Among this year’s new movies on the Hallmark Channel is Christmas With A Kiss, a romance about an ambitious Manhattanite who’s been unlucky in love, until she returns to her upstate New York hometown to celebrate Christmas. While she’s there visiting her family for the annual town-wide carnival, she reconnects with an old flame and meets a handsome journalist covering the carnival, and sparks fly with both. But who will she choose to kiss under the mistletoe at the big dance that wraps up the festival??
Opening Shot: New York City. It’s 11 days before Christmas and the city is lit up and looking beautiful. Mona (Mishael Morgan) anxiously awaits the arrival of her date at a restaurant, but he’s running late. That’s okay though because when he finally arrives, he’s only there to tell her he’s getting back together with his ex.
The Gist: Mona Sinclair is a successful social media ambassador in New York, but she feels like a failure because none of her relationships ever work out. All she wants is to find a man to bring to the Christmas carnival in her town upstate (a festival her parents help run) because rumor has it, if you kiss your date under the mistletoe at the big Christmas ball on Christmas Eve, you’ll be guaranteed lasting love.
Ten days before Christmas, Mona heads home. As soon as she arrives in her hometown, she runs into Fletcher (Jaime M. Callica), an old high school boyfriend who has moved back to be a firefighter. Mona’s happy to see a familiar face, especially because he’s very good-looking.
When she arrives at her family home, her sister Erin (Janae Armogan) surprises her with the news that their family is going to be a part of Culture & Lifestyle Magazine‘s spread about small towns that embrace the Christmas spirit. A reporter named Dez (Ronnie Rowe Jr.) arrives to interview the family and stay in their guest house while he does his research, and Mona’s happy to see his unfamiliar face, because it too is very good-looking.
All of a sudden, Mona has two cute guys in her life, so it seems like maybe she’ll have some options for who to kiss under the mistletoe after all. There are a couple of hiccups though: While Fletcher is adorable and sweet, Mona’s family doesn’t like him because he’s the one who broke her heart when they were in high school. Plus, he’s just looking for fun and doesn’t want kids. And Dez, well, he seems cute and all, and he conveniently lives in New York like Mona does, but after Mona shows him around town and they get to talking, he disparages her job as a brand ambassador and things are awkward after that… but her family loves him.
And then, Mona’s parents drop a bomb on her and Erin: this is the last year that they’re going to run the Christmas Carnival. Not only are they getting older and can’t handle it all, but it’s not as successful as it used to be. The stress is too much for them, but what they’re actually telling their daughters is that it’s time for them to carry the torch and take over. It’s a daunting task, and one Mona’s not sure she wants to take on, being a city girl and all.
As the days wear on, Mona dates Fletch, but becomes more attached to Dez… until she reads a draft of his article about the Christmas Carnival, and it’s a total hatchet job. He disparages her family and the town as phony and for commercializing Christmas.
The next morning, Dez is gone, but he’s left an apology note and a gift for Mona – an iPad with a link to his NEW story, one that celebrates her town and family and embraces their holiday cheer. Mona realizes that she loves Dez, so she forgives him, ditches Fletch, and then she really gets into the spirit by telling her parents she’ll also take over planning the festival from now on.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Christmas With A Kiss shares some DNA with another Hallmark classic, Christmas At Pemberley Manor, about a New York event planner who visits a small town for the big Christmas festival and falls in love.
Our Take: The three main characters in the Christmas With A Kiss love triangle all seem nice, but they also don’t really have any defining qualities: who are they, what do they like, are they funny or clever or weird? If they are, I haven’t seen any evidence. And plot-wise, there are only so many things I can suspend my disbelief for: Mona is a social media influencer who never checks her phone; Dez is a journalist – a complete stranger – who comes to live with the Sinclair family for two weeks to research the article he’s writing and the town. And when Mona’s parents tell their daughters the Christmas Carnival’s future depends on them, it feels a little too hyperbolic and overwrought. Oh, and then we have the finale, where Mona realizes her destiny, to plan the town carnival from now on.
Of course we have to move the plot along and these things help to do that, but none of these things feel real in any way. I’m all for happy endings and stories that are tied up neatly, but what happens in Christmas With A Kiss is just an explosion of too-tidy, decisions of a “good daughter” who wants to do right by her parents, taking up after them and choosing the man they want for her. I’m being cynical, but it does feel like Mona loses some sense of herself in the end, simply giving in to her hometown’s wholesomeness as her new lifestyle, and I don’t buy it.
A Holiday Tradition: The Christmas Carnival!
Does the Title Make Any Sense?: It’s Christmas and there’s kissing, so… Sure.
Parting Shot: “Wow, we’re under the mistletoe,” Dez says to Mona at the big dance. “Merry Christmas,” he adds. “Merry Christmas,” she responds, and the pair kiss.
Performance Worth Watching: Jaime M. Callica is truly winsome and charming as Fletcher, whose resting facial expression is an exuberant smile.
Memorable Dialogue: “In my mind, caroling is what heaven sounds like,” Erin tells her family when it’s time for them to get ready to go out and sing. I am trying to be open-minded about this movie, but seriously, no one talks like this.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Christmas With A Kiss is sweet, but compared to some of this year’s other holiday romances, it’s downright treacly, verging a little too far on the wholesome, corny side of things.