'Twas the Date Before Christmas

I really enjoyed 'Twas The Date Before Christmas for its well thought out storyline, talented topnotch leads and excellent supporting cast.

Jessie (Amy Groening) and Bryan (Robert Buckley) meet via a dating app. She's been nursing a broken heart for a year and is looking for a date to bring to her family's wacky, over-the-top Christmas party, and he is encouraged by his close friends to get back into the dating pool. After they work out the logistics of their first date with some cute texting banter, we soon see them on their way to her mom's house for the big event, where Bryan meets her boisterous, loving family and is introduced to a 23-year-old tradition called the Chamberlain Family Christmas Olympics. They partake in all the events as a couple, while keeping the fact that this is actually their first date a secret. Is their secret eventually uncovered? Maybe. And is there a plot twist that somehow connects Bryan to someone in the family? Maybe. Am I going to ruin it for you? No.

Robert Buckley (charming and likable as ever) elevates every show/movie he's in, and wasn't it about time that Hallmark finally promoted the warm and witty Amy Groening to top billing?! Both give performances with real heart, and their chemistry is easy and palpable. I had high hopes for this particular movie, and it rose to the occasion in spades. Very much worth the watch, and I highly recommend it.

When Jesse (Amy Groening) learns that her family is planning to cancel her favorite traditions this year, she is devastated. Hoping to save the tradition, she tells her mom that she's got someone special to bring to the festivities. The trouble is, she doesn't. Using a dating app (who among us hasn't) she finds a guy, Bryan (Robert Buckley), willing to spend his Christmas Eve taking part in the Chamberlain Family Christmas Olympics. This movie doesn't fall into the expected trappings of every "fake boyfriend" Christmas movie you've seen before. In fact, they play it pretty loose, which is refreshing and rather enjoyable. The on-screen chemistry between Jesse and Bryan is very much apparent and believable as well.

This was a great movie to kick off the 2024 Countdown to Christmas, even if it's mid-October and my house is decorated for Halloween. It's sweet and funny, but there is one clear reason why: Amy Groening. I've seen her in Santa Summit, sharing the female co-starring role with two others and as a secondary character in several other Hallmark movies. But this is the first lead role I've seen her in. Forgive me if it's not the first. She's excellent. Often we have Hallmark female leads who are a bit-how do I put this nicely-stiff. Groening is anything but stiff. She's playful and funny, and easy to root for. Buckley too, is kind and sweet. Hallmark better get this dude a Christmas tree farm or a failing community center to save ASAP.

Loved it and would watch again.

Cast Kudos: Marcus the stepdad who rules the kitchen and wears a lot of aprons. He is hilarious, but unfortunately, IMDB doesn't even list him as part of the cast, so I can't find his name.

Alternative titles: Blind Date for Christmas; Saving the Christmas Olympics.

To prevent her family from canceling the "Chamberlain Family Christmas Olympics," Jessie (Groening) lies and says she's inviting a date to the long-standing holiday tradition. She meets Bryan (Buckley) on a dating app, and he agrees to spend the holiday with her and her family. As Jessie and Bryan engage in eccentric activities like the search for the Christmas tree star, gift wrapping contest and snowball fight, they start to develop real feelings for each other. Soon her family begins to catch on to their secret and Bryan suspects she may be hiding the real reason for her unusual Christmas date request. As the celebrations continue, Jessie must work to keep all her stories straight and save her date with Bryan.

Firstly, it is rigidly formulaic, but the formula is applied sensibly, with no childish misunderstandings or extended histrionics, so that's a good start. The two leads ooze chemistry -what man could not have chemistry with Groening, right?- and their fun banter comes very easily with each other. Also the growing attraction is paced perfectly, and not based on one single event that suddenly made them both realise they'd fallen in love. The script is way better than a lot of budget christmas films, and it feels like this one has had some time spent on it. The direction is great and the sets second to none. The film oozes christmas, romance and family fun. Many christmas films aren't rewatchable because the story is just a one off love-'em-and-leave-'em plot, but this one is different. It's lots of fun and a few laughs too so I would be happy to re-watch now and again.

It has a warm and happy vibe to it and I am more than happy to give it a solid 6.

Hallmark kicked off its "Countdown to Christmas" with this holiday romance. Jessie (Amy Groening) "meets" Bryan (Robert Buckley) on a dating application and asks him to accompany her home for Christmas. He accepts, and the family is led to believe Bryan is her boyfriend, but they are merely on an extended blind date.

It doesn't take an Einstein to deduce where the story is going, but there is the usual complication, which involves a real estate deal. But most of the story is heartwarming. Jessie's family accepts Bryan, and he participates in their "family Christmas Olympics". The games provide a format for the "date" which feels real and looks like fun.

This was a good way to start Hallmark's season-long holiday fest.

I was pleased to see Amy Groening in the lead role here (Jesse). She has been in a number of Hallmark movies playing the sidekick, where she proved herself to be funny and likeable, and that is the case here as well. There is a fair amount of silliness in this movie which is typical for Hallmark, but she and Robert Buckley (Bryan) have a natural chemistry which carries things. Bryan is kind and curious, and ready to take the zany ride with Jesse's family after meeting her in a coffee shop, where they both sense potential. There is the necessary misunderstanding near the end, but the characters talk things through and all is well. And by the way, the Christmas decorations throughout the movie are wonderful. This is one of Hallmark's better Christmas movies, and I'm glad they led the "Countdown to Christmas" with it.