Hallmark For All Seasons

Countdown to Christmas 2019

Hallmark’s “The Mistletoe Secret”

I’m not going to lie, folks. I was dreading watching this movie. I really did not want to watch it at all, even despite the fact that it had Tyler Hynes in it. But you guys – I was WRONG! Wrong, I tell you!

“The Mistletoe Secret” aired on Hallmark Channel on Sunday, November 10 at 8 p.m. It starred Kellie Pickler and Tyler Hynes, as well as Christopher Russell and Patrick Duffy. The movie is based on the first in a series of Richard Paul Evans books. Here’s where I admit that I groaned when I saw this movie was adapted from a Richard Paul Evans book. The movie was filmed in Aldergrove, Canada (just outside Vancouver) despite being set in Utah.

In a nutshell

No one is more surprised than I am that I actually LIKED a Pickler movie. I couldn’t stand “Christmas at Graceland” last year, and I didn’t even bother with the hot mess that was probably “Wedding at Graceland.” But this movie had TYLER HYNES in it, so I knew I had to watch it even though I didn’t want to. My prayer as the open credits started was that Pickler had either taken some acting lessons, or would improve her acting up against the likes of Hynes and Duffy. And you know what? She HAS improved. Thank heavens. The bulk of her scenes were not cringy at all, and she held her own. And when not holding her own, Hynes, Duffy and Russell ably carried her through the scenes. End result? I laughed throughout “The Mistletoe Secret” (in a good way) and really enjoyed it.

The Mistletoe Secret — image: Hallmark Crown Media

Plot

Aria (Pickler) convinces a famous travel writer to do a feature story on her hometown, Midway, Utah. In the meantime, another writer comes to town (Hynes) and Aria finds her heart torn between the charismatic Sterling Masters (Russell) and Alex , who is actually the real talent behind ‘Masters of Travel,’ and the man who has genuinely fallen for her.

Actors

Hynes and Russell were the two winners in this movie. Their scenes together were all comedy gold, and that’s largely in part to Hynes’ constant knee-jerk reactions to Russell. So, so well done. I think it was so well done that my HUSBAND, who looks down on all Hallmark movies, actually came into the TV room and sat down to watch the entire second half of the movie. And sure he made snarky comments about the movie, but he never snarked on Hynes and Russell, and that alone is a testament to their great comedic pairing.

Because the movie had so many scenes featuring those two, it enabled Pickler to be in the movie without having to CARRY the movie. If she had had to carry the movie, I think it would have not been nearly as enjoyable because she still tends to be very one-note in her delivery. But I must reiterate that she really was vastly improved over her Graceland performance(s). I think she has real potential if she continues to pursue acting mentors who can help her figure out how best to inform her characters with some vulnerability.

As for Six Degrees of Kris Polaha, Patrick Duffy is three steps away. Duffy co-starred in a 1985 production of “Alice in Wonderland” with ERnest Borgnine, who previously co-stared with Lindsay Wagner in 1981’s “High Risk.” Polaha co-starred with Wagner in 2008’s “Billy: The Early Years.”

Chemistry

The real chemistry in this movie was between Tyler Hynes and Christopher Russell. Whoever the casting agent was for this movie should get a special bonus from Hallmark Channel. Because that pairing was the highlight of the whole movie. There were so many situations that made me laugh, but none more than when Russell was chattering on and Hynes gave him the universal signal for “zip your mouth shut” with such a look of aggravated annoyance. Oh my word – so funny!

Hynes also had tremendous chemistry with those nerdy writer glasses that he wore throughout. Hubba hubba. *lol*

Feelgoods

No feelgoods from this one, other than being happy with the unexpected win of liking the movie overall.

Tropes

“The Mistletoe Secret” had quite a few tropes. First and foremost, it featured a 1980s TV star in Patrick Duffy. There was also a “mistaken identity” type plotpoint since Alex was trying to keep his identify a secret from the town. The entire movie featured a small town diner as a location.

Others including a tree lighting ceremony, Pickler wearing a giant scarf a few times, a sleigh ride, a shooting star in the night sky, and some good old-fashioned product placement during the tree decorating scene thanks to Balsam Hill.

Bingo Card Score for “The Mistletoe Secret”

For a movie that had so much going for it, I only covered 5 spots on my bingo card!

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Let’s talk about this Mistletoe Man. The movie only very briefly laid out the story of this guy who loved a girl so much that he traveled into the woods and tempted death in order to secure some mistletoe for her. At least, I think that’s the story? I’m still not totally sure. And supposedly Aria has spent her life waiting for her very own Mistletoe Man to sweep her off her feet. And she somehow thinks vapid city-boy Sterling Masters is the Mistletoe Man?! NO WAY. Either way, I’m still confused how Alex proved he was the Mistletoe Man. He gave her the ornament, yes, but this is Hallmark. Alex needed to go into the woods and magically find the sprig of mistletoe and give THAT to her. Right?

Not only that, but at some point I REALLY wanted Alex to thump Sterling in the head for being SUCH a jerk. At some point the Sterling character did things that were so unlikeable that I couldn’t imagine why Alex would tolerate being his friend for over 9 years. When he outbid Alex for that ornament – that would have been the last straw had I been Alex. And I did NOT accept Sterling’s apology! *lol*

And don’t even get me started on the fact that the mistletoe they kept referring to was actually holly, because holly has red berries with spiky leaves, while mistletoe has white berries and smooth leaves. *sigh*

The one thing I did like that they don’t normally do, is that this time around it was ARIA who did the big romantic gesture by setting up the lights in a path for Alex. Usually it’s the other way around. I despite Tyler Hynes being a Manly Man, I could totally see Alex being charmed by the gesture, so it wasn’t too hokey for me. Now, the CGI night sky complete with shooting star WAS hokey, but that’s the Hallmark way.

Re-watchability

Yes, I’ll probably watch “The Mistletoe Secret” again, but with the remote in my hand so I can fast-forward and just watch all the scenes between Tyler Hynes and Christopher Russell.

The Ranking

You guys, this movie ALMOST made my Top 20 for the year! It actually has a higher raw score than two of the movies in my Top 20, but because of the weighting, “The Mistletoe Secret” drops to number 21. But still, that’s HUGE for the movie I wanted to see the least this holiday season. Wow!

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%)
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%)