Take Me Back for Christmas

Christmas aside (it was a minor part of the story and actually could have been Thanksgiving or no holiday at all), this is a sentimental story about balancing family, friends, work, and personal ideals.

Our protagonist has a lot going on: work, husband, mother, and house--as well as fear.

I love the genre of going back in time or into an alternate dimension. It's always fun to see the individual in flux while getting familiar with the new setting into which they have been magically placed.

Self-discovery is always interesting to me and I found the ways of the protagonist's learning in this film to be unique--we're talking tear-jerker potential.

Endings and new beginnings. Love and loss and love. A romcom happy ending.

It's flawed (like most Hallmark movies) but it has a big beating heart at its center that makes it one of Hallmark's better Christmas movies.

I'm an unapologetic fan of time travel/alternate reality movies. It's a trope that has worked ever since "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life". Hallmark has made a bunch of really good "What if?" movies. Some of my recent favorites include "Next Stop Christmas", "Love Strikes Twice", and "Ghosts of Christmas Always". Some of my older favorites include "Family For Christmas" which starred Hallmark Queen Lacey Chabert, "A Dream of Christmas" with Hallmark King Andrew Walker, and "Just in Time For Christmas" which starred Eloise Mumford, one of my Hallmark favorites.

This alternate reality movie reunites Vanessa Lengies and Corey Sevier, who were last paired together in "Heart of the Holidays". That movie, and this movie, was directed by Corey Sevier and written by his wife Kate Pragnell.

This fits in nicely with those other Hallmark movies despite a bit of a rocky start and, as is the case with many Hallmark movies, a complete disregard for the financial realities of starting and running a business. But Hallmark movies often succeed or fail based on the quality and chemistry of the stars, and Vanessa Lengies and Corey Sevier are both excellent and have great chemistry together. Lengies is especially effective at making her character adorably clumsy and flustered, and then believably emotional. I'd like to see more of her.

Unfortunately, the movie begins inauspiciously with an either/or discussion between Renee and Aaron. Note to homeowners who are stretched thin financially and feel like selling their treasured family home is the only option if they want to move: refinance the home and then rent it out. You'll be able to keep an appreciating asset, pay the mortgage with the rent, and free up the cash you need to start somewhere else. You can always sell later if you really have to sell.

The next scene features Renee working at what appears to be a small seasonal Christmas store that sits all by itself in the middle of nowhere. Usually, the unprofitable small store in a small Hallmark town is at least in a quaint town center area, but not here. And yet Renee's career goal is to one day becoming the manager of that small seasonal out of the way store. Could her career goals be any lower at that point? And then she's shown to have the spine of a jellyfish when she fails to mention to her manager that a gift basket she gave to her co-worker was not an unauthorized purchase. That was cringey, as was her initial fish out of water transition to her alternate life. And her idea for saving the Big Company in her alternate life? Let's just say it was impractical and unlikely to have the long term impact her Big Company needed.

But the rest of the movie had me hooked. And Renee's mother? Ugh, that was, for me, the most emotionally powerful part of the movie. That had me crying and was a big reason why I recommend this movie. Take Me Back To Christmas is a winner because it captures that quintessential ingredient that's in the best Hallmark movies- it has its heart in the right place and reminds viewers what really matters in life. I love lines like this:

"At a certain point in life, when you've met your person, home becomes less of a place and more of a feeling. It's wherever they are."

Also, I don't often notice the background music in Hallmark movies, but the music playing during the end of the alternate life segment was a perfect fit for the moment.

I loved the ending. It was just bursting with joy, love and gratitude and made me forget my relatively minor complaints. That feeling is why I keep watching Hallmark movies.

I have watched a million Hallmark movies and this one is really a step above the rest, almost completely due to the acting job of Vanessa Lengies who was brilliant in this movie. Since you know that the main characters are already in love from the beginning of the movie, you wonder how they are going to make a been-done-many-times-before Hallmark plot feel fresh. But Vanessa does it! Really, really worth watching. Corey Sevier always does a decent job, but Vanessa steals the show, perfectly nailing every emotion in every scene and making the fantasy plot seem absolutely plausible. I also loved that there were some other plot lines going on, especially the mother-daughter one; Paula Boudreau was AMAZING in the role as the mother, by the way. I will be keeping this movie on DVR and watching again!

There's so much to love about this particular Hallmark movie. I was pleasantly surprised how much I genuinely enjoyed it. The story is very well written and well thought out, which cannot be said for many TV romcom movies. The acting is topnotch as well. Vanessa Lengies and Corey Sevier are perfectly matched and pull off their roles with aplomb and then some. Their easy chemistry and comedic skills are particularly notable. Kudos to Kate Pragnell for crafting such a terrific script and to Sevier for his directing skills as well. Lengies really shines and connects, with Sevier, with the actress who portrays her mom (Paula Boudreau) and with the audience. This one is worth watching over again for its message and all-around enjoyability. It won't be a surprise to me if it ends up being one of Hallmark's most successful movies of 2023.

Forget the worn out storyline. Of course it is just that. Take it as the Hallmark movie that it is and appreciate the talented cast. I say well done to all of them. Corey Sevier's role was meant to be less than the female leads'. That's the chosen storyline. But I didn't find that there was any less chemistry between them than you'd expect. It was cute, sometimes funny and, yes, a little silly/ unrealistic at times. It is a fantasy Christmas movie. And a made for tv romcom.

Nice scenery, great costuming and lovely relationship between mother and daughter. I wasn't really familiar with Vanessa Lengies (female lead) but she carried the show and was the spark that brought all the characters to life. A lot of depth in her performance. I liked her even when the script put her in a few silly/uncomfortable situations. And Corey Sevier never disappoints, always handles his roles well.

I'd definitely watch this again.