Hallmark For All Seasons

“A Glenbrooke Christmas” aired on December 12, 2020 on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel.  One my screenwriting faves, Julie Sherman Wolfe, co-wrote the screenplay with David Golden.  The movie is loosely based on the book Secrets by Robin Jones Gunn (affiliate link).  David I. Strasser directed the movie, which was filmed in the Vancouver area.

In a nutshell

I really liked the movie a lot.  It had a great script, a great leading couple, and plenty of Christmas.

Plot of “A Glenbrooke Christmas”

Longing to be accepted for herself and not just her wealth, heiress Jessica heads to the small town of Glenbrooke, where she discovers the joys of a simple Christmas, community, and maybe even love.

Actors

SO HAPPY to have Antonio Cupo back on my TV screen!  He hasn’t been in a Hallmark Christmas movie for a couple of years (although he did produce Love Under the Olive Tree and A Brush With Love).  I was happy when he popped up on the short-lived “Blood & Treasure” last year, but it wasn’t enough.

Autumn Reeser is always a winner in my book.  She is a favorite of many Hallmarkies for good reason. In this movie she hit all the right notes as a woman who wanted to reconnect with her parents in her own small way, while connecting with the local citizens at the same time.

Chemistry

Reeser and Cupo have worked together before, and it shows.  These two are great together and I thoroughly enjoyed every scene they had together.  Not only that, but the entire cast worked well from the grandpa to the students at the art center.

Tropes

A big city drone shot opened the movie. Does it count as tree decorating when the lead character puts a single decoration on a tree? We learned that Jessica’s parents are no longer alive, and got to see a Christmas gala in the first 10 minutes instead of the last ten! We also had a tree lighting the first ten minutes.  The whole movie centers around a big city woman going to a small town for the holidays.

We had some product placement thanks to GMC trucks. We also had the drone shot of a single car on a winter mountain road. When Jessica arrived in Glenbrooke we saw carolers on the side of the street.  The house of her host in Glenbrooke had a very different type of front porch – it was more of a side porch, and I loved it.  Then the house Jessica actually stayed in had the traditional front porch.

Two handed coffee.  Jessica took a selfie.  A few scenes later she went Christmas tree shopping and then she and Kyle decorated the tree.

I think ugly sweaters should become a trope AND go on my bingo cards because they have been popping up a lot the past couple of years.  We finally had hot cocoa which I think was in empty cups, but they faked us out with marshmallows on top.  Lastly, we had an almost kiss.

Bingo Card Score for “A Glenbrooke Christmas”

i covered 10 spots on my bingo card, and scored ONE BINGO!!!!  WOOO!!!! Feel free to download my free bingo cards and play along!

Did I Hear/See That Right?

For a while I had a note that there’s no way Teri, the community center director, should let a stranger lead an art class, but THANK YOU, writers, for acknowledging that very thing by having Teri admit later on that she knew who Jessica was because she did a Google search on her before letting her teach the kids.

Feelgoods

I *loved* that beaded ball gown Jessica wore at her grandfather’s party that opened the movie.

At the Christmas tree farm, I laughed out loud when Ruthie told Jessica about the VIP tree section, led her straight to Kyle and then bounced away in glee in the background.  So great.

I appreciated that the storywriters did not waste an hour of our time letting the characters figure out if they liked each other.  Within a couple scenes together, Kyle clearly felt attraction to her despite her almost running him over with her car.  There have been a couple movies this Christmas season where I felt no chemistry between the characters because they waited until 90 minutes into the 2 hours to let us see that the characters have attraction for each other.  I liked that this one showed mutual attraction in the first 30 minutes.

Re-watchability

I’d totally watch this movie again if only because Reeser is so great, and I love Cupo.

The Ranking

“A Glenbrooke Christmas” just missed out on the Top 10 for the year, but #11 is nothing to sneeze at with only a handful of movies to go in the year.

