Hallmark For All Seasons

Miracles of Christmas 2019

Hallmark’s “A Christmas Miracle”

“A Christmas Miracle” aired on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel on Thursday, November 14 at 9 p.m. It’s the last Thursday night movie with the exception of Thanksgiving weekend. It starred Tamera Mowry-Housley and Brooks Darnell with a side helping of Barry Bostwick. The movie was filmed in Vancouver, Canada as a stand-in for Denver, Colorado.

In a nutshell

I liked this one in general. There are definitely better Hallmark movies out there, but I really enjoyed Tamera Mowry-Housley a lot, and I hope she gets picked for more movies going forward.

A Christmas Miracle — image: Hallmark Crown Media

Plot

Single mom Emma (Mowry-Housley) has moved to the Big City to follow her dream of becoming a writer for a lifestyle magazine. While pursuing a potential story for the magazine, Emma gets some unexpected help from co-worker Marcus, and takes it upon herself to bring about a Christmas miracle for a lonely street musician.

Actors

It was really nice having Tamera Mowry-Housley back on TV. She was fabulous in this movie – portraying not only a dogged wanna-be reporter, but also a caring mom to her son. Sometimes Hallmark goes overboard on the “can she have both a career and be a good mom” question, but they have gotten a lot better about showing that yes, women can do both SUCCESSFULLY. They don’t have to make a choice and be one or the other.

I had never seen Brooks Darnell before, and thought he was decent. Sometimes I felt he was portraying his character as being a bit too stoic and distant from what was going on in the story. But he was certainly a handsome leading man, I’ll grant you that!

As for Six Degrees of Kris Polaha, Tamera Mowry-Housley is three steps away. Mowry-Housley co-starred in 2002’s “Hot Chick” with Rob Schneider, who then went on to appear in “Click” from 2006. One of Schneider’s co-stars in that movie was Nick Swardson, who went on to be in 2014’s “Back in the Day,” which also featured Kris Polaha!

Chemistry

I thought the two leads worked very nicely together. Did I think they had tremendous chemistry? I’m not so sure about that. But that could have been because of the aforementioned stoicism that Darnell infused into his character.

Feelgoods

I didn’t write any feelgoods down. What could have been a major feel good moment (the concert scene) was effectively ruined by how it happened (more on that later).

Tropes

“A Christmas Miracle” had plenty of tropes.

The most obvious was that it starred Tamera Mowry-Housley who is a TV star from the 1990s. It also featured an opening shot that was a drone view of a bit city skyline, a single parent, a promotion on the line, a Small Town Girl moving to the Big City, and tree shopping.

Bingo Card Score for “A Christmas Miracle”

I only covered 8 spots on my bingo card this time around. No bingos.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

First, let’s talk about the most obvious thing. I don’t have to work at a magazine to know that the December/Christmas issue is NOT finalized in December. The stories are planned well in advance, and the layout of the magazine is also done at LEAST a couple of months in advance. This way the issue can hit the newsstands WEEKS before the Christmas holiday to achieve the most sales. Christmas-themed magazines do not come out Christmas week.

Secondly, Emma is able to find Santa Dean’s daughter and invites her to come to the concert to reunite with her father. No one knows if she’s coming. There’s a crowd of people there, Santa Dean tells the crowd he loves his daughter, and he sits down to play. All of a sudden the sound of a violin soars out among the crowd, the crowd parts and there is the daughter, playing the violin as she approaches the stage. No. No no no. I have been to tree lighting ceremonies and outdoor events. No crowd is completely silent to the point where a microphone is not needed to be heard. And this story took place in DENVER and the story about Santa Dean’s attempted reconciliation is big news. So this concert is NOT going to be a small event. And we’re supposed to believe that the crowd would be SO QUIET that we can hear a single violin playing? Nope. That whole setup ruined what could have been a really nice feel-good moment.

And don’t even get me started on Emma’s boss. She’s a terrible boss and should be fired (or at least demoted) for her unethical practices.

Re-watchability

I don’t know if I’ll ever watch “A Christmas Miracle” again, but that doesn’t mean I disliked it.

The Ranking

It settles into the lower middle of the pack for “A Christmas Miracle,” which is a respectable place to be.

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 Mistletoe Secret (air date: Nov 11) – 585 pts – weighted score: 102.2 (71.7%)
The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
Holiday for Heroes (air date: Nov 8) – 566 pts – weighted score: 99.8 (70.0%)
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%)
Picture a Perfect Christmas (air date: Nov 10) – 529 pts – weighted score: 94.6 (66.4%)
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%)
A Christmas Miracle (air date: Nov 14) – 494 pts – weighted score: 90.1 (63.2%)
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 Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas (air date: Nov 7) – 398 pts – weighted score: 72.3 (50.7%)
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%)