“Boyfriends of Christmas Past” aired on October 23, 2021 during the premiere weekend of 2021’s Countdown to Christmas on Hallmark Channel. The movie starred Catherine Haena Kim (who actually had a role in the Matthew McConaughey movie “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”), Raymond Ablack (“Maid”) and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (“Kim’s Convenience”).
Lisa Parsons, who wrote the script, has previously written episodes for “Arrested Development” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” among other things. The movie was based on the book of the same name (affiliate link) by Erika Marks. Director Don McBrearty has been directing movies for Hallmark since at least 2015, including 2019’s Double Holiday and last year’s Unlocking Christmas.
And another great poster for the movie, am I right? This poster made me want to watch the movie. It has a lot of energy and engagement.
Music: The song from the opening scene was Under the Mistletoe (affiliate link) by Kelly Clarkson. Later on the movie featured We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Stuart Roslyn & Matthew Foundling.
In a nutshell
I thought this was a cute movie that executed the Scrooge storyline pretty well. It was a strong, likeable cast as well.
The Plot of “Boyfriends of Christmas Past”
Leading up to Christmas, marketing executive, Lauren, is visited by the ghosts of four ex boyfriends. She must learn to open her heart or risk losing her best friend, Nate.
Actors & Chemistry
First and foremost, I LOVED the former boyfriends. Each one was perfect in who they were and what they had to show Lauren through her dream travels. I also loved Raymond Ablack, who played Lauren’s best friend Nate. Now, I have some thoughts on the character, but the actor was great and I hope he does another Hallmark movie in the future.
I thought Catherine Haena Kim was well cast, but unfortunately her character was selfish and needlessly callous through most of the movie, which found it hard to truly be excited for the happy ending. I was more happy that NATE got his happy ending than I was that LAUREN got her happy ending. And it was NOT because of the actress – I think in the right role, she would slay as a Hallmark leading lady.
The overall chemistry was enjoyable to watch although I wish we had seen more carefree best friends activity between Lauren and Nate. We basically got one game night scene and then everything after that was him pining for her and being really obvious that he liked her as more than a friend.
Tropes
Big city drone shot for opening scene. Oh no, a new client wants to hear the new marketing pitches on Christmas Eve. Lauren’s dad’s next door neighbor’s house had a sweet front porch. AND Lauren and her dad decorated the tree.
I wanted to say the coffee cup she got from Nate was empty, but when she set it down, it didn’t sound empty, so I suspect she actually had liquid in that coffee cup! And then later at the Christmas market, we had more empty coffee cups.
In quick succession in the middle of the movie we saw a tree lighting, ice skating, some hot cocoa (in two hands) and a carriage ride (complete with CGI snow).
Did I Hear/See That Right?
Two boxes of lights for a Christmas tree? What, is it a 3′ tree? Because I put 6-7 strands of lights on my 7′ tree and I still feel like I could put on more.
We didn’t get to necessarily see how Nate got friend-zoned, but his pining for her was awkward and weird because we knew nothing of the character when the movie started. Don’t get me wrong – I liked the Nate character, but as I said earlier, for the first half of the movie he came off as more pitiful and in love.
The song the guitar boyfriend Jake played was “Auld Lang Syne,” right? Because that’s certainly what it sounded like. And that is NOT a song that he would have written considering how old the song is. And then after a YEAR of dating he finally says “I love you?” REALLY?
Feelgoods
Nate kept getting shot down with every attempt to do something more relationship-y than normal with Lauren. HOW LONG before we tuned in as movie watchers had he been attempting to put moves on her? It was painful. So it was a negative feel.
General Thoughts
I appreciated that each of Lauren’s boyfriends lasted a bit longer than the last one. High lasted a couple months, college lasted a year, post-college lasted 2 years, and her last one lasted 3 years. It did show some growth for Lauren that she could make each relationship go a bit longer. But you also have to wonder if she picked these men because she knew that they wouldn’t commit so “soon” like the last one.
Re-watchability
I’d likely watch this one again since I liked Ablack so much, as well as the former boyfriends.
The Ranking
“Boyfriends of Christmas Past” has made it into the third spot for the year, which is no mean feat!
