Confessions of a Christmas Letter

Of course I had never heard about this 2024 Christmas movie titled "Confessions of a Christmas Letter" prior to sitting down and watching it as part of a December Christmas movie marathon. But from the movie's cover alone, it looked like it was going to be an archetypical sappy Christmas movie. Yet, I still opted to give the movie a fair chance.

Writers Jennifer Smith and Kate Smith put together a fair enough script. It was watchable and entertaining enough, for sure, but it was hardly an outstanding foray into the sappy Christmas movie genre. But hey, if you enjoy the sappy Christmas movies, then you're in for a treat here.

The only cast member that I was familiar with was Garry Chalk. However, I will say that the acting performances in the movie were fair.

"Confessions of a Christmas Letter" is a movie that caters to the diehard fans of sappy Christmas movies. You're not in for any grand movie experience, if you sit down to watch the movie as a casual viewer.

My rating of director Heather Hawthorn Doyle's 2024 movie "Confessions of a Christmas Letter" lands on a bland four out of ten stars. There are far, far better sappy Christmas movies out there.

I almost clicked away from this Hallmark Holiday film because the beginning is frenzied and crazy...and I thought it was about to focus on representation vs story, but I am thrilled that I stayed till the very end and really appreciated the ultimate message.

This film stars two former Office actors...Angela and Kevin. Angela Kinsey Plays Settie Rose, a mom who is a little Christmas crazy and for years has been trying to win the best local Christmas Letter of the year. She has been continually beat out by her vicious neighbor and HOA leader Sue. She has gotten so creative in her efforts to win that she has gone so far as to make up careers and sculpture classes for her kids to teach. This year determined to win and told by the postman that her letters lack prose...she is inspired by her husband volunteering to write this year's letter to hire a professional. The professional she picks ends up being new Puerto Rican author Juan (Alec Santos). Settie's email to Juan is intercepted by his abuela and Tio, who know Juan is suffering from writers block...and after a conversation about the film Misery being set in Main...they decide sending Juan to Main for this "job" for Christmas might be the perfect trick to get his creative juices flowing.

Unfortunately, Juan doesn't realize that the job is to write a family Christmas letter, a custom he is unfamiliar with, until he arrives from the airport in a ride share with Settie flaky wannabe actress daughter Lily. Once he gets the lay of the land and determines it's a family Christmas letter he has been hired to write, Juan almost quits and walks out...but then he encounters Sue (the usual winner) and her snooty, rude, arrogant attitude and his competitive spirit kicks in. Juan proceeds to take his job seriously, interviewing each family member, which includes getting rid of their cheat sheets provided by Settie, all while pretending to be Lily's new fiancé thanks to a misunderstanding by Sue.

There is some great comedy in this after the initial ridiculous frenzy...but more importantly is this "perfectly imperfect" message about what makes families special and about how often women don't get to enjoy the holidays because they are too caught up in trying to make it perfect for everyone else. I loved that Settie's son said he didn't want to be in any more Christmas letters...so the whole family had to not mention him until Juan finally picks up on a reference to Jack! I also loved that one of Juan's conditions was his own onesie that hadn't been worn by anyone else.

I really appreciated that I thought I was going to hate this film in the beginning but grew to love it because of its heartfelt message. I loved the reading of the night before Christmas in Spanish and some of the Puerto Rican flair scattered throughout, but mostly I loved the message that perfectly imperfect is not only ok, but good. What happens with the final letter was absolutely perfect.

I confess I have nearly stopped writing TV movies reviews. They seem to get dumber every year: are scriptwriters running out of ideas? Hallmark Christmas movies, this year, seem to have engaged the perilous slope of the farce. Almost all, so far. Somebody there must be confusing the concept of intimate joy with epidermic silliness. This one is barely saved by the final attempt to give it a more serious, constructive moral. Unfortunately, the basis for the plot is preposterous and idiotic, the acting is amateurish and frantic, the gags are juvenile at best, all through the movie. I wonder if at Hallmark all goes to the direction of a farce because they have lost the ability to take Christmas seriously. The results are that most of their dramas are a laugh and their comedies make me cry.

Was looking forward to this seeing the trailer a lot leading up to it. But it's terrible. The acting was over the top at best, the premise is lame, the writing is something a 5th grader would have done better at, the neighbor walks into their home anytime she wants as if she owns the home and she insults them incessantly. Who would EVER allow that?

It's a letter writing competition but the mother is terrible at writing, so she highers a published author to fly in from Puerto Rico to write the letter, as if THAT would not be grounds for disqualification as much as it's completely ridiculous. The son and his "husband" appear for 25 seconds, long enough to check the DEI box on someone's requirement sheet. I'm not mad they didn't appear in the movie again ... just, what was even the point!? Overall, It was bad enough that I wandered off many times to do other things. I came back to find I hadn't missed anything.

I must admit I get hooked on Hallmark Christmas movies despite their formula, predictable, corny format. This movie though, I had to turn off shortly in. I tried to watch it again and yes, I made it further, but it is the worst Hallmark movie of all time. The acting, I guess I will call it that, is beyond awful, the premise is ridiculous and there is nothing about the characters that makes you have the slightest bit of interest in them. I really like Angela Kinsey (The Office) and Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas), but what were they thinking taking on roles in this horrible movie!!! I would definitely recommend giving this one a pass.