To Have and to Holiday

To Have and to Holiday is another of the Hallmark movies this year featuring a cast of people who are virtually unknown to me. With the exception of the lead actress' parents, I'm not sure I've seen any of them before.

That said, the acting was better than a lot of movies you see this time of year.

Madeleine Arthur and Robert Bazzochi are excellent as a young couple who become engaged after dating briefly, prompting her father, who is also a pastor, to insist on putting them through his marriage boot camp in order to gauge their compatibility.

We've seen these things before, even this year, and this part of the movie didn't really work.

Fortunately, there was enough of a plot to make it worth a watch.

Arthur is cute and sweet and pretty, and has excellent chemistry with Bazzochi, and both turned in strong performances as the young couple navigating issue after issue on the way to the altar.

We'll be seeing them again.

There's a million choices at Christmas time. This is not great, but there are worse choices.

Six.

I fully agree with the idea of marriage counseling. And the pastor is trying to teach some great principles. But he is clearly biased and his judgment isn't giving the best results. If nothing else, he is building a wall with his future son-in-law. Pastor says family has to be built, but that takes both of them. As the adult, and the pastor, he should be taking the lead in building a good relationship and not antagonizing Jason. Resentment is easy to create and hard to break down. Being constantly judged while in an unfamiliar setting is too much. Jason asks "Does your father like me?"

Jason isn't exactly helping. His pride is in the way. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Is his dander up because of how he is being treated, or is he being treated badly because of his arrogance?

And yes 3 months is pretty quick. I'm a Boomer so I think it is too quick.

None of this makes a bad movie. In fact it is building a pretty good story with some great opportunities, even if maybe being a bit predictable. The friction that Bootcamp brings out is real. There are also some funny moments.

I really like Madeleine Arthur's Celeste. She is upbeat and nice. As I already said, Robert Bazzocchi's Jason is not as likeable, but that's partially because he is meant to look a little bad especially in front of Mark. Jason has some great qualities. Mark is a caring dad. His concerns are legitimate but a little too enthusiastic. And of course he is meant to look bad to the viewer, at least in part. One of Mark's worst moments is over the lights.

My star ratings are usually based on my personal enjoyment. This movie is well done. It has some good themes. But there was too much negativity even past the last commercial. I did enjoy the very lad scene.

I'm happy and proud of Robert Bazzocchi. He deserves more recognition. To Have and to Holiday. Is a pretty good movie. I like how crazy the town is. And beautiful. I didn't like Celeste father. He was so annoying. And childish. Yet he calls himself a pastor? As for Celeste mother. She is one of my favorite characters. She was sweet, kind and a better parent. Jake and Judith are my favorite characters. I thought, it was funny how the mailman acts. When someone beats him in a dart game. They seriously need to find a new mailman lol. Robert did an amazing job playing Jake. He's very talented and deserves more acting roles.

To Have and to Holiday was just ok. It's basically a Christmas version of Father of the Bride (I really liked that movie). The movie started out pretty good. In flashbacks to when Celeste was younger you could see that her dad (Pastor Mark) wanted his old life back when his daughter was younger. Pastor Mark was unlikeable. For a man of the cloth he wasn't very nice. He spent 3/4 of the movie trying to sabotage his daughter's upcoming wedding. In Hallmark fashion he had a turnabout the last 15 minutes of the movie. The acting was good and the leads had chemistry. This won't be one that I would watch again.

While "To Have and to Holiday" is reminiscent of some older movies like "Father Of the Bride" and "Meet The Parents", this one was enjoyable because of the excellent cast who portrayed believable characters for a change. The relationship between the romantic leads Celeste (Madeleine Arthur) and Jason (Robert Bazzocchi) is believable. Madeleine Arthur is a very talented actress and was excellent in Hallmark's 2023 movie "3 Bed, 2 Bath, 1 Ghost". The actor Eric Close, who plays Celeste's pastor father, Mark, was also excellent in this. I remembered him from the intriguing 2002 mini series "Taken". Let's hope Hallmark can keep the remaining 2024 Christmas releases on par with this one!