Hallmark For All Seasons

“Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater” aired on November 7 2020.  It starred Hallstars Ashley Williams and Niall Matter, with principal photography taking place in British Columbia, Canada.  The fabulous Nina Weinman provided the script based off the book by Debbie Johnson (affiliate link). Weinman has penned the stories for such movies as The Last Bridesmaid, Double Holiday and Christmas at Dollywood.  Allan Harmon, director of Christmas Under the Stars and Hearts of Winter, among other movies, directed this one as well.

In a nutshell

I liked it. I had issues with it, but I still liked it a LOT.

Plot (from Hallmark Channel website)

Single mom Maggie is facing Christmas alone until Lucas crashes into her life and becomes an unexpected houseguest. Together they overcome Christmas while finding comfort in their growing bond.

Actors

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Ashley Williams fan, and I found myself smiling back at my TV whenever Ashley smiled in the movie. Her smile is truly contagious. I know people LOVE Niall “Father Christmas” Matter.  I like him too, but it has taken me a while to get on the Matter train.  But I REALLY liked him in this movie, so I think he’s moved up a notch or two in my rankings of Hallmark men.

Six Degrees of Polaha: Niall Matter is 3 steps away from Kris Polaha.   Back in 2009 Matter played Mothman in the “Watchmen” movie, which also co-starred Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl II.  Wilson went on to star in “Insidious: Chapter 2” in 2013, which also featured Danielle Bisutti.  In 2014 Bisutti joined Polaha in “Back in the Day.”

Chemistry

When I initially heard about this pairing I was a bit worried.  I wasn’t sure they’d match in acting style or innate personality.  But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  I suspect these two were merely playing THEMSELVES, and it came through with tremendous authenticity.  Ashley (whom I had the pleasure of meeting a year ago) is bubbly, energetic, friendly and definitely puts herself out there.  In the interviews I’ve seen with Matter, he seems very laid back, a tad reserved but not rude in any way, and generally a nice guy.  Those two people were perfectly cast as very similar characters in this movie and it worked.

Tropes

For a movie about Christmas sweaters I expected a lot more tropes!  By my count, we only had a few compared to other holiday movies.  There were tons of cute kids, we had lots of crafts being made, some Christmas tree shopping and decorating, a house with a front porch and a focus on the military.

We also had a snowball fight, a carriage (sleigh) ride, and a misunderstanding due to an overhead conversation.

I want to add a new trope though: REUSED CLOTHES.  See the pic below? That woman in that grey dress is wearing the same style dress that Ashley Williams wore for the movie “Holiday Hearts” last year.

Don’t believe me? Check this out – she even wore a red one for the poster even though she wore grey in the movie!

But this is not the only piece of clothing being used in this movie that we’ve seen before. Many people recognized the blue coat she wore with the signature silver corner clip on the collar. That same coat (in different colors) has appeared in several Hallmark movies.  So in addition to the circle necklace that I track, I’ll also be tracking the clothing if I notice repeats going forward.

Bingo Card Score for “Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater”

I was nowhere close to a bingo on this one.  Only 6 spots covered on my card.   Feel free to download my free bingo cards and play along!

Did I Hear/See That Right?

I feel bad nitpicking this movie because I enjoyed it so much, but there were plotholes aplenty in it, and I feel compelled to point them out.  First, and perhaps more importantly, why on earth would Lucas not be allowed to fly with a broken wrist?  I know Maggie said that the doctor wanted to follow-up with him post-surgery, but surely there are qualified doctors IN NEW YORK who can do that follow-up and allow him to go home?  Now, I know that if he had gone home we’d have no movie, so I get it.  But still.  We have modern medicine, folks.

Secondly, I appreciate that Maggie thinks Lucas has mad architect skillzzz, but the fact is she asked him to help BUILD the large-scale gingerbread house.  Architects aren’t builders.  When we gutted our kitchen and put an addition on the house in 2012 we hired an architect to design it, and a contractor to build it.  I certainly wasn’t going to trust that my architect knew his way around building the actual structure.

Ummm…WHY were the soldiers making gingerbread houses to show their kids over Skype?  Supposedly some of these soldiers are in classified areas, but sure, have them make a gingerbread house that represents where they are located at that moment.  That’s safe.

This last one made me laugh out loud. Surely I’m not the only person that noticed the snowballs in the aforementioned fight that were PERFECTLY ROUND BALLS.

Feelgoods

I appreciated that the movie once again treats divorce as something that can be done amicably, with Maggie and her husband not only getting along, but the husband and new wife coming to support the Christmas fair that Maggie put together for the troops’ kids.

