Hallmark For All Seasons

“Noel Next Door,” starring Natalie Hall and Corey Sevier aired on Hallmark Channel on the first night of 2022’s Countdown to Christmas, October 21, 2022.  YAY for the new season of movies starting! I’m totally ready to put up my Christmas decorations now!

Newcomer Keith Hemstreet provided the script with Max McGuire directing.  McGuire has directed a variety of movies for other networks. The movie was filmed in Ottawa, Canada.

Music: There were several classical pieces on this movie, notably a piece from “Swan Lake” as well as Debussy’s “Claire de Lune,” one of my all-time favorites.

In a nutshell

I’m conflicted. As the first movie of the new season, I liked it.  But it was a very subdued movie compared to most opening night premieres of the past few years.  Yes, there were lots of funny bits mixed in, but the performances were either subdued (when Noelle and Jeremy were interacting) or over the top (when Jeremy and Noelle’s son were interacting). There were plenty of tropes, which I loved seeing, but the movie dragged a bit in the second half.

The Plot of “Noel Next Door”

Noelle, a hard-working, single mom gets into a war of words with neighbor Jeremy who she feels is ruining Christmas, only to find that this misunderstood grouch just may steal her heart.

Actors & Chemistry

I enjoyed Natalie Hall and Corey Sevier in Road Trip Romance from earlier this year, and I enjoyed them together in this – they are a good pairing.  Having said that, their choices in this movie completely affected how I felt about this film. In all the scenes they had where it was just the two of them, Natalie Hall was calm, quiet (but very confident) and very zen.  That’s unlike every other character she’s played in Hallmark movies and it took some getting used to.

Corey Sevier, who in most movies is very calm, quiet (but confident) and zen turned it up to 11 so that during all his scenes with neighbors and Henry, you could practically see a vein pop up on his forehead because he was so over the top enraged about everything Christmas.  But then Jeremy would flip on a dime and become WAY too zen whenever he talked to Noelle.

They had great chemistry, and are a good fit together, but the jarring dichotomy of Jeremy’s personality took me out of the romance part of the film sometimes.

Find the Tropes!

Snowglobe starting us out strong!  And tree decorating as well. A character with a holiday name (Noelle). Cute (but older) kid. Single parent.  Wow – in the first 2 minutes we already had five tropes.  This movie came strong right out of the gates. Then we saw some caroling and found out Jeremy hates Christmas.

The kid threw a snowball at Jeremy – does that count as a snowball fight?  Noelle and her sister had the kids do some crafting by making paper snowflakes. And ice skating!  The traditional almost kiss interrupted by Santa. Usually a movie has a cute dog as the trope, but this one had a VERY CUTE rabbit.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Some women were clearly too young to play parents of pre-teens.  Noelle’s sister, Shannon, who escorted the young carolers, must have been a teenaged mom given the fact there was no way that woman was even 30 years old.  And of course, Natalie Hall, at 32, could actually be mom to a 13-14 year old, but it’s wild casting because Hall looks a lot younger than 32.

Exactly how did Henry’s bunny not only get out of his house but find its way into Jeremy’s house?  Jeremy doesn’t appear to have a dog, and therefore no doggy door.  So how did the rabbit get in there?

Who is Luis and why did he help Jeremy get the rabbit, when Jeremy yelled at him at the beginning of the movie about the Christmas tree to the point where Luis called him, “Mr. Geir” and seemed afraid of him?  It made it seem like they didn’t know each other well, and yet Jeremy had Luis’ number saved on his cellphone.

Feelgoods

This is not your grandmother’s Hallmark.  A lead character that is recovering from a stroke?  A tampon joke?  A hangover? Those two things have either NEVER been in a Hallmark movie or haven’t been in a Hallmark movie since 2006.

A woman with decency helps a man out of his coat when he is clearly struggling.  I’m glad his blind date abandoned him so that Noelle could treat him like a man who just happens to need some assistance, no big deal. And then kept him company while he ate.

While I’m confused about the ice skating rink (was it in the barn they started to walk into after getting their skates?) I thought it was gorgeous with all the trees.  And I appreciated that this movie was clearly filmed in wintertime because you could see their breath in almost every outdoor scene.

