The Holiday Junkie

First of all, this movie's title is just bad. It just doesn't sound good. The word junkie is a negatively-loaded word, and it leads to substance abuse associations, so I don't know what the people that came up with the title were thinking.

Of course I had never even heard about the movie prior to watching it, but I figured that it would be a run-of-the-mill generic sappy Christmas movie, as it had Jennifer Love Hewitt in the leading role, but also as writer and director.

The storyline in the movie was fair enough. I mean, it was generic and writers Jennifer Love Hewitt and Anna White do place their money on safe bets, cashing in on many of the archetypical sappy Christmas tropes. But hey, if you enjoy generic Christmas movies covered in sap, then you're in for a treat. There was a scene where the characters were playing a game of sharing worst Christmas experiences, which felt somewhat out of place, as it was a somewhat depressing and mood-killing scene, but on the other hand it does add some background to the characters instead of them being one-dimensional Christmas cardboard cut-outs that you could take out of one sappy Christmas movie and easily replace in another sappy Christmas movie.

I was only familiar with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Greg Grunberg on the cast list. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

"The Holiday Junkie" is most definitely not going to become a Christmas classic. And personally, then I will never return to watch it a second time. There are far better and more enjoyable sappy Christmas movies out there.

My rating of director Jennifer Love Hewitt's 2024 movie "The Holiday Junkie" lands on a four out of ten stars.

The same applies to the rest of the cast and crew! This is not a typical Christmas movie, though. There's a lot of discussions about sad things and one humiliating thing that happened to the characters around the holidays.

But there were just as many happy and proud things that happened as well. I don't want to give too much away, but Jennifer Love Hewitt and Brian Hallisay and their three kids are in this movie.

The youngest, Aidan Hallisay, is in the movie for five seconds in a scene with fun in the snow. The older two kids, Autumn and Atticus Hallisay, are in the movie for a total of five minutes.

I highly recommend this movie to fans of the cast, which I personally am-and proud of it!

There is a need for holiday films dealing with real life issues. Love Hewitt's idea about a Christmas film that incorporates the grief, trauma and stress that MANY people experience during holiday season had potential to be very relatable, in particular to people who don't have the cookie cutter families that most Hallmark formulaic holiday films showcase. Unfortunately, the script came off like an unpolished first draft, some of the casting included actors who wouldn't even get cast as actors with any lines in a Hallmark holiday film (and that's a very low bar), and some of the props and production were sub-par, which another Xmas film might get away with, but which was glaring in the context of a story featuring a supposed professional Xmas designer. It's a pleasure to see Brian Hallisay; feels like he hasn't worked in forever and a day, and it's cute seeing him on screen again with Love Hewitt, but...she should have hired some seasoned professionals. A script editor, props, costume, director's assistant - if she wanted to break into this scene, she should have given her production a boost by hiring people who have pulled off significant successes for her first outing. Now...I wonder if a studio would give her a budget to try again, since she clearly did not do that. An unfortunate miss.

I loved this movie. I haven't found too many newer. Christmas movies that I can honestly say that about. Granted it is a little slow paced at times but overall so heartfelt and genuine. Realistic and beautiful sets. The actors seemed to have chemistry which came through on screen. A lot of today's Christmas movies come across "cheesy" but I really didn't get that from this one at all. I was a bit teary eyed near the end and after the credits ran and it was all over with. I won't say why, you will have to watch to find out. It's a nice movie you can sit down and enjoy watching with your family.

There are a lot of the usual Christmas tropes starting with Andie being a professional Christmas decorator. She is decorating a mansion where Mason is the "house manager". They spend a lot of time either decorating the house or other Christmas activities including baking Christmas cookies. There's an event to plan, and then a water-main-break to throw a wrench in it.

One of the things that sets this story apart, and not necessarily in a good way, is highlighted by when 4 of the principal characters are sitting at a table and play a "game" of worst Christmas experiences. By then we already know Andie's mother has passed, but she wins the game because her mom died last Christmas after Andie left town on an interview. Mason's is pretty bad too. Actually all 4 are. Earlier in the movie Darren tells about how Mason wetted himself during a Christmas play. And Andie's bff has another one later. Ho, Ho, Ho. Such a jolly movie that these things set the story apart. It's not that there aren't happy moments too, like the Christmas activities.

Like so many rom/coms, Christmas or not, the two leads inspire each other to follow their dreams. The two come together quickly even going beyond "the kiss" by halfway, but at the same time that creates an emotional wall over expectations.

The acting is OK, but not great. In fact, some of the parts seemed overplayed, but that could have been more a case of too much Drama. Jennifer Love Hewitt writes and directs and her resume there isn't deep. The movie has the polish you would expect given the cast and the production company.