"Not everyone with money is a bad person."
Hello everyone!
Every once in a while you run into something that either makes you really happy, makes you laugh a whole lot, or just makes you shake your head.
Depending on that criteria you can then decide just how good the whole she-bang was.
For me, the movie started out a bit meh and I thought it would be just okay, but by the time the action started going I was beginning to think it might just be the funniest I've ever seen. Why? Well a lot of it has to do with how certain scenes were written, though I'll admit that most of it comes down to the two leading actors.
Though if you read reviews on IMDB they're all saying how the writing was meh, I kind of disagree. Was it cheesy? Sure thing. But was it meh? No, not really.
Let's check out A Glenbrooke Christmas.
Links to previous reviews featuring other Christmas movies can be found at the bottom of the page, as always.
Now before we begin, I'll be honest and say I initially wanted to see this one because of Antonio Cupo. I know he's a sort of Hallmark guest star at this point, but I only really noticed him in Blood & Treasure back in the day, so I was excited to watch him in something where he had a bit more hair on his head (his other character had a neat trim right down to the skull) and a role that didn't involve guns and running through Italy like there's no tomorrow.
I'll say right off the bat that I was not disappointed!
But I AM wondering why this one was slipped into Miracles of Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, since there wasn't really any mystery to solve. Ah well.
Jessica (Autumn Reeser, another Hallmark alumni who seemed a bit gentle in this role in my opinion) is slated to take over her grandfather's real estate empire when January rolls around, after having been raised by him for most of her life as her parents had unfortunately passed away in a car accident almost thirty years earlier.
She's beginning to notice that most people deal with her family name, not with her personally, always wanting something from her, but not necessarily her, so she makes the decision to travel to Glenbrooke, where her parents met and fell in love and where she used to spend Christmas as a child, to regroup a little.
Also just to see if people can like her for who she is and not for her money, at that.
Once arriving, she makes a big splash when she almost runs over the local fire chief, Kyle (Cupo), though the idiot really should have watched where he was going and not sniped about it as much. Anyway, after making gingerbread cookies rain down Main Street, she reaches the cottage she'll be staying at, which is the house her mom grew up in, and of course things escalate from there.
Because as soon as you see a fire being started, you know the fire department needs to be called in.
Forgetting to open the chimney flute, naturally this brings out Kyle and the gang, though here we first get the chance to see Kyle being awkward around a beautiful woman as they say goodbye (and he realizes it, too, which is probably the most hysterical thing ever, seeing him roll eyes at himself and UGH-ing). Naturally, word spreads.
I mean, it's a small town, right? The café owner, Shirley, basically knows everything about Jessica as soon as she sits down for cocoa the next morning, and also everyone and their mother seems invested to the max in Kyle's love life, which is both concerning and amusing.
At least the next encounters for our two main characters are a whole lot less dramatic as he walks her back and forth, the two of them getting a bit better with the whole, communicate with the other gender thing, and eventually this leads to the inevitable: picking a Christmas tree.
Kyle not only helps her carry it home, but he also helps her decorate, though they do blow a massive fuse in the process as the old lights are too much for it. As new, LED lights are set up, we're treated to a kind of funny but also sweet scene of the two of them texting back and forth about it, and I have to admit, it's touching, okay?
Okay.
It kind of looks like two teenagers in love, but we'll ignore that.
Things begin to slowly unfurl with the rest of the plot as well as Jessica inadvertently lands herself in a position where she'll help the local art club since their substitute teacher didn't show at all, and she has an art history degree anyway. The students take to her immediately, which is gratifying and charming, and we get to see some nice artsy scenes throughout.
There's also the underlying plotline of trying to fix the town's church bells, the motor of which had gone on the fritz, and it's tradition that the bells ring every Christmas Eve so people can make a wish on them.
Jessica comes up with an idea of a sort of fundraiser since the money is pretty big (she could have written a check, but she's going incognito and Kyle doesn't really know she's a millionaire, which would be bad because after getting his degree at MIT he lived in the big city with a fiancée for a while and money definitely changed her for the worst, so he isn't a big fan and tends to stick to the whole 'small town is better' mentality; also, honesty is everything, can you see where this is going?).
Of course she succeeds, and the cutest thing about this is that by this point in the movie, she and Kyle have definitely grown even closer, with her helping him turn pages as he tells the kids a Christmas story, attending an ugly Christmas sweater gathering together AND having a romantic dinner in the tree lot besides the fire station.
But of course we're headed for a collision since eventually Kyle was going to find out who Jessica really is, something she's warned about, though naturally it works out so that he gets his barking off his chest and storms away, not leaving her much room to do anything.
So she packs up to go home like she promised her grandfather she would, while her sketchbook is found left behind and admired by the friends she made during her stay. One of them, another firefighter, takes it to Kyle given that, you know, his accusations turn to dust with it and the sketches of the two of them together during their happiest moments, and also should be titled 'Kyle is an Idiot'.
Don't come at me, he agrees with this assessment!
Rushing after her, he catches up to Jessica in a spot where an avalanche has messed the road up, and the two of them sort out their differences, then manage NOT to kiss because there's a line of cars waiting and everyone's impatient. LOL.
They return to Glenbrooke together as she worries about being unable to reach her grandfather, who's waiting for her right there in town after having flown up to see his reinvigorated granddaughter (how and why? Well, Shirley called him), also explaining that she owes him nothing and should do what she wants with her own life - he loves her, he would have raised her regardless, she's family.
So Jessica decides to stay in Glenbrooke, but still be the CEO from there, because she does want to see where this thing with Kyle will end up leading.
The movie ends with the bells finally ringing, and Kyle and Jessica FINALLY kissing!
I say finally, because more than in most Hallmark movies, this one had opportunities for a kiss sprinkled ALL OVER, whether when the lights blew (it was either kiss or get the heck out of dodge, Kyle) the transponder or by the roadside. The plot itself isn't anything out of the ordinary or extra different from what we're used to, the difference is simply in the delivery, because Cupo portrays his fire chief like an awkward, oversized teenager who doesn't quite know how to make the words fit in his mouth.
Plus, there was this.
Jessica: Kyle? What're you doing here?
Kyle: I was driving to LA.
Jessica: You were? Why?
Kyle: Because you forgot something.
Jessica: ... my sketchbook?
Kyle: No. Me.
I'll have you know, when she naively asked about the sketchbook, I said to the screen 'if you say MY HEART', then Cupo delivered the final nail in the cheese coffin, and I yeeted out of my chair. HOW CAN YOU NOT WITH THAT SENTENCE?! 😂
So, yeah, it might not have been the strongest plotline and most of the conflict was sort of made up just for the funsies, but it WAS a funny movie and I giggled through a lot of it, which to be fair might be what they'd been going for.
And either way, it was just an enjoyable hour and a half. You can't ask for more than that!
xx
*images not mine
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