Hallmark For All Seasons

Countdown to Christmas 2019

Hallmark’s “Christmas Scavenger Hunt”

This has been such a busy week that I was only able to finally watch “Christmas Scavenger Hunt” last night! It aired on Hallmark Channel on Sunday, November 3, 2019. It starred Kim Shaw and Kevin McGarry and was filmed in and around the Ottawa valley in Ontario, Canada.

In a nutshell

As I said, I was late watching this one and as a result I saw more than a few negative opinions about this movie. But I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would. Did it have issues? Sure. All Hallmark movies do. But I still put this in the “win” column.

Christmas Scavenger Hunt — image: Hallmark Crown Media

Plot

When Belinda (Shaw) heads back to her hometown for the holidays to negotiate the sale of a struggling museum, things get complicated when she is forced to team up with her ex, Dustin (McGarry), at the town’s annual Christmas scavenger hunt.

Actors

I am new to Kim Shaw and I came away from this movie REALLY liking her a lot. She was very natural and at ease on screen, and I’m on board with seeing her in more movies. As for Kevin McGarry, my goodness how I love him. I became a fan in January of this year when he co-starred in “Winter Love Story” with Jen Lilley (one of my faves from the whole year). And while I have not seen him on “When Calls the Heart” (I only just finished Season 5), I suspect I’ll like him a lot on there as well. He’s fantastic.

As for Six Degrees of Kris Polaha, Kim Shaw is three steps away (it seems like most people are). She starred in “Snake and Mongoose” in 2013 with Tim Blake Nelson, who had previously co-starred with Alessandro Nivola in 2006’s “The Darwin Awards.” Nivola and Polaha co-starred in “Devil’s Knot” in 2013.

Chemistry

YES, these two had good chemistry. While I didn’t necessarily believe that they were high school sweethearts (much as I love him, Kevin McGarry looks several years older than Kim Shaw), I still enjoyed their rapport with each other as they went through the hunt.

Feelgoods

This movie makes me wish my town did an annual scavenger hunt.

Tropes

Only a few, which was surprising. Bel had a promotion on the line if she closed the museum sale (and in a twist, SHE worked for the Big Evil Corporation!). She had the typical Bad Boyfriend, complete with a phone obsession to the point of using it while at a restaurant having a romantic dinner. The movie featured the main heroine returning from the Big City to her Small Hometown during the holidays.

It featured an old TV star in Tom Arnold, who is turning into a solid Hallmark Dad (despite clearly having a head cold while filming this movie).

Did I miss any others? I’m sure I did. I’ll admit I watched this movie at 11 p.m. after coming home from seeing Elton John in concert last night (it was a GREAT show).

Either way, comment below and tell me what I missed.

Bingo Card Score for “Merry & Bright”

I came SO CLOSE to getting a bingo with this movie even though only 9 squares got covered. I just needed them to go ice skating. I thought for SURE this movie would have ice skating!!!

Did I Hear/See That Right?

My main question has to do with the scavenger hunt itself. Tom Arnold (sorry, I don’t remember his character name) announced at the beginning that the various stops on the hunt would be randomly assigned to all participant teams and that they’d get new assignments as they went along. And yet, Belinda kept running into her sister at almost every single stop. There weren’t that many teams, and there were plenty of challenges. SURELY the same people would not keep running into each other at the challenges?

Secondly, Bel’s breakup with her Bad Boyfriend was very abrupt and had NO emotional repercussions whatsoever, which bothered me. Neither one of them cared at all about breaking up, and yet the Bad Boyfriend still took the time to come visit her for a couple days? And then she almost immediately tells Dustin that she’s always loved him? Does not compute.

Re-watchability

I’d totally watch this one again – mainly because of the genuine likeability of the cast. They were the real winners for me.

The Ranking

This is a middle of the pack movie, which is still respectable considering I’ve seen 47 new release Hallmark movies this year!

Two Turtle Doves (air date: Nov 1) – 742 pts – weighted score: 123.7 (86.8%)
Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses (air date: Oct 26) – 719 pts – weighted score: 121.0 (84.9%)
Love to the Rescue RE-RANKED (air date: March 23) – 708 pts – weighted score: 120.6 (84.6%)
Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 685 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
Mystery 101 (air date: January 27 (HMM)) – 454 pts – weighted score: 94.2 (80.5%)
Love on the Menu (air date: February 23) – 642 pts – weighted score: 113.8 (79.9%)
Bottled With Love (air date: April 13) – 649 pts – weighted score: 112.2 (78.7%)
Love Takes Flight (air date: April 27) – 670 pts – weighted score: 111.0 (77.9%)
Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
The Last Bridesmaid (air date: June 22) – 643 pts – weighted score: 109.2 (76.6%)
Love, Fall and Order (air date: Oct 12) – 636 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
Paris, Wine & Romance (air date: May 4) – 638 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
My Boyfriend’s Back: Wedding March 5 (air date: June 8) – 635 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
Over the Moon in Love (air date: Oct 5) – 613 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 pts – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
My One and Only (air date: Aug 31) – 597 pts – weighted score: 105.6 (74.1%)
Mystery 101: Playing Dead (air date: June 23 (HMM)) – 425 pts – weighted score: 86.5 (73.9%)
A Summer Romance (air date: Aug 17) – 577 pts – weighted score: 103.7 (72.7%)
True Love Blooms (air date: April 6) – 598 pts – weighted score: 103.1 (72.3%)
Forever in My Heart (air date: Sept 14) – 560 pts – weighted score: 102.4 (71.8%)
The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
A Brush with Love (air date: March 30) – 563 pts – weighted score: 97.7 (68.6%)
Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
Love, Unleashed (air date: July 6, 2019) – 559 pts – weighted score: 96.2 (67.5%)
Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 pts – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
Christmas Scavenger Hunt (air date: Nov 3) – 561 pts – weighted score: 95.4 (66.9%)
From Friend to Fiance (air date: May 25) – 555 pts – weighted score: 94.8% (66.5%)
Christmas Camp (air date: July 11) – 530 pts – weighted score: 93.9 (65.9%)
Love and Sunshine (air date: Aug 3) – 504 pts – weighted score: 91.7 (64.3%)
Crossword Mysteries: A Puzzle to Die For (air date: March 10 (HMM) – 354 pts – weighted score: 74.1 (63.3%)
Sister of the Bride (air date: June 29) – 516 pts – weighted score: 89.8 (63.0%)
Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
Love, Take Two (air date: June 15) – 507 pts – weighted score: 87.8 (61.6%)
All Summer Long (air date: Aug 24) – 512 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
Merry & Bright (air date: Nov 2) – 483 pts – weighted score: 84.4 (59.2%)
Nostalgic Christmas (air date: Oct 31) – 446 pts – weighted score: 79.2 (55.6%)
A Merry Christmas Match (air date: Oct 25) – 455 pts – weighted score: 78.3 (54.9%)
Sailing Into Love (air date: May 18) – 455 pts – weighted score: 78.0 (54.7%)
Rome in Love (air date: July 27) – 436 pts – weighted score: 76.7 (53.8%)
A Taste of Summer (air date: Aug 10) – 403 pts – weighted score: 70.9 (49.7%)
A Winter Princess (air date: January 18) – 380 pts – weighted score: 70.5 (49.5%)
A Feeling of Home (air date: May 11) – 386 pts – weighted score: 69.7% (48.9%)
Love in the Sun (air date: June 1) – 361 pts – weighted score: 62.5 (43.8%)