The Christmas Club (2019 Hallmark)
Cast: Cameron Mathison and Elizabeth Mitchell
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Synopsis (via Hallmark)
Two busy strangers meet when they help an elderly woman find her lost Christmas savings. Thanks to fate and Christmas magic, they also find something they were both missing: true love.
Thoughts
Olivia is a dance teacher who favors her daughter because nepotism is real. She is a widow and lost her husband eight years ago. Her friend, Carrie, makes a Christmas wish for Olivia to find a handsome man for the holidays. (Rude.)
Eddie is a businessman who has a nephew who is trying to stay up late to see Santa.
They meet outside a store when an elderly woman loses money to the wind for Christmas gifts and frantically makes a scene. Eddie and Oliva help her and scrounge up $40 bucks to give to her and pretend it is hers. The woman is thankful and gullible. Eddie and Olivia walk in the same direction and talk about Christmas magic. (He doesn’t believe, and she does.) Everyone who sees them mistakes them for a couple, and they laugh it off. It is a beautiful afternoon!
Olivia goes back to the dance studio and learns that the building is getting sold by the owner because she is getting surgery. Eddie sees Olivia on the street getting out of a cab but misses his chance to reconnect. They see each other a third time at the Christmas festival. The families start hanging out together and enjoying Christmas hot chocolate. (Eddie, maybe a little too much.) Finally, they exchange numbers. (Or so he thinks, Olivia gives him the wrong number.)
Beth, Eddie’s sister, runs into Olivia and bullies her into giving her the REAL phone number. Beth tells Eddie where Olivia works, and he rushes over while on a meeting with his client looking for real estate. Eddie and Olivia make a play date “for the kids.” The client sees the dance studio and wants to buy it. Olivia is disappointed and upset at Eddie.
Eddie feels terrible for ruining Olivia’s life and offers to help her start her own business. Olivia doesn’t believe in herself, but he encourages her to take a chance. They are going to open the business together. The sale gets accelerated, and Olivia quickly applies for a small business loan to buy a space she likes. She gets the loan and will do the Christmas dance recital there.
Throughout the movie, the $20 bills they gave the old lady at the beginning of the film keeps following them around the city, so is the old lady. Total stalker. Is it a sign Eddie and Olivia are meant to be together? Is it Christmas magic? Is the old lady Mrs. Clause?
Olivia finds out that Eddie talked to the bank and pulled some strings for the loan. She is insulted that he didn’t think she could do it on her own. Eddie tries to explain himself, but she has stopped believing in Christmas magic and tells him to forget about them. Eddie leaves, and Olivia runs into the old lady. The lady tells Olivia that her Christmas wish may not have come true… yet. Then the old lady looks up at the sky while saying, “Nothing a little Christmas magic can’t fix.” While thunder and lightning strike, JK, this is Christmas.
At the dance recital, we see cute kids dancing in well-constructed costumes. Eddie shows up and thanks to Olivia for a Christmas gift she bought for him before they had their fight. The old lady brought it to Eddie, and now Olivia’s Christmas wish can come to true Eddie stays in town with Olivia, they kiss and live happily ever after
Side Note
Minority Report: Carrie, Lin, Some kid dancers.
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Overall rating
🎄🎄🎄(3 Christmas Trees)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2019 Crown Media United States, LLC