I will ALWAYS appreciate when a Hallmark movie includes more comedic bits than normal.  A+

I LOVED the trees artwork in Maggie’s house.  There were at least three or four I’d love to have in my house (I have a lot of tree artwork in my house).

My husband and I have been throwing White Elephant parties for over 20 decades.  This is the first year that we are NOT hosting one, and we are very sad about that.  As such, I love seeing them on my TV so I can vicariously feel like I’m playing along.

Re-watchability

Ashley and Niall were so perfect together in this movie that absolutely I’ll watch this one again.  In fact, I kept it on my Tivo even after watching it since I’ll likely want to watch it again very soon.

The Ranking

The Christmas movies continue to dominate thus far in 2020. “Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater” rounds out the current Top 5.

1. One Royal Holiday (air date: Oct 31) – 722 pts – weighted score: 121.8 (85.5%)
2. On the 12th Date of Christmas (air date: Nov 1) – 707 pts – weighted score: 119.2 (83.6%)
3. Sweet Autumn (air date: Oct 17) – 693 pts – weighted score: 118.5 (83.1%)
4. Deliver by Christmas (air date: Oct 25) – 697 pts – weighted score: 117.4 (82.4%)
5. Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater (air date: Nov 7) – 681 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
6. Cranberry Christmas (air date: Oct 31) – 650 pts – weighted score: 112.1 (78.6%)
7. Matching Hearts (air date: Feb 8) – 640 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
8. Winter in Vail (air date: Jan 4) – 623 pts – weighted score: 108.8 (76.4%)
9. Wedding Every Weekend (air date: Aug 15) – 639 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
10. Love in Store (air date: Feb 22) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
11. Hello, It’s Me (air date: Sept 27) – 628 pts – weighted score: 107.8% (75.6%)
12. Love on Harbor Island (air date: Aug 8) – 634 pts – weighted score: 106.9 (75.0%)
13. The Secret Ingredient (air date: Feb 15) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
14. Country at Heart (air date: Oct 3) – 611 pts – weighted score: 104.1 (73.1%)
15. You’re Bacon Me Crazy (air date: Apr 4) – 591 pts – weighted score: 104.0 (72.9%)
16. My Best Friend’s Bouquet (air date: Oct 10) – 599 pts – weighted score: 103.4 (72.5%)
17. Fashionably Yours (air date: Apr 11) – 594 pts – weighted score: 102.6 (72.0%)
18. Follow Your Heart (air date: Oct 4) – 585 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
19. Christmas Tree Lane (air date: Oct 24) – 574 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
20. A Valentine’s Match (air date: Feb 1) – 562 pts – weighted score: 99.8 (70.0%)
21. Love On Iceland (air date: Jan 18) – 563 pts – weighted score: 99.4 (69.7%)
22. Hearts of Winter (air date: Jan 25) – 561 pts – weighted score: 98.2 (68.9%)
23. Jingle Bell Bride (air date: Oct 24) – 558 pts – weighted score: 97.9 (68.7%)
24. Just My Type (air date: Mar 28) – 565 pts – weighted score: 95.4% (66.9%)
25. Bad Date Chronicles (air date: Feb 28) – 520 pts – weighted score: 91.0 (63.9%)
26. Love in Winterland (air date: Jan 11) – 508 pts – weighted score: 90.7 (63.6%)
27. Nature of Love (air date: Apr 18) – 520 pts – weighted score: 90.3 (63.3%)
28. Chateau Christmas (air date: Oct 25) – 502 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.3%)
29. Amazing Winter Romance (air date: Jan 20) – 487 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.1%)
30. Love Under the Olive Tree (air date: June 20) – 473 pts – weighted score: 85.0 (59.6%)
31. In the Key of Love (air date: Mar 14) – 470 pts – weighted score: 82.5 (57.9%)
32. Love in the Forecast (air date: Jun 13) – 440 pts – weighted score: 72.5 (50.8%)
33. Midway to Love (air date: June 26) – 410 pts – weighted score: 69.0 (48.4%)
34. Falling at Look Lodge (air date: Sept 26) – 350 pts – weighted score: 64.0 (44.9%)
35. Romance in the Air (air date: Aug 1) – 367 pts – weighted score: 63.2 (44.3%)
36. Follow Me to Daisy Hills (air date: Sept 19) – 337 pts – weighted score: 62.8 (44.1%)
37. How to Train Your Husband (air date: May 16) – 350 pts – weighted score: 62.5 (43.9%)

To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of “Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater”?  Comment below and let me know!