The Secret Gift of Christmas (2023)
I tried. I promise, I tried. I couldn’t.
I get it, being a working actor has got to be tough. And I’d bet there are a lot of jobs that provide a paycheck and not much satisfaction beyond that. In this case, I truly felt bad for Meghan Ory and Christopher Russell. Hallmark, you did these two dirty.
Ory stars as Bonnie, a supposed high end personal shopper who dresses like she just walked out of a caricature of a Christmas movie - harsh reds and faux fur abound. And, in what I can only assume to be an attempt to make then 41-year old Ory seem a decade plus younger, there’s evidence that someone went HARD on the curling wand, resulting in a poodle-like coif. From an almost Disney Princess (she was Little Red Riding Hood on Once Upon a Time) to this… Meghan, my sympathies.
Russell is Patrick, a widowed dad to Phoebe, who doesn’t have time to do his own shopping in between renovating century homes and making sure that construction sites have Christmas trees in awkward places. That’s about the extent of his character development.
Complicating matters is a love triangle with Phoebe’s music teacher, Fiona, played by Jenn Grant (Canadian folk artist), who someone thought would read significantly younger if she was sporting a very unfortunate lady mullet.
The climax is the absolute most horrendous round of Christmas karaoke I have ever heard. It was all I could do to not howl and change the channel. I try so hard to keep my snark at bay, but Hallmark… I just… I couldn’t… It was so bad!
Bonnie is also supposed to be some sort of excellent gifter but really, she reads as an overgrown tween with questionable fashion sense and a shopping problem. Not to mention, the “big gift” she sources for Patrick to give to Phoebe is a necklace that matches her own?!? Overstep much?!? Oh my lanta…
Sure, there were some ugly sweaters, a tree farm, ice skating, and other classic tropes, but seriously. For a movie filmed in Halifax we could have had so much more.
If you really like the personal shopper angle, I recommend Jolly Good Christmas instead.
