Hallmark For All Seasons

“The Angel Tree” aired on November 21, 2020 on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel.  It starred one of my top 3 favorite Hallmark leading ladies, Jill Wagner, and Lucas Bryant. The movie, very loosely based on the book The Angel Tree (affiliate link) by Daphne Benedis-Grab (with screenplay by Teresa Kale, in her first foray into Hallmarkland), was filmed throughout British Columbia, Canada.  Whoa.  That’s some sentence I just drafted there.  I may just keep it.  For now. Jessica Harmon directed, having previously directed My Best Friend’s Bouquet.

In a nutshell

For a Jill Wagner movie, this one was low energy but I didn’t mind it.  It was a thoughtful, feelgood movie about empathy and a spirit of helping others.  THAT is a win for me!

Plot of “The Angel Tree”

A writer seeks the identity of the person who helps grant wishes that are placed upon The Angel Tree, and in the process, reconnects with her childhood friend.

Actors

Jill Wagner, in what I *think* was her first movie post-baby, delivered as Rebecca on every count. She is a solid performer that I love to watch on my TV screen.  Lucas Bryant was great in this movie, portraying the local diner owner and childhood best friend of Rebecca.  He came off stalkerish in Time for You to Come Home for Christmas last year, and I didn’t care for his character in Country At Heart even though they tried to make him seem like a good guy.  But in this movie?  He was allowed to breathe and really make good choices for his role, and I appreciated that he got to have some of the funny lines this time around.  It warmed him up a lot.

And here is where I gush about the kids again.  I have been REALLY IMPRESSED with the child actors they hired in 2020.  Most of them have been outstanding, and this movie was no exception. Cassidy Nugent was so great, and Oscar Farrell, in his VERY FIRST ROLE (according to iMDb), held his own against the more experienced cast members he worked with.

Chemistry

The chemistry was decent in this movie- from Wagner and Bryant, to Wagner and Nugent, to Bryant and Farrell.  It all worked for me.  Some of the interactions and quirks of Rebecca and Matthew when they were in each other’s vicinity absolutely made me believe that those characters had once been very close.

Tropes

Yep.  Tropes ahead! The movie started out of the gate with at least four things.  First, it’s a professional woman who has the chance at a promotion but the deadline is Christmas.  Not only that, but the way to earn the promotion is by leaving the big city to go to her small hometown for the holidays.  That’s when we quickly find out that Rebecca is a widowed single parent to a kid.  And voila- we’re ten minutes into the movie.

Going forward, we had some tree shopping and decorating, a cute dog in at least one scene, and a character in the military (Matthew’s sister, mom to teenaged Owen who is staying with Matthew while his mom is deployed).

But that’s not all!  We had some modified caroling (really, only Matthew caroled), TWO almost kisses, a big scarf, a Christmas Eve gala, some CGI snow and the very last scene ended with a kiss.  I told you there were tons of tropes.

Bingo Card Score for “The Angel Tree”

I covered 10 spots on my bingo card and scored a bingo!  And I scored it pretty early on, too. This movie was throwing out tropes like pennies into a fountain. Feel free to download my free bingo cards and play along!

Did I Hear/See That Right?

To be honest, I didn’t see any major errors in this movie.  I do wonder how on earth Mimi was able to be the Angel for so long, granting wishes that were undoubtedly expensive to pull off when it was just herself.  The first part of the movie I figured that Matthew’s dad, the original owner of the diner, was Angel.  When we saw no flashbacks to him, I knew it wasn’t the dad.  But I never thought it was Mimi and her pals.  Once that was revealed, that’s when my questions began regarding the hows, the whens and the $$.

Feelgoods

Early in the movie I had a major moment filled with fond memories.  When Rebecca and her daughter Cassie head over to the diner, Cassie meets her great-aunt’s “squad” and immediately sits down and begins playing cards with a bunch of adults.  When I was a teenager I would spend time with my grandparents during summer breaks, and in particular my paternal grandmother had a squad of her own and I LOVED hanging out with The Bitties (as I called them).  I was 16 and hanging out with a bunch of women in their 60s was an absolute blast.  As such, I loved seeing Cassy have no qualms about settling right in the play cards with people much older than herself.

Re-watchability

Because of the slower pace and the general seriousness of the movie, I’m not sure this is one I’d choose to watch again.  I’ve noticed that the ones I’d definitely watch again are the more whimsical movies, and HMM is not the network for whimsical Christmas movies.

The Ranking

“The Angel Tree” just made it into the Top 10 for the year.  So far, all but one of my Top 10 is a Christmas movie, showing just how strong this year’s crop of movies has been.

