Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade

Emily (Autumn Reeser) is in charge of Chicago's traditional Thanksgiving parade—think Macy's but on State Street in downtown Chicago. This year, she's worried when Henry, a rather aloof consultant (Antonio Cupo), arrives to potentially overhaul the parade and, in her eyes, ruin it or even halt it completely. Both are having relationship troubles: Emily has been with Brian, a slightly nerdy marine biologist (Ben Cotton; think Richard Dreyfuss in JAWS but less cute and funny) for years and assumes that when he returns from his latest trip that he will propose to her; Henry has drifted apart from his girlfriend Gretchen, accused of not understanding how to work at keeping a relationship alive. Of course, after a rough few days, Emily and Henry hit it off and smooth out each other's rough spots—but what about Brian and Gretchen?

The movie looks colorful and shiny, and it helps that there is a fair amount of footage shot on location on the streets of Chicago. The two leads are attractive, and after all, that's what really counts in these cable TV romances, and I was pleased that Cupo's "bad guy" personality was a bit more rounded than usual. Cotton was fine as the clueless biologist; poor Gretchen gets almost no characterization at all, only present near the end to provide one more speed bump on the way to the happy ending, and Ali Liebert is quite likable as Reeser's best friend— more of her would have been welcome. The script could have used another draft; once it gets to the last 15 minutes, things are rushed and plot holes are exposed—I'm still not sure how on earth Cupo wind up in a Santa suit??—but given the genre, it's fairly satisfying.

And to "conleytgwinn," another reviewer, the song Reeser sings is Blondie's "Heart of Glass."

This is pretty standard fare for Hallmark Christmas movies. But it is very well done.

Autumn Reeser and Antonio Cupo work very well together. Reeser is perfect as a quirky, idealistic woman who loves vintage things and tradition. That is only part of why she always wears clothes that are from decades past.

There were some good laughs. Reeser made a good drunk (on one drink) singing and dancing karaoke. She constantly embarrasses herself with humorous consequences while rehearsing things she will say to Brian or Henry. Another nice touch is the split screen of Emily and Henry at different times when they are by themselves at night.

The typical Hallmark story has a couple of nice touches near the end.

1. A classic antithetical romance than works, although the antipathy is one-sided most of the time.

2. In the last half of the movie, many moments made us laugh out loud.

3. Some of the laugh out loud moments are from surprisingly awkward but funny situations.

There's a LOT of screen time with the leads, which is a problem for many movies. And there's a lot of comedic denial. This movie is a treasure, and one we'll watch again. It's that funny.

These leads also appear in A Glenbrooke Christmas, which we'd watched in 2020 and in our own notes suggested it was "meh", but we plan to give it another chance after just watching this.

Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of my favorite Hallmark movies of all times! The writing, the chemistry between the two leads, the touching moments interlaced with quirky humor make this a can't miss movie. I keep it on my DVR, but it's also available at Prime, but they still show it in a tiny, early window of Christmas films as of 2019. I adore Autumn Reeser and Antonio Cupo in this movie and hope that Hallmark can learn from the older movies that this movie is a model for how to make a good movie no matter what time of year. Enjoy!

I am not, nor would I ever, knock today's Hallmark releases- but nothing compares to the early years.

I don't know how I had never seen this one before- but it's easily my favorite.

It's got the essential elements of falling in love during the holidays on the small screen: a conflict ridden meet-cute, a seemingly perfect boyfriend, the most adorable and wholesome woman in the world, a couple fun female extras, an unrealistically single man who's attractive, wealthy, and a gentleman- but a bit jaded.

But this Thanksgiving flick of Hallmark past(and WHY did they stop making Thanksgiving films?) Is far less sugar-coated than than today's, while still remaining wholesome enough. They openly drink and get drunk, the boyfriend isn't 'the right guy-just for someone else' he's actually quite the prick. The humor is just a shade darker and a notch sexier - and it creates a depth that's been lacking the last couple years.

The actual production is really good, too- at least to someone who knows very little about movie production. They really made Chicago in November really beautiful. I even really loved the music- which is often the one element I kind of hate.

As for the story, a vintage-clad young woman prepared for her beloved annual Thanksgiving parade while waiting for her marine-biologist boyfriend to come home and propose to her. Meanwhile she bumps into the man who wants to commoditize the parade she's devoted her career to - and while they have opposite views on just about everything, including love- their chemistry is undeniable. Naturally they're forced to work together, and end up exposing every private thought that occurs to them- and eat peanut butter in their undies (separately, mind you- this IS still a Hallmark movie)

The leads- Hallmark favorite Autumn Reeser, and the very very handsome Antonio Cupo -just absolutely killed it. It was hard not to root for them.

If you're in the mood for predictable yet enjoyable couple hours, and don't want to feel like you're watching a disney-movie for adults, this is a good start. I always dvr the 2015 and earlier Hallmark movies- there really is something a touch more special about them (might be the fact they didn't churn out 200 a year) and this might have been the absolute best of them.

Also- I now REALLY want a best friend with a small vintage clothing shop. Might be my favorite set of any movie ever made. So- anybody with a vintage shop is obviously free to seek me out and befriend me, I expect tea-for two in a mid-century settee. And, yes- that's how adorable this movie is.