Operation Mistletoe

Grace has the opportunity to land a huge project for her interior design firm, but it comes with strings - she must reconnect with her childhood crush, Ryan, who's back in town sorting out his mother's estate. Everyone, naturally, tries to convince them they're destined for one another.

I'm convinced this studio has three bags filled with scraps of paper: one for actors, one for plots, and one for female job titles. Among the actors would be Nick Bateman, among the job titles "interior designer," and they just draw one from each bag and call it a film. These tropes are repeated more often than Only Fools and Horses on UK Gold.

She's an interior designer, he's back in town, she has glossy lips, he looks like a catalogue model. They don't hit it off but obviously fall in love because of the magic of Christmas. The whole thing is agonising.

All Canadian entertainment should come with a hazard warning. If they truly think this is what Christmas is about, someone's definitely been at the eggnog.

I also refuse to believe anyone in this universe orders hot chocolate. It would be an extra-skinny soya chai latte with dairy-free whip, minimum.

Grace is horrid, stringing along poor Quinn - granted, he's dull as dishwater - and the Mayor should be behind bars for blackmail, forcing Grace into whatever suits her festive agenda.

Yes, there are bows on kitchen cupboards, 55,000 Christmas lights, heart-warming piano music, and more plaid and soft woolly blankets than a national emergency requires. Not a cushion out of place, cookies produced on cue. If you've ever wondered what life is like for those painted figures trapped inside a Christmas snow globe, this is it: forced to live and love the perfect, meaningful Christmas... *rolls eyes.*

All the sincerity of a set of teeth from Turkey.

3/10.

We watched the first 15 minutes hoping that the volume of the music would reduce. We couldn't even hear the dialogue because of the volume of the music. Then for a few minutes, the music went away while someone was on the phone. Then the scene went back to the small town and the music returned, as loud as before.

So unless a person is willing to read closed captions, it isn't possible to watch the movie, not being able to hear what the main characters are saying.

It looked like the kind of movie that I really enjoy so I hope eventually the music can be corrected. It was a premiere show on CW station so I surprised at this problem.

Aside from some recent efforts of GAC Family, Jen Lilley has always delivered reliable performances in Christmas movies for Hallmark.

I was going to steer clear of this one, thinking it was a GAC movie, where production values are generally a few levels below Lifetime and Hallmark...but this is a Hulu product, from Brad Krevoy, whose movies are generally pretty good, so I figured I'd give it a go.

"Operation Mistletoe" is just fine. It's not destined to be a classic of the genre, and isn't as good as many of the 2024 raft of holiday movies released, but it's a pleasant way to pass ninety or so minutes.

Lilley is good, and her opposite number Nick Bateman has his moments, too. Nice sets, too.

How can you name a movie Operation Mistletoe and then use holly in place of mistletoe? Not one person who made this movie can tell the difference between holly and mistletoe?! Holly has RED berries and mistletoe always has WHITE berries. Why make a movie about something you are so clueless about? How does nobody fact check anything anymore? I honestly can't believe this slipped everyone's attention and this made it all the way to TV. It seems so stupid and ridiculous to act like holly is mistletoe. Anyone who has more than two brain cells to rub together knows the difference between the two plants. The oversight makes the movie unwatchable.

The problem with this movie is what plagues most films, a terrible script. There is nothing original in this Christmas rom-com, all the writers had to do was watch a bunch of Hallmark movies and copy every cliche. Have an attractive couple, add nostalgia for the past and relatives lost, throw in flashbacks to confuse viewers and have a lot of talk about Christmas traditions. There are many very fine movies that take place during Christmas, that don't have a cliched obsession with the season.

Jen Lilly is a known quantity, she's appeared in many films and always delivers a good performance. Why did the producers or director keep Nick Bateman in a white shirt, tie and jeans? The supporting cast are ok.