Sister Swap x2 (2021)
Trading Places: Williams Sisters Editions
Released as part of Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas in 2021, these two movies star real-life sisters Ashley Williams and Kimberly Williams-Paisley in a Trading Places-type life swap. Only with significantly fewer drugs and corporate fraud.
Ashley is a longtime Hallstar with over a dozen of the crown corp’s easygoing fare under her belt. However, if you were a fan of How I Met Your Mother ~20 years ago (I digress… HOW has it been that long?!?), you would remember her having played Victoria, Ted Mosby’s best girlfriend of the series. Go ahead, fight me on that one.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Aka THE Annie Banks #IYKYK. As the lore goes, many moons before they met, Brad Paisley was on a date and saw Kimberly on screen in the first Father of the Bride film. Instantly smitten, he was intent from that moment on that one day he’d marry her himself. A Hallmark plot in real life if there ever was one. I don’t care how accurate that is, I refuse to believe anything else.
This pair of movies follows basically every Hallmark Christmas movie trope:
Something needs to be saved! Jennifer (Williams-Paisley) is a restauranteur returned home to her small town and has to help save the beloved local theatre that had been owned by a recently deceased uncle.
A party/competition needs to happen: Meg (Williams) runs the small-town family bakery but goes into the city to help Jennifer’s restaurant prepare for a local competition.
Someone is either divorced/widowed/single parent. Jennifer is a widow with a teenage son. And whose teenage boy DOESN’T want to leave the city for a small town?!?
There’s caroling! A carriage ride! A cookie decorating montage! Making Christmas wreaths! An old-fashioned Christmas tree farm! A tree lighting ceremony! With even more caroling!
With only minimal romance for Ashley in Christmas in the City, what these movies don’t go hard on is the romance aspect, and that’s just fine. Really, I’m here for the sisterly banter and hitting the most common themes. Easy to watch, these air every year or two. I’d PVR to watch on a Sunday morning but wouldn’t plan a Friday night around them.
A high point for me - some amazing red fedoras instead of the classic Santa hat. I might need to find one for myself this year.
Hallmark: Christmas in the City and A Hometown Holiday
