Mystic Christmas

7.5 stars.

First impression after several minutes of puns, quick witted dry humor, and pithy remarks much too clever for normal humans...this was written by a 'Gilmore Girls' writer. So now I'm looking to see if these writers or director did in fact have any association with Gilmore. And the answer is: nope. To bed with that theory. So if you've seen Gilmore, think of the banter they share back and forth and back and forth ad nauseum and then swap Rory with a shy and hesitant seal loving blond named Juniper (Schram) and trade Lorelai or Melissa McCarthy's character with Juniper's best friend Candice, and then switch one of the more interesting and loquacious men of Gilmore (not Ventimiglia's character who was way too gloomy) with our lead male Sawyer, and that's 'Mystic Christmas' in a nutshell. Come to think of it, now on this soapbox, there were no men in 'Gilmore Girls' with any notable redeeming qualities. I digress.

This will hold your attention mostly, although there are a few slow parts. The leads share a very skittish romance to say the least. They are both frightened of the concept of following through with love or commitment. Question: did the email get sent or not? You will find out, but it's a bit underplayed in my opinion. I liked 'Mystic Christmas', I hope they make a sequel, finger's crossed.

It started out okay, I liked the initial banter and the leads are cute together. The secondary gay romance wasn't interesting.

Jessie's haircut was unflattering, IMO.

The seal was cute, though, and the best part of the movie. But it wasn't enough to remain interesting.

I didn't finish the movie.

I still have 300 more characters, so I'll say that this movie is easy to forget and I don't remember what I saw even now.

It takes place supposedly in Mystic Seaport, Connecticut.

Jessie's character is cute but odd, socially challenged.

The seal's name is Peppermint.

There are some Christmas activities I don't remember.

Met the quota. Done.

Jessy Schram has at times been at the very top of my favorite actresses list. The leaders often drop down if I don't see them in anything for a while. This movie brought her back to the top for now.

This movie was made for Schram. She gets to use her many talents in acting, romance and comedy. Her comedy isn't one dimensional. She has screen presence. She uses a lot of physical comedy with body language and gestures, facial expressions, and great timing. There were a couple of cases where she and others were delivering lines simultaneously and the timing had to be perfect. And she has great energy.

Schram's timing with Chandler Massey was excellent. There was an obvious comfort level. Their characters had obvious affection.

The story? Who cares. I was enjoying the characters. The story was good enough but followed obvious lines. There was some quirkiness. Some of the Christmas activities were out of the ordinary. No snow ball fights. The ending had a little twist.

All in all a great Christmas movie and I even laughed.

BTW pet peeve. I hate when you can't read text messages. Maybe if you have great eyes. Hallmark don't you know you have a significant audience of Senior citizens many of whom don't have great eyesight? This movie is the worst I can remember for unreadable phone and computer screens.

I'm not quite sure why "Mystic Christmas" isn't rated more highly.

I had no illusions going in. I expected another standard Hallmark Christmas rom-com, but I was very pleasantly surprised! This one is a little different.

The main character Juniper Jones (Jessy Schram) is an introvert. We're not talking "a little shy" like some of Hallmark's blushing maidens. We're talking full-on avoidance of human interaction whenever possible. Finally! A character I can relate to!

The writing includes some very rapid-fire, very funny dialogue. I often had to back up my recording to make sure I heard what I thought I did: "How come everyone had a better time at my wedding than I did?!?" "Because you had a terrible date." "Oooh!" "Sorry." At this point, I knew I was onto a winner!

If you have a sense of humor, give "Mystic Christmas" a shot. It had me laughing out loud in less than 5 minutes!

I enjoyed watching this one, even though I had read the reviews before diving in. Jessy Schram and Chandler Massey are both decent actors, have good chemistry, and I was drawn-in by the tour of Mystic, CT.

The story is lacking, to be sure, but the leads and the scenery make this one an enjoyable watch. The seal isn't the star, but does steal a scene or two. The "made-up Canadian proverb" should become a new trope of this genre.

There is a recent trend where these Christmas movies have basically no stakes. The characters start off liking each other, have very little competition for each others attention or affection, and we are left with kind of a waiting game until they finally get together. It works in this film because the real roadblock is their own awkwardness.

The "big argument" here felt like a missed opportunity to bring the characters together through some heightened emotions, and showing that conflict doesn't always have to be a scary or uncomfortable experience.

All in all, I'd recommend this one. It kept me watching, so it has something going for it.