Hallmark For All Seasons

“Three Wise Men and a Baby” starring Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes and Paul Campbell aired on November 19, 2022 during Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas. Hallstars Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sustad wrote the script, with Terry Ingram directing. It was filmed in Vancouver, Canada but set in a fictional town in Washington state.

Music (affiliate links): It was Brett Eldridge’s version of Merry Christmas, Baby that we heard during their too-short elf walk. The brothers’ dance routine was set to a remix of Sugar Plum Fairy by Greg Allen.

In a nutshell

This was easily the most hyped movie of the year.  I saw SO MANY news stories leading up to its premiere.  It got the point where I was VERY AFRAID that I’d be underwhelmed by the movie.  But you guys.  OH MY WORD.  I loved this movie.  Campbell and Sustad need to write so many more movies together.

The Plot of “Three Wise Men and a Baby”

Three brothers are surprised when they find themselves forced to care for a baby during the holidays, during the journey they begin to rebuild their relationships as brothers while rediscovering their love for Christmas.

Actors & Chemistry

We already know that Paul Campbell is very funny (see: just about all of his movies).  We also know that Tyler Hynes is funny (see: An Unexpected Christmas).  But in this movie?  Those two were perfect together.  Physically do I believe they are brothers? No way. But the way they pinged off each other throughout the whole movie was so, so enjoyable. Hallmark needs to keep bringing combos together for their movies.

My only wish is that Andrew Walker had been given more opportunities for comedy.  He usually doesn’t get to show his comedy chops (looking at the list of his Hallmark/Lifetime stuff, very few are outright rom-coms), but he has shown great comedic timing from time to time. Unfortunately, in this movie his character Luke was mostly the “straight man” needed for any good comedy. I wish he had been able to participate a bit more in the shenanigans.  But as the biggest brother, Luke had to be serious because he took on the role of Man in Charge once their dad left the family.

The secondary cast was great. Ali Liebert as Taylor’s ex-girlfriend AND ex-coworker was a fun unexpected addition. Baby Thomas was played by twin girls who were adorable. Margaret Colin, who some may recognize from “Gossip Girl,” “Veep” or “Chicago Me” was fun as Mom to her three adult boys. Mark LaClark was played by Mark Hamilton to perfection.  So so funny. Fiona Vroom was great as quirky pet owner Sue. And YAY for seeing Kimberly Sustad pop up as the doctor at the hospital!

Find the Tropes!

Big city drone shot. A character hates Christmas (Taylor). Someone dressed as an elf. Cute dogs! Adorable babies! Home with a front porch.  Product placement. Quite a few empty mugs/cups. The Christmas market. Ice skating!  That rink has been used many times in Hallmark movies. Christmas tree shopping. We didn’t get to see the decorating of the tree, but we did see a tree lighting.  The tree looked great EXCEPT for the giant dark hole in the middle. CGI snow. Marble laptop right at the end.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

These men are all in their 30s and still live at home.  Dear my gracious.  Luke I can understand since he was in the process of building a home – I know several people who temporarily moved in with relatives to save money for buying a house or while building a house, but Stephan over the garage and Taylor in the basement?  Taylor, most of all, could probably afford to have his own place given he works as a game designer.

When Luke brought home the wrong baby and they had to swap them back, how did they prove to police that Thomas belonged with them? Same question for the hospital visit.

Sorry, but dancing lights cannot be programmed in a few hours.  A single SONG can maybe be done in a few hours if you only use 16 channels.  Now what I DID appreciate is that at the end when they were getting ready to go out, they did at least have the 16-channel controller on the kitchen counter.  Unfortunately, THAT NEEDS TO BE OUTSIDE WITH THE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS PLUGGED INTO IT. Or did they really run extension cords from the kitchen all the way out to the front yard?

Feelgoods

Andrew Walker shirtless as the movie opener?  Hubba hubba.

I had very real feels when the Taylor and Stephan were so happy the baby fell asleep.  My son NEVER slept as an infant.  It was exhausting. We had MANY MANY drives at 3 a.m. trying to get him to fall asleep in the car (which was the ONLY place he would sleep).  We finally discovered Baby Einstein DVDs were like crack to him and so when we needed sleep we’d put a DVD on auto repeat, turn it down low, set him in a sleeper chair next to our bed, and get 2-3 hours of uninterrupted sleep without him crying.  I would NEVER want to relive those first 12 months.

Every argument the brothers had was great.  My sister and I did NOT get along growing up and fought all the time.  My poor mother had to deal with the nearly constant bickering.  We didn’t become friends until were older.  My own kids (ages 18 and 19) still bicker frequently, and it drives me crazy.  Seeing three men in their 30s still bickering made me alternate between laughing at the antics and crying in fear that it might be my future. *lol*

The dance routine?  Hilarious and well done.

The elf costume scene? First of all, how dare you, Hallmark?  That scene was obscenely short.  The walk-in was great, but I had hoped for more of it.

I am ALWAYS in for vulnerable talks in a car.  Some of the best conversations I’ve had with my kids have been in the car, where it’s non-confrontational because you don’t have to look at each other.  I treasure those conversations, and loved the brothers having their own heart to heart in the car.

