Sugarplummed

This Hallmark holiday movie turned out to be one of its best, largely due to treating the audience to two watchable leading ladies, Maggie Lawson and Janel Parrish. Lawson is wonderful at playing busy, harried professional Emily, who longs to create the perfect Christmas for her family. Parrish is hilarious pure joy as Sugarplum, an over-the-top character who comes straight out of a Hallmark-type movie franchise and into Emily's life via a Christmas wish by Emily, of course. Sugarplum is there to help Emily achieve "the perfect Christmas," but will she be able to? It truly is most enjoyable to watch it for yourself to find out because it could go either way.

Lots to enjoy about this movie. I loved the basic premise of Hallmark poking fun at its holiday romcoms and all the usual tropes. There are unexpected, fun cameos by a few other fave Hallmark leads too, and I wish they had more. Rounding out the cast was Emily's family, all well cast and very capable. Nice to see the actor who portrayed her husband, Brendon Zub, in a more prominent role. The actress who portrayed her daughter has a terrific singing voice. This one is a must-see this holiday season.

Ok. So I didn't know what to expect from this movie. But what I definitely didn't expect was for Hallmark to be this self-aware. It was funny and charming. Maggie Lawson was her usual amazing self and I loved the acting choices made by Janel Parrish, she gave her character real life and I love the vocal choices.

She made her seem just cartoonish enough without becoming annoying. But gave her a few layers that made her likeable and real.

The meta was especially hilarious. Hallmark knew exactly what they were doing. So major kudos to them for this delightfully silly and heartwarming movie. Would definitely watch again.

I believe this to be the best Hallmark Christmas movie of 2024, maybe ever actually. The level of campiness and outrageousness while at the same time honoring the tropes of the holiday movie genre were impressively balanced. Sometimes, when Hallmark tries to be tongue in cheek, it can be cheesy but this one was hilarious, I was chuckling the whole time. I hope they make more movies like this, tons of interesting plot and emotional development for all the characters plus an ending that isn't rushed and scrambled in the last five minutes. And more Janel Parrish! She needs to be at Lacey Chabert level, I would love to see her lead more movies!

I know people justifiably mock Hallmark Christmas movies but what about a Hallmark movie that mocks Hallmark movies? Sugarplummed is just that movie. It's funny and (unlike many of them) really smartly written.

Sugarplummed is about a mom that wishes for the perfect Christmas (which she always wishes for). But this time, Sugarplum, a character in a series of Christmas movies magically shows up to help the mom get her wish. She comes with a book of hard and fast rules like Flannel is a Natural Aphrodisiac and When a Big City Girl Meets a Small Town Bachelor, They're Guaranteed to Fall in Love and Get Married.

The kids are not perfect and they're not annoying. This time they're sarcastically funny. In what Hallmark movie does a kid walk in to the perfectly decorated room and say, "Why does it look like the North Pole threw up in here?"

I highly recommend this one!

This Hallmark holiday film is very meta: a gently self-mocking send-up of the formulaic Hallmark romances that concern the Christmas season. Good for Hallmark!

Emily (Maggie Lawson) is determined to achieve a "perfect" Christmas, using the five rules her mother gave her. Her family, however, has other plans, due to their focus on other personal issues, like a pressure-filled job (with a Scrooge-like boss), a desire to create music, and coping with peer pressure. Just when Emily is about to give up, she finds a star with an inscription that promises to fulfill a wish, and her life is visited by Sugar Plum, an iconic character on the Harmony Home Channel, which is a Hallmark-like television network.

Sugar Plum (Janel Parrish) is an excessively cheerful character with a Pollyannish outlook on life. Being a fictitious character, she has only known success, mostly by following her "Book of Rules". Hallmark viewers will recognize most of the rules; it's a clever, funny contrivance. Not surprisingly, Emily learns some lessons about relationships, ideals, and happiness.

Janel Parrish is perfect as Sugar Plum, embodying a fairy tale personality. She's one can-do gal. As the story develops, Maggie Lawson settles into her role, and the duo is great fun together.

Hallmark hits a homerun with this comedic tale that tweaks its own memes and plot conventions.