- You, Me and The Christmas Trees (air date: Oct 22) – 716 pts – weighted score: 121.3 (85.1%)
- Crashing Through The Snow (air date: July 10) – 705 pts – weighted score: 118.1 (82.8%)
- Boyfriends of Christmas Past (air date: Oct 23) – 673 pts – weighted score: 116.1 (81.5%)
- It Was Always You (air date: Feb 27) – 668 pts – weighted score: 114.2 (80.1%)
- You Had Me At Aloha (air date: June 5) – 675 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
- Sweet Carolina (air date: May 15) – 648 pts – weighted score: 110.1 (77.2%)
- Taking a Shot at Love (air date: Jan 2) – 641 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
- Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (air date: Mar 27) – 636 pts – weighted score: 108.5 (76.1%)
- Right in Front of Me (air date: Apr 18) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
- As Luck Would Have It (air date: Apr 10) – 638 pts – weighted score: 107.7 (75.5%)
- Her Pen Pal (air date: June 19) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.1 (75.1%)
- The Baker’s Son (air date: June 13) – 637 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
- Love Strikes Twice (air date: Oct 2) – 608 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
- A Winter Getaway (air date: Jan 23) – 620 pts – weighted score: 104.4 (73.3%)
- Love, For Real (air date: July 31) – 607 pts – weighted score: 103.6 (72.7%)
- Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (air date: Oct 1) – 595 pts – weighted score: 103.0 (72.2%)
- Mix Up in the Mediterranean (air date: Feb 20) – 590 pts – weighted score: 102.5 (71.9%)
- Advice to Love By (air date: Oct 16) – 599 pts – weighted score: 102.2 (71.7)
- Two For The Win (air date: Jan 16) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
- Taking the Reins (air date: Sept 28) – 574 pts – weighted score: 101.2 (71.0%)
- Raise a Glass to Love (air date: Sept 18) – 590 pts – weighted score: 100.7 (70.7%)
- Chasing Waterfalls (air date: Mar 20) – 570 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
- Roadhouse Romance (air date: Sept 11) – 571 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
- Sweet Pecan Summer (air date: ) – 576 pts – weighted score: 97.3 (68.3%)
- Sand Dollar Cove (air date: June 26) – 557 pts – weighted score: 96.8 (67.9%)
- Hearts Down Under (air date: Apr 24) – 547 pts – weighted score: 95.2 (66.8%)
- Fit for a Prince (air date: Mar 6) – 546 pts – weighted score: 94.6 (66.4%)
- A New Year’s Resolution (air date: Jan 9) – 516 pts – weighted score: 90.5 (63.5%)
- Finding Love in Mountain View (air date: ) – 504 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
- A Little Daytime Drama (air date: Aug 21) – 511 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
- Baby, It’s Cold Inside (air date: May 8) – 495 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.0%)
- Playing Cupid (air date: Feb 13) – 466 pts – weighted score: 82.6 (58.0%)
- Beverly Hills Wedding (air date: Feb 6) – 431 pts – weighted score: 80.6 (56.5%)
- Journey of my Heart (air date: ) – 450 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
- Snowkissed (air date: Jan 31) – 402 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
What did you think of “Boyfriends of Christmas Past”? Comment below and let me know!
I turned this movie on twice, and couldn’t get through it. I honestly thought the lead actress was horrible, she almost hopped around, tiptoeing in a couple scenes and her surprise at things was almost cartoonish. I will never watch it on reruns, and I hope not to see any more new actors who are this bad. You mentioned chemistry, lol I must have missed that later in the movie.
Vicki, I suppose in this instance when I referenced chemistry, I didn’t mean romantic chemistry so much as the entire cast blended well together. I liked the scenes with Lauren and her dad and step-mom. I liked the scenes with Lauren and her co-worker. I liked Lauren’s interaction with her former boyfriend ghosts. So the overall CAST chemistry was good. Was there any heat between Lauren and Nate? NOPE.
I think you were more than kind and generous about the character Lauren. She was written as a fairly dreadful human being who made you want to scream at poor Nate, “Run for your life!” I’ll be skipping this one going forward. Even though the psychology of why she was the way she was became obvious early on (timing of parent’s break up) it still excluded her having the choice not to repeat the same pattern for her own life– Like being a brick wall was inevitable. Those ex-boyfriends needed a support group. But an excellent review as always. In the right setting, all the actors could/would be wonderful.
Laura – I see what you are saying about someone having a choice not to repeat a pattern. However, I know from personal experience that if someone wants to deliberately ignore a character flaw, it will be ignored. I once worked with someone who clearly could not see that she kept making the same life mistake over and over again for YEARS. So I absolutely believed that Lauren could be blind to her own major character flaw.
I really liked this one, I liked all of the boyfriends and how each took the next step with her as she was growing up. It showed how she matured. I thought all the characters were likable and I just thought she got engaged really fast.