Christmas on Call

This Hallmark holiday romance takes place in Philadelphia, where a paramedic's job brings him into contact with a hospital physician. Wes (Ser'Darius Blain) is a native son of the City of Brotherly Love, and unattached. Hannah (Sara Canning) is new to the city. They both have demanding jobs with difficult schedules. When sparks fly between them, they have difficulty finding time to socialize, but they persevere.

There is a second story, about two cops who lost track of each other after a promising New Year's connection. Sanjay (Erik Athavale) says that he texted her later, only to be ghosted. Danielle (Reena Jolly) says she was ghosted by him. When work brings them together again, things are frosty for a while, but they warm up as they spend time together. Eventually, they solve the mystery of their earlier estrangement.

Though all four main characters have jobs that entail some stress, the film has a light tone. And it never feels like there is a lot of pressure to bring the couples together. The easy-going tone makes this an enjoyable film. And the surrounding cast fits well into this narrative.

Another Christmas movie that I was not familiar with prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2024 as part of my December month of Christmas movie marathon.

And since I had not heard about it, of course I didn't know what I was in for. But I assumed, from the cover of the movie, that it would be an archetypical sappy Christmas movie, for better or worse.

Writers Chris Sey and Jennifer Barrow put together a script and storyline that didn't really particularly capture my interest. The narrative was simply too mundane and uninteresting. And, in all honesty, it was a boring and difficult movie to sit through, especially since the narrative failed to bring that particular special sappy Christmas feel to the screen.

I wasn't really familiar with the cast ensemble, though I do recall having seen leading actor Ser'Darius Blain somewhere before. And I had to look him up here on IMDb, and saw he was in the newer Jumanji movies. I wasn't familiar with leading actress Sara Canning. The movie also failed to entertain me, as there wasn't really any believable chemistry between the leading actor and actress, and with this supposed to be a sappy Christmas movie, chemistry is a key ingredient. I will say, though, that the acting performances in the movie were fair.

"Christmas On Call" just didn't have that special and unique Christmas magic to it, you know, the kind you see in the archetypical sappy Christmas movies. And that is one of the major reasons for why the movie failed to deliver.

This is by no means a movie with the contents to be a Christmas movie. Nor is it even a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time, nor is it a movie that I would recommend you to waste 84 minutes on watching.

My rating of director Jeff Beesley's 2024 movie "Christmas On Call" lands on a three out of ten stars.

This was one of the most boring Christmas movies I have watched in a long time. There was nothing going on at all. I wasted 2 hours hoping it would get better.

I love stories that interconnect with others so I was super excited to watch this one. Hallmark usually does this pretty good but totally missed the mark on this one.

The actors has zero chemistry so it was hard to believe the love story aspect. The "doctor" has got to have the easiest schedule of any ER doctor in the history of man kind. The 2 police officers provided comedic relief but it was easy to figure out their storyline. I figured out half way through what the dramatic scene was going to be.

Maybe I just expected more from Hallmark.

This wasn't your typical type of Hallmark movie. It was different. I think someone else said it was fresh and I agree. I loved how the storyline was not your typical storyline. It didn't follow the same trope that a lot of the other movies do. It has its own spin and it was good.

There are some new faces this Christmas season. I really hope to see them again. There was a really cute cameo as well. I don't want to give a spoiler.

Lastly, I liked how this one showed that First Responders have hearts, feelings, etc. They also have a family that they leave, to go home to the family that they love.

Ser'Darius Blain, who plays the EMT Wes, is the best part of this Hallmark holiday film around first responders in Philadelphia. The film would ask us to believe that Philadelphia is the best city to spend Christmas in...a fact that I would argue, especially with all of it's crime. The main storyline is around a new ER doctor Hannah who is new to town and Wes a Philadelphia native and EMT, who takes it upon himself to show her the city. There are some arguing neighbors that tie into a police storyline, a nurse who is missing her military daughter, and a wife and mother dealing with sending her son to college.

There is a fun cameo at the Philly cheesesteaks sandwich shop by the matron of the Kelce family, Donna.

I appreciated the film taking such pride in Philadelphia and trying to show it off in it's best light. I also really appreciated the showcase of a hospital storyline for those of us who sacrifice family time for the care of others on Christmas and lots of other holidays. It's because of this and of course Ser'Darius Blain that I recommend this to Hallmark holiday romance fans. It was slightly different than the usual formula and it tried to have just a little bit of fun.