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. Sweet Autumn (air date: Oct 17) – 693 pts – weighted score: 118.5 (83.1%)
4. A Timeless Christmas (air date: Nov 14) – 700 pts – weighted score: 117.7 (82.6%)
5. Deliver by Christmas (air date: Oct 25) – 697 pts – weighted score: 117.4 (82.4%)
6. Christmas With the Darlings (air date: Nov 8) – 691 pts – weighted score: 117.2 (82.2%)
7. Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater (air date: Nov 7) – 681 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
8. The Christmas Bow (air date: Nov 8) – 676 pts – weighted score: 113.2 (79.4%)
9. Cranberry Christmas (air date: Oct 31) – 650 pts – weighted score: 112.1 (78.6%)
10. The Angel Tree (air date: Nov 21) – 670 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
11. Matching Hearts (air date: Feb 8) – 640 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
12. Winter in Vail (air date: Jan 4) – 623 pts – weighted score: 108.8 (76.4%)
13. Wedding Every Weekend (air date: Aug 15) – 639 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
14. Love in Store (air date: Feb 22) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
15. Christmas in Vienna (air date: Nov 14) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.0 (75.1%)
16. A Nashville Christmas Carol (air date: Nov 21) – 634 pts – weighted score: 107.0 (75.1%)
17. Love on Harbor Island (air date: Aug 8) – 634 pts – weighted score: 106.9 (75.0%)
18. Holly & Ivy (air date: Oct 31) – 615 pts – weighted score: 106.8 (74.9%)
19. The Secret Ingredient (air date: Feb 15) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
20. The Christmas Doctor (air date: Nov 15) – 605 pts (weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
21. Country at Heart (air date: Oct 3) – 611 pts – weighted score: 104.1 (73.1%)
22. You’re Bacon Me Crazy (air date: Apr 4) – 591 pts – weighted score: 104.0 (72.9%)
23. My Best Friend’s Bouquet (air date: Oct 10) – 599 pts – weighted score: 103.4 (72.5%)
24. The Christmas Ring (air date: Nov 7) – 609 pts – weighted score: 103.3 (72.5%)
25. Fashionably Yours (air date: Apr 11) – 594 pts – weighted score: 102.6 (72.0%)
26. Follow Your Heart (air date: Oct 4) – 585 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
27. Christmas Tree Lane (air date: Oct 24) – 574 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
28. A Valentine’s Match (air date: Feb 1) – 562 pts – weighted score: 99.8 (70.0%)
29. Love On Iceland (air date: Jan 18) – 563 pts – weighted score: 99.4 (69.7%)
30. Hearts of Winter (air date: Jan 25) – 561 pts – weighted score: 98.2 (68.9%)
31. Jingle Bell Bride (air date: Oct 24) – 558 pts – weighted score: 97.9 (68.7%)
32. Just My Type (air date: Mar 28) – 565 pts – weighted score: 95.4 (66.9%)
33. Meet Me At Christmas (air date: Nov 15) 532 pts – weighted score: 91.1 (63.9%)
34. Bad Date Chronicles (air date: Feb 28) – 520 pts – weighted score: 91.0 (63.9%)
35. Love in Winterland (air date: Jan 11) – 508 pts – weighted score: 90.7 (63.6%)
36. Nature of Love (air date: Apr 18) – 520 pts – weighted score: 90.3 (63.3%)
37. Chateau Christmas (air date: Oct 25) – 502 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.3%)
38. Amazing Winter Romance (air date: Jan 20) – 487 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.1%)
39. Love Under the Olive Tree (air date: June 20) – 473 pts – weighted score: 85.0 (59.6%)
40. In the Key of Love (air date: Mar 14) – 470 pts – weighted score: 82.5 (57.9%)
41. Love in the Forecast (air date: Jun 13) – 440 pts – weighted score: 72.5 (50.8%)
42. Midway to Love (air date: June 26) – 410 pts – weighted score: 69.0 (48.4%)
43. Falling at Look Lodge (air date: Sept 26) – 350 pts – weighted score: 64.0 (44.9%)
44. Romance in the Air (air date: Aug 1) – 367 pts – weighted score: 63.2 (44.3%)
45. Follow Me to Daisy Hills (air date: Sept 19) – 337 pts – weighted score: 62.8 (44.1%)
46. 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!

Programming note: Thanksgiving week there will be a new movie every night.  So far I’ve been able to write up 3 of the 4 movies from every weekend.  I’m very doubtful that I’ll be able to write a review of every single movie this week.  But I will do my best!

In any event, what did you think of “The Angel Tree”?  Comment below and let me know!