Hallmark For All Seasons

“Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas,” starring Jessy Schram and Brendan Penny, premiered on November 27 during 2021’s Miracles of Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel.  Filmed in Vancouver, Canada, the film takes place on a road trip from Maine to SC/GA the week before Christmas.  Directed by Hallmark actor Peter Benson, the screenplay was written by Marcy Holland, who also wrote the Time For Us and Time For You sequels to the original “Time For Me To Come Home For Christmas.”

This movie poster is generic to the point where the ONLY clue that this is a Christmas movie is the word in the title!  This could easily be a Winterfest movie. Or a fall movie.  Not a fan of this poster at all.

Music: Obviously the movie played Blake Shelton’s song Time for Me to Come Home (affiliate link). But we also heard Ding Dong Merrily on High (affiliate link) by Bill Connor and a few others through the car radio during the movie.

In a nutshell

I think if any other pair had been hired for this movie, I would not have liked it as much as I did.  In fact, the leads in this helped this movie become the top ranked of the four “Time for” series.

The Plot of “Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas”

During the holidays, a woman with amnesia, dubbed ‘Jane,’ catches a ride with her handsome nurse, Paul, to investigate the only clue to her identity: a newspaper clipping for a Christmas Festival with a cryptic invitation. 

Actors & Chemistry

As I said a moment ago, this movie is only watchable because of the two leads, Jessy Schram and Brendan Penny.  I really liked these two together – they matched.  Sometimes the lead pairs in movies just don’t go together, but these two did.  These two are both open and likeable, which allowed me to root them on in their quests (she to find out who she was, he to reconcile with family and deal with his grief). The rest of the cast was fine – I was happy to have Brendon Zub pop up as Jane’s brother-in-law and Lochlan Munro as the Maine cop – but their parts were small enough that they didn’t really get a chance to build anything solid with their roles.

Tropes

What this movie DID have was tropes. We had CGI snow, some presents getting wrapped, and a house with a front porch.  We also saw a small bit of tree decorating and plenty of coffee cups.  At one point I was delighted when Jessy Schram held her cup of hot cocoa in TWO hands and went to take a sip.  We had Campbell’s soup product placement and a brief snowball fight.  Paul and Jane walked around a Christmas market and he talked about his parents, who had passed away.  Jane picks up a snowglobe at the Christmas market.  They found a cute dog, too.  There was a misunderstanding (this time visual when Paul saw Rebecca hugging her BIL and nephew at the tree lighting). And lastly, we had at least one overhead drone shot of a car driving alone though snowy woods.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Speaking of driving through snowy woods.  That scene was supposed to take place in South Carolina.  I can tell you on good authority that South Carolina does NOT have heavy snow in wooded areas.  And most definitely not in December.  Our typical snowstorm (yes, I live in SC) is in late January through February.  If we get snow in December will be a light dusting that is gone within a few hours.  In the 16 years we’ve lived in SC, we’ve only had ONE year where we had 3-5″ of snow fall – and it was in January 2018.  I remember this because I had just started at a new job and literally the 2nd or 3rd day the company closed because of the snowfall.  So I laughed out loud when that overhead shot of snowy woods was shown during the movie.

Our leading character, “Jane” was in cold Maine water for ten minutes before being pulled out.  First, when the EMTs rushed her into the hospital, she was basically dry AND not showing any hint of being in freezing cold water for that long.  And while she was supposedly being wheeled into the ER for treatment, the movie implies she stays in that general area of the hospital for several days to recover.  I’m sorry – I worked in a hospital for 8 years.  Once that patient is stabilized, she’s getting moved out of the ER into a regular room to finish out her stay.  So did Paul work in an ER, or did they wheel an emergency patient to a non-ER part of the hospital for immediate treatment?  Because you can’t have both.

When Jane (now Rebecca) and Paul make it to the tree lighting in Charleston, SC, he goes to park the car and when he comes in to find her, he sees her hugging a man and kid, so he turns and walks away.  Um…dude….she STILL has amnesia.  You didn’t think you should over there, introduce yourself as her nurse, and make sure everything is okay?  You can’t separate your personal feelings for professional duty?  Man, I hope Paul is never MY nurse when I have amnesia!

Feelgoods

There were only moments that made me happy/sad.

Happy moment was seeing Alison Sweeney had a cameo in the movie as the woman who lost her dog.  I wish they had not credited her in the opening credits so it could be a surprise, because that would have been amazing.  I’m loving that various Hallmark actors keep showing up in each other’s movies this holiday season!

Sad moment was Paul’s scene at the graveside of his brother.  It was very emotional and Brendan Penny was fabulous in that scene.

Re-watchability of “Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas”

I think I might be up for watching this one again, even if it’s a strictly middle of the pack movie.  I just really like Jessy Schram and Brendan Penny together.  But I’d skip the first 15-20 minutes and just go straight to the road trip itself.

The Ranking

“Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas” lands almost directly in the middle, which is fitting.  But I also think it’s slightly better than the score suggests.  Worth seeing if you happen to see it’s airing.

