That there are twenty posts so far to this thread have somewhat soothed my guilt. I have had that darn channel on all day. To be fair, I only started watching when they yanked my I love Lucy episodes at 5AM …If you can’t beat 'em, join em. So So sad to say that I’ve seen everyone of the flicks you guys have mentioned…and will probably see each one a few times more, in bits and pieces. I think of it as my version of holiday binge-eating.
Hell man, I WROTE a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie. Well, technically I wrote it for the A&E Network, but Hallmark has been showing it the last few years during the holiday season. Not sure if they’re showing it again this year, but I hope so! It’s been the Christmas gift that keeps giving for ten years now.
“Karroll’s Christmas”, starring Wallace Shawn, Tom Everett Scott, and Vern Troyer.
Wow…just wow …I know it and love it!
I’m not an addict. I can quit any time I want to.
Sometimes, it’s nice to watch a movie that doesn’t challenge you in any way whatsoever, where the protagonists are going to be nice and likable and non-complex, where you can not watch a good third of the movie and still not really miss anything, and where the ending will be happy - goshdarnit.
I watched the “Nine Lives of Christmas” this weekend. Will the firefighter take in the lost cat? Will he fall in love with the veterinary student right in time for Christmas? Will wacky hijinks ensue? Of course they will. And I enjoyed it.
Sir Patrick is a close third. I’m not madly in love with Mr. Magoo, but I watch and enjoy. But no one does Scrooge like Alistair, IMHO, and Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber is the absolute best turn of any actor ever to appear in one of the adaptations.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the film. They slapsticked it up when they made it; the script was nowhere near as silly as the movie turned out. But it has its moments. Always nice to hear people liked it!
“Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” was my first exposure to “A Christmas Carol,” so I guess I have a soft spot for it. I used to watch the cartoons on TV when I was a kid, so I was looking forward to it. I was a bit surprised that they presented it more or less as a drama (with a few musical numbers) instead of the usual slapstick comedy resulting from Magoo’s nearsightedness, but I was just around 7. I eventually appreciated that the only proper way to do it was to play it straight like they did.
I am a Hallmark Movie addict too. Especially if Larry Levinson is involved. We’re thinking about a checklist:
-high-powered executive on the rise in the big city
-reluctantly goes home to small town
-family has a small business, hotel/B&B, something threatened with shutdown
-handsome local guy who tried the big city
-but treasures small town values
-plucky best friend
-example of two parents still deeply in love
-high-powered interloper boyfriend, clearly not right for her
-childhood sweetheart of our hero, clearly not right for him
-proposal with Kay Jewelers box
(That being said, One Christmas Eve that played tonight was like getting a root canal during a trainwreck. Just awful. We know Larry couldn’t have had anything to do with it.)
I’m married to a Cheesy Christmas Movie Addict. This is my month of hell.
(That said, I still love “Scrooged”…)
I am embarrassed to admit that I watched “Grumpy Cat’s Worse Christmas Ever.”
We watched that. It’s still on the DVR for possible re-watching, even. We found it amusing.
I can’t believe I forgot – one or the both of them has to have a precocious kid who hates the interloper but loves the other one. Bonus points for medical emergency involving said precocious kid.
I enjoyed it. You’ve got me curious how much of it is yours, since the slapstick seems woven in really well. How did the ending work in your version, without having the caribou scene to use as a call back?
Please, please avoid One Christmas Eve then (with Anne Heche). The supposed hijinks are dark and depressing. I don’t want to spoil it other than to say it is not in the mode of the other Hallmark Christmas films.
Honestly, it’s been so long since I’ve seen the movie, I don’t even recall caribou. Maybe it’s time for me to rewatch it. I could send you a pdf of my original script, if you’re ever interested in reading it.
I watched it too. The cat is cute! I’m also convinced that the Grumpy Cat movie is far superior to that new Kirk Cameron movie.
I’d imagine Grumpy Cat’s litter box is superior to any Kirk Cameron movie.
Sig material!
I’m no longer grumpy: Found that the Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol is being televised tomorrow night at 9pm Eastern on the Hallmark Movie Channel! Woohoo!