Re-watchability of “Noel Next Door”

I’m torn.  I feel like if I could watch all the scenes that had ONLY Noelle and Jeremy getting to know each other and dating, I’d be all in on the movie. While the Jeremy/Henry scenes were sometimes funny, the Jeremy-as-Scrooge was so extreme that I didn’t like that storyline as much.  Will I watch it again?  I think I’d be willing to watch it again, but I might just have it on in the background to pay attention every now and again versus sitting down and actively sitting through the whole thing.

The Rankings

Despite its faults, the movie is in the upper third thanks to all the wonderful Christmas tropes and the pairing of Natalie Hall and Corey Sevier.

1. Two Tickets to Paradise (air date: June 25) – 664 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
2. Just One Kiss (air date: Apr 2) – 660 pts – weighted score: 111.2 (78.0%)
3. The Presence of Love (air date: Mar 13) – 650 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
4. Wedding of a Lifetime (air date: Sept 17) – 640 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
5. Dating the Delaneys (air date: Aug 20) – 638 pts – weighted score: 106.5 (74.7%)
6. Love, Classified (air date: Apr 16) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.1 (74.4%)
7. A Royal Runaway Romance (air date: Apr 9) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.9% (74.3%)
8. Rip in Time (air date: May 22) – 622 pts – weighted score: 105.3% (73.9%)
9. Campfire Christmas (air date: July 16) – 621 pts – weighted score: 104.9 (73.6%)
10. Noel Next Door (air date: Oct 21) – 609 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
11. Caribbean Summer (air date: June 11) – 636 pts – weighted score: 104.7 (73.5%)
12. Always Amore (air date: Apr 3) – 618 pts – weighted score: 104.5 (73.3%)
13. Hidden Gems (air date: Jun 4) – 611 pts – weighted score: 102.3 (71.8%)
14. Pumpkin Everything (air date: Oct 8) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
15. Autumn in the City (air date: Oct 15) – 594 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
16. Love in the Limelight (air date: Aug 6) – 604 pts – weighted score: 100.0 (70.2%)
17. Second Chance at Love (air date: Mar 26) – 585 pts – weighted score: 99.7 (69.9%)
18. Romance in Style (air date: Aug 13) – 562 pts – weighted score: 97.2 (68.2%)
19. Big Sky River (air date: Aug 7) – 568 pts – weighted score: 97.1 (68.1%)
20. Game, Set, Love (air date: Aug 27) – 552 pts – weighted score: 95.3 (66.9%)
21. A Tail of Love (air date: Apr 23) – 557 pts – weighted score: 94.4 (66.2%)
22. The Perfect Pairing (air date: Jan 15) – 563 pts – weighted score: 92.7 (65.0%)
23. Christmas in Toyland (air date: July 23) – 544 pts – weighted score: 92.4 (64.8%)
24. The Wedding Veil Legacy (air date: Feb 19) – 543 pts – weighted score: 92.0 (64.5%)
25. Welcome to Mama’s (air date: Feb 26) – 540 pts – weighted score: 91.9 (64.5%)
26. Butlers in Love (air date: Jan 29) – 527 pts – weighted score: 91.3 (64.0%)
27. Feeling Butterflies (air date: Mar 12) – 542 pts – weighted score: 91.2 (64.0%)
28. To Her, With Love (air date: Sept 11) – 536 pts – weighted score: 89.4 (62.7%)
29. The Wedding Veil Unveiled (air date: Feb 12) – 515 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (61.0%)
30. My Grown-Up Christmas List (air date: July 9) – 514 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (60.9%)
31. Road Trip Romance (air date: May 14) – 492 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.3%)
32. Don’t Forget I Love You (air date: Jan 22) – 508 pts – weighted score: 85.8 (60.2%)
33. The Wedding Veil (air date: Jan 8) – 508 pts – weighted score: 83.3 (58.4%)
34. Where the Heart Belongs (air date: Jan 1) – 435 pts – weighted score: 74.5 (52.3%)
35. 14 Love Letters (air date: July 31) – 420 pts – weighted score: 73.5 (51.6%)

What did you think of “Noelle Next Door”?  Comment below and let me know!