1. An Unexpected Christmas (air date: Nov 26) – 736 pts – weighted score: 123.0 (86.3%)
2. A Dickens of a Holiday! (air date: Dec 11) – 735 pts – weighted score: 122.3 (85.8%)
3. The Santa Stakeout (air date: Oct 24) – 730 pts – weighted score: 122.3 (85.8%)
4. A Christmas Family Tree (air date: Nov 14) – 730 pts – weighted score: 121.9 (85.5%)
5. You, Me and The Christmas Trees (air date: Oct 22) – 716 pts – weighted score: 121.3 (85.1%)
6. Crashing Through The Snow (air date: July 10) – 705 pts – weighted score: 118.1 (82.8%)
7. The Nine Kittens of Christmas (air date: Nov 25) – 690 pts – weighted score: 116.5 (81.8%)
8. One December Night (air date: Nov 13) – 695 pts – weighted score: 116.3 (81.6%)
9. A Mrs. Miracle Christmas (air date: Nov 6) – 688 pts – weighted score: 116.2 (81.5%)
10. Boyfriends of Christmas Past (air date: Oct 23) – 673 pts – weighted score: 116.1 (81.5%)
11. Next Stop, Christmas (air date: Nov 6) – 682 pts – weighted score: 114.7 (80.5%)
12. It Was Always You (air date: Feb 27) – 668 pts – weighted score: 114.2 (80.1%)
13. The Christmas Promise (air date: Oct 30) – 675 pts – weighted score: 114.1 (80.0%)
14. Gingerbread Miracle (air date: Nov 5) – 671 pts – weighted score: 114.0 (80.0%)
15. Christmas In My Heart (air date: Oct 23) – 675 pts – weighted score: 113.9 (79.9%)
16. A Kiss Before Christmas (air date: Nov 21) – 671 pts – weighted score: 111.9 (78.5%)
17. Open at Christmas (air date: Nov 12) – 658 pts – weighted score: 111.6 (78.3%)
18. You Had Me At Aloha (air date: June 5) – 675 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
19. A Christmas Together With You (air date: Nov 20) – 645 pts – weighed score: 110.9 (77.8%)
20. Five More Minutes (air date: Nov 21) – 645 pts – weighted score: 110.8 (77.7%)
21. Sweet Carolina (air date: May 15) – 648 pts – weighted score: 110.1 (77.2%)
22. A Very Merry Bridesmaid (air date: Dec 4) – 644 pts – weighted score: 109.5 (76.8%)
23. Taking a Shot at Love (air date: Jan 2) – 641 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
24. Christmas in Tahoe (air date: Nov 28) – 653 pts – weighted score: 108.7 (76.3%)
25. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (air date: Mar 27) – 636 pts – weighted score: 108.5 (76.1%)
26. Christmas at Castle Hart (air date: Nov 27) – 639 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
27. Right in Front of Me (air date: Apr 18) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
28. As Luck Would Have It (air date: Apr 10) – 638 pts – weighted score: 107.7 (75.5%)
29. Her Pen Pal (air date: June 19) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.1 (75.1%)
30. Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas (air date: Nov 27) – 638 pts – weighted score: 106.8 (74.9%)
31. The Baker’s Son (air date: June 13) – 637 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
32. South Beach Love (air date: Oct 9) – 615 pts – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
33. Love Strikes Twice (air date: Oct 2) – 608 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
34. A Holiday in Harlem (air date: Nov 7) – 628 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
35. Christmas Sail (air date: Oct 31) – 606 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
36. Christmas in Harmony (air date: Oct 29) – 605 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
37. A Christmas Treasure (air date: Nov 7) – 625 pts – weighted score: 104.6 (73.4%)
38. A Winter Getaway (air date: Jan 23) – 620 pts – weighted score: 104.4 (73.3%)
39. Coyote Creek Christmas (air date: Oct 30) – 614 pts – weighted score: 104.3 (73.2%)
40. Love, For Real (air date: July 31) – 607 pts – weighted score: 103.6 (72.7%)
41. Christmas CEO (air date: Nov 26) – 596 pts – weighted score: 103.5 (72.6%)
42. Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (air date: Oct 1) – 595 pts – weighted score: 103.0 (72.2%)
43. Mix Up in the Mediterranean (air date: Feb 20) – 590 pts – weighted score: 102.5 (71.9%)
44. Advice to Love By (air date: Oct 16) – 599 pts – weighted score: 102.2 (71.7)
45. Two For The Win (air date: Jan 16) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
46. Taking the Reins (air date: Sept 28) – 574 pts – weighted score: 101.2 (71.0%)
47. Raise a Glass to Love (air date: Sept 18) – 590 pts – weighted score: 100.7 (70.7%)
48. Nantucket Noel (air date: Nov 18) – 585 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
49. Chasing Waterfalls (air date: Mar 20) – 570 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
50. Roadhouse Romance (air date: Sept 11) – 571 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
51. Sweet Pecan Summer (air date: ) – 576 pts – weighted score: 97.3 (68.3%)
52. Sand Dollar Cove (air date: June 26) – 557 pts – weighted score: 96.8 (67.9%)
53. Hearts Down Under (air date: Apr 24) – 547 pts – weighted score: 95.2 (66.8%)
54. Fit for a Prince (air date: Mar 6) – 546 pts – weighted score: 94.6 (66.4%)
55. A New Year’s Resolution (air date: Jan 9) – 516 pts – weighted score: 90.5 (63.5%)
56. Finding Love in Mountain View (air date: ) – 504 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
57. A Little Daytime Drama (air date: Aug 21) – 511 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
58. Baby, It’s Cold Inside (air date: May 8) – 495 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.0%)
59. Playing Cupid (air date: Feb 13) – 466 pts – weighted score: 82.6 (58.0%)
60. Beverly Hills Wedding (air date: Feb 6) – 431 pts – weighted score: 80.6 (56.5%)
61. Journey of my Heart (air date: ) – 450 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
62. 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 “Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas”?  Comment below and let me know!