the quaintness of a simple small town as the flawlessly beautiful Sarah Lancaster (of TV’s Chuck) takes the reigns as Beth Baker, an aspiring Broadway performer who has fled her roots of the small town she grew up in for the glitz and mystique of New York City.

Pining for a career on stage, Beth has seen her share of struggles and in the weeks before Christmas Day she finds herself broke and sleeping on the couch of a friend. Christmas magic brings Beth back to her hometown where she encounters the burdensome decision of where to take the next step in her life.

“‘Tis the Season for Love” is bubbling with charm and the elements of a made for TV movie, and Director Terry Ingram manages to fuse elements of a decent big screen picture in as well. We see the back and forth comparisons of Beth’s undeniably quaint small town and the excitement of larger than life New York City.

Sarah’s conscious shows her the past and future and the what-could-have-been courtesy of vivid but open-ended and unanswered dreams brought via the magic of a mysterious man in a Santa Claus suit (Garry Chalk) who of course claims to be the real Santa.

The first half of the movie moves slow, partly because of the annoyance of commercial interruptions and partly because of an excess of dialogue used to establish the characters and the setting. Beth’s small town is full of typical small town characters – high school boyfriend Barry (Andrew Francis) now married to fellow former classmate Eileen (Jessica Harmon) and father to a young child.

Beth’s return from New York showcases a great relationship with her widowed (of course) mother (Gwynth Walsh) and a new romantic suitor in the form of fireman Dean (Brendan Penny).

While a bit dry at first, Sarah Lancaster is so absolutely mesmerizing you simply won’t be able to avert your gaze from the screen. “That was my favorite part of Christmas.” Beth tells her mother. “I used to get everything I wanted.” I fully understand. Lancaster is so breathtaking, if she asked for a gold plated yacht I’d sign my soul away in an instant.

Often times the leading male in a romantic setting belongs to an Abercrombie type pretty boy that oozes smugness and is thoroughly unbelievable as a loser in the game of love. But Brendan Penny does a great job of coming across as a regular guy and a decent person. He goes a bit overboard with some of the prerequisites for perfection (its not enough he loves children and is great with them but he’s a fireman to boot) but nothing so out of line that you can’t root for him in his pursuit of Beth.

Hallmark staples are all present and accounted for. Beth and her roommate Nicole (Anna Van Hooft) are a pair of thirtysomethings far too cute to be single. The setting is an enviable world where cheeriness and merriment aren’t confined to the month of December. And of course chuckle-some humor every so often that keeps you smiling. When Beth tells Dean she’s more off Broadway than on, Dean replies with “How far off Broadway?” To which Beth answers truthfully “Hoboken New Jersey.” “‘Tis the Season for Love” is a great warm-up to the holidays. It will put a smile on your face and get you ready for the Christmas season. Its not even close to being the best movie you will ever see, but its guaranteed to put you in a flawless mood for two hours.

by – Matt Christopher