Holiday Mismatch

For the first time, a movie title says it all! It is an awful mismatch. The two female leads are annoying and antagonistic, the adult children are not happy with their interfering mothers. Certainly not a feel good movie. Don't waste your time. This year's offering of Hallmark holiday movies is so poor in quality and scripts. In my opinion, Hallmark is trying to pump out way too many movies in a short time frame. Instead of starting Christmas movies in the middle of October, STOP rushing the season and take the time to develop good quality scripts, find better actors and hope you can redeem your reputation for "hallmark" movies. Someone at the Hallmark movie headquarters needs to go back to the drawing board and recapture what made Hallmark movies so enjoyable. This current season is too painful to watch.

I normally don't like stories with overbearing and meddling parents, especially when their personalities are so annoying. These two are a little over the top, or at least Kath is. Somehow the viewer almost grows to like the two moms. Meanwhile, the young couple are appealing characters.

I've never seen Maxine Denis before, but I hope she becomes a regular for Hallmark. Lauren's character is a little uncertain of herself, but makes up for it. She and John McLaren have chemistry.

The premise of fake dating is fairly common, but I can't remember it being done by focusing on the meddling moms as much as the couple themselves. Of course you know the moms are going to screw things up, but for a while everything they do goes the opposite of their intentions to sabotage the relationship. I thought the way the story finally threw in the monkey wrench was a little clumsy, but I often do with the obstacle in the story.

The movie was fun.

This is a fun movie. My wife laughed out loud at the faces Caroline Rhea made during some of the situations.

I was pleasantly surprised that for once, when the main romantic interest characters became upset, it wasn't at each other. They started out as casual acquaintances who devised a plan keep their moms from consuming their time and energy during the holiday. Their romance developed as they got to know each other better. They didn't need major misunderstandings to add drama to the story. Of course for that they had their parents.

The one thing that might annoy people with traditional family values was the inclusion of a brother who was introduced at one point with his "husband". Since it added nothing at all to the plot, it seemed like just a gratuitous insertion that some might feel was a subtle bit of social normalization added to placate some special interest production investor. Or something.

Overall though, it was a fun movie and a refreshing change from some of the worn-out plot templates we know so well.

Newly retired bookkeeper Barbara (Beth Broderick) takes a volunteer job at the community center and is assigned to a committee run by the bohemian Kath (Caroline Rhea). Kath and Barbara clash from the moment they meet, but both love their kids...and end up unintentionally setting them up with each other on an app as a blind date. Their kids, Shane and Lauren, meet as a blind date, then they make a pact to fake date through the holidays to get their mom's off their backs. When the Kath and Barbara figure out that they have set their child up with the other's, they immediately team up to break them up, assuming that they can't be right for each other...only they are.

I love both Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick, who are the heart of this film. The message is really about how people are different, and yet often those differences are complimentary. Kath and Barb were not the romantic leads...but they could have been, they held this hallmark holiday film together so well. (I did like the two kids, aka the romantic leads, but really you should watch it for Rhea and Broderick.)

Recent retiree Barbara (Beth Broderick) joins the town's Christmas Committee to keep herself busy, but immediately clashes with Kath (Caroline Rhea). Barbara is stiff, on time and a wiz in a spreadsheet. Kath is a free spirit, and a bit nutty, but also full of Christmas joy. They both just so happen to have young, single children. The moms use an app for parents to match their kids (terrifying). Yes, the kids match on the app and quickly in real life.

This movie really focuses on two relationships, but in a unique way. In a shared A/B story, the mom's relationship from enemies to friends, and the kid's story from "fake dating" to actually dating take nearly equal screen time.

The chemistry between Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea is wonderful, obviously from their years of working together as aunts on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. They couldn't have found better actors to take on these roles. Very authentic ribbing and timing.

Our romantic leads are Shane (Jon McLaren) and Lauren (Maxine Denis). They are great together and could have held the full focus of the story with more material.

My major nitpick is the fake dating. After Shane and Lauren go on a real date together, they decide to flip the script and fake date to get their parents to stop setting them up with people (which we never see happen by the way). There is no logical (or Christmas Magical) reason to make this decision. Just date, you hot people! That's the way to go. The parents would have stopped meddling if you were really dating, and you definitely liked each other, so do that.

It's refreshing to see Lauren working hard as a co-owner of her architecture firm and trying to get a project done. So often in Hallmark, we'd see her trying to get a promotion from a male CEO, or ice queen boss over Christmas. They also give a realistic reason why the building work needs to get done by the end of the year-building code changes on Jan. 1. I don't know if it exactly works like that, but I applaud the effort.

Goofy notes -Only one "witch" reference in the whole movie. I expected more.

-"Tying a dead plant to a car" is an interesting way to describe taking a Christmas Tree home.

-I need more of the Christmas rat. This seemed so whacky, and it worked because Shane was really all of us in that situation.

-Shane's theater has a full kitchen behind the seating area, and they don't shut off the lights during a performance. Hmm, I wonder why they are struggling.

-When you do karaoke for "Jingle Bells" you probably don't need to stare quite so intently at the words on the screen.

-Trolly caroling isn't a thing. Is it? Let's get in a wooden bench trolly and hold fake sheet music and sing so nobody else can hear us.

-Why are we always Christmas caroling? Singing did not need to happen this much.

Cast kudos: This is a slam dunk-- Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea.

Alternative titles: Full Sabotage Christmas; Meddling Moms Christmas; UnMatched for Christmas.