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. The Christmas House (air date: Nov 22) – 710 pts – weighted score: 118.6 (83.2%)
4. Sweet Autumn (air date: Oct 17) – 693 pts – weighted score: 118.5 (83.1%)
5. Good Morning, Christmas! (air date: Nov 25) – 698 pts – weighted score: 118.2 (82.9%)
6. A Timeless Christmas (air date: Nov 14) – 700 pts – weighted score: 117.7 (82.6%)
7. Deliver by Christmas (air date: Oct 25) – 697 pts – weighted score: 117.4 (82.4%)
8. Christmas With the Darlings (air date: Nov 8) – 691 pts – weighted score: 117.2 (82.2%)
9. Christmas Waltz (air date: Nov 29) – 694 pts – weighted score: 116.1 (81.5%)
10. Christmas by Starlight (air date: Nov 26) – 689 pts – weighted score: 115.9 (81.3%)
11. A Glenbrooke Christmas (air date: Dec 12) – 695 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
12. Five Star Christmas (air date: Nov 27) – 688 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
13. Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater (air date: Nov 7) – 681 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
14. Love, Lights, Hanukkah! (air date: Dec 12) – 677 pts – weighted score: 114.1 (80.0%)
15. Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing (air date: Dec 5) – 672 pts – weighted score: 113.9 (79.9%)
16. The Christmas Bow (air date: Nov 8) – 676 pts – weighted score: 113.2 (79.4%)
17. Cranberry Christmas (air date: Oct 31) – 650 pts – weighted score: 112.1 (78.6%)
18. The Angel Tree (air date: Nov 21) – 670 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
19. Matching Hearts (air date: Feb 8) – 640 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
20. Winter in Vail (air date: Jan 4) – 623 pts – weighted score: 108.8 (76.4%)
21. Wedding Every Weekend (air date: Aug 15) – 639 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
22. Love in Store (air date: Feb 22) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
23. Christmas in Vienna (air date: Nov 14) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.0 (75.1%)
24. A Nashville Christmas Carol (air date: Nov 21) – 634 pts – weighted score: 107.0 (75.1%)
25. A Little Christmas Charm (air date: Dec 6) – 656 pts – weighted score: 106.9 (75.0%)
26. Love on Harbor Island (air date: Aug 8) – 634 pts – weighted score: 106.9 (75.0%)
27. Holly & Ivy (air date: Oct 31) – 615 pts – weighted score: 106.8 (74.9%)
28. Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas (air date: Dec 5) – 615 pts – weighted score: 105.3 (73.9%)
29. The Secret Ingredient (air date: Feb 15) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
30. The Christmas Doctor (air date: Nov 15) – 605 pts (weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
31. Country at Heart (air date: Oct 3) – 611 pts – weighted score: 104.1 (73.1%)
32. You’re Bacon Me Crazy (air date: Apr 4) – 591 pts – weighted score: 104.0 (72.9%)
33. My Best Friend’s Bouquet (air date: Oct 10) – 599 pts – weighted score: 103.4 (72.5%)
34. The Christmas Ring (air date: Nov 7) – 609 pts – weighted score: 103.3 (72.5%)
35. Fashionably Yours (air date: Apr 11) – 594 pts – weighted score: 102.6 (72.0%)
36. Follow Your Heart (air date: Oct 4) – 585 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
37. A Godwink Christmas: Second Chance, First Love (air date: Nov 22) – 587 pts – weighted score: 100.9 (70.8%)
38. Christmas Tree Lane (air date: Oct 24) – 574 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
39. A Valentine’s Match (air date: Feb 1) – 562 pts – weighted score: 99.8 (70.0%)
40. Love On Iceland (air date: Jan 18) – 563 pts – weighted score: 99.4 (69.7%)
41. Christmas She Wrote (air date: Dec 6) – 591 pts – weighted score: 99.2 (69.6%)
42. Hearts of Winter (air date: Jan 25) – 561 pts – weighted score: 98.2 (68.9%)
43. Heart of the Holidays (air date: Nov 23) – 570 pts – weighted score: 97.9 (68.7%)
44. Jingle Bell Bride (air date: Oct 24) – 558 pts – weighted score: 97.9 (68.7%)
45. Just My Type (air date: Mar 28) – 565 pts – weighted score: 95.4 (66.9%)
46. Meet Me At Christmas (air date: Nov 15) 532 pts – weighted score: 91.1 (63.9%)
47. Bad Date Chronicles (air date: Feb 28) – 520 pts – weighted score: 91.0 (63.9%)
48. Love in Winterland (air date: Jan 11) – 508 pts – weighted score: 90.7 (63.6%)
49. Nature of Love (air date: Apr 18) – 520 pts – weighted score: 90.3 (63.3%)
50. If I Only Had Christmas (air date: Nov 29) – 535 pts – weighted score: 90.0 (63.2%)
51. USS Christmas (air date: Nov 28) – 521 pts – weighted score: 87.5 (61.4%)
52. Chateau Christmas (air date: Oct 25) – 502 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.3%)
53. Amazing Winter Romance (air date: Jan 20) – 487 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.1%)
54. Love Under the Olive Tree (air date: June 20) – 473 pts – weighted score: 85.0 (59.6%)
55. In the Key of Love (air date: Mar 14) – 470 pts – weighted score: 82.5 (57.9%)
56. Love in the Forecast (air date: Jun 13) – 440 pts – weighted score: 72.5 (50.8%)
57. Midway to Love (air date: June 26) – 410 pts – weighted score: 69.0 (48.4%)
58. Falling at Look Lodge (air date: Sept 26) – 350 pts – weighted score: 64.0 (44.9%)
59. Romance in the Air (air date: Aug 1) – 367 pts – weighted score: 63.2 (44.3%)
60. Follow Me to Daisy Hills (air date: Sept 19) – 337 pts – weighted score: 62.8 (44.1%)
61. 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!

In any event, what did you think of “A Glenbrooke Christmas”?  Comment below and let me know!