General Thoughts

The neighbor Mark LeClark cracked me up every scene he was in.  And I loved his house decorations.  We go crazy with our outdoor decorations as well, and this year we’re doing an “inflatable farm” versus the regular display we do.  I’ve been buying additional inflatables all throughout the year and we’ll end up with at least 30-35 of them in the yard this year.  Fun!

There was one very funny throwaway moment that I rewound 3x to watch.  The brothers are at the Christmas market, and Taylor offers Luke a candy cane.  Luke waves him off, so Stephan goes to grab it, but Taylor deliberately moves his hand away and hangs the candy cane on a nearby wreath. It was a callback to earlier in the movie when Taylor is pouring a glass of wine at dinner and when Stephan goes to take it, Taylor moves his hand away and sets it down in front of his mom. I didn’t catch the candy cane the first time I watched the movie, but I did the second time, and it was awesome.  And then later at the market when Stephan is waxing reminiscent about visiting Santa, while Taylor and Luke clearly ignore him and start having their own conversation. It’s little things like that that made me love this movie.

In the end, this movie made a point of being a giant “thank you” and “well done” to single parents.  Parenting is VERY HARD work and to do it alone has to be 10x harder.

Re-watchability of “Three Wise Men and a Baby”

Are you kidding me?  Of course this one will be an eternal re-watchable.  My eternal rewatchable Hallmark movies are usually funny, and this one didn’t disappoint.  This one will be saved permanently on my DVR so I can watch it any time I’m in the mood. And when it inevitably comes out on DVD, I will be buying that one to have in my permanent physical media collection.

The Rankings

It easily could have made it to the number one spot, but I think the Christmas Magic in “Ghosts” allowed it to stay in the top spot.  But only just barely, when you see that “Three Wise Men” actually score more raw points.  I also added my score for “Our Italian Christmas Memories,” which I finally had a chance to watch.  Another great movie.

1. Ghosts of Christmas Always (air date: Oct 30) – 732 pts – weighted score: 122.4 (85.9%)
2. Three Wise Men and a Baby (air date: Nov 19) – 735 pts – weighted score: 122.2 (85.7%)
3. Lights, Camera, Christmas! (air date: Nov 5) – 671 pts – weighted score: 113.1 (79.4%)
4. A Kismet Christmas (air date: Oct 24) – 664 pts – weighted score: 113.2 (79.4%)
5. Our Italian Christmas Memories (air date: Nov 12) 665 pts – weighted score: 112.4 (78.9%)
6. Christmas at the Golden Dragon (air date: Nov 13) – 665 pts – weighted score: 112.1 (78.7%)
7. Two Tickets to Paradise (air date: June 25) – 664 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
8. Just One Kiss (air date: Apr 2) – 660 pts – weighted score: 111.2 (78.0%)
9. The Presence of Love (air date: Mar 13) – 650 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
10. Wedding of a Lifetime (air date: Sept 17) – 640 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
11. Dating the Delaneys (air date: Aug 20) – 638 pts – weighted score: 106.5 (74.7%)
12. Love, Classified (air date: Apr 16) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.1 (74.4%)
13. All Saints Christmas (air date: Nov 5) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.0 (74.4%)
14. A Royal Runaway Romance (air date: Apr 9) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.9 (74.3%)
15. Jolly Good Christmas (air date: Oct 29) – 625 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.2%)
16. We Wish You a Married Christmas (air date: Oct 22) – 623 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.1%)
17. The Royal Nanny (air date: Nov 12) – 611 pts – weighted score: 105.5 (74.0%)
18. In Merry Measure (air date: Nov 11) – 625 pts – weighted score: 105.4 (73.9%)
19. Rip in Time (air date: May 22) – 622 pts – weighted score: 105.3 (73.9%)
20. Inventing the Christmas Prince (air date: Nov 18) – 614 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
21. We Need a Little Christmas (air date: Oct 22) – 614 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
22. Campfire Christmas (air date: July 16) – 621 pts – weighted score: 104.9 (73.6%)
23. Noel Next Door (air date: Oct 21) – 609 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
24. Caribbean Summer (air date: June 11) – 636 pts – weighted score: 104.7 (73.5%)
25. A Cozy Christmas Inn (air date: Oct 28) – 626 pts – weighted score: 104.6 (73.5%)
26. Always Amore (air date: Apr 3) – 618 pts – weighted score: 104.5 (73.3%)
27. Hidden Gems (air date: Jun 4) – 611 pts – weighted score: 102.3 (71.8%)
28. A Magical Christmas Village (air date: Nov 4) – 592 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
29. Pumpkin Everything (air date: Oct 8) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
30. Autumn in the City (air date: Oct 15) – 594 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
31. Love in the Limelight (air date: Aug 6) – 604 pts – weighted score: 100.0 (70.2%)
32. Second Chance at Love (air date: Mar 26) – 585 pts – weighted score: 99.7 (69.9%)
33. Christmas Bedtime Stories (air date: Oct 29) – 575 pts – weighted score: 98.8 (69.3%)
34. Romance in Style (air date: Aug 13) – 562 pts – weighted score: 97.2 (68.2%)
35. Big Sky River (air date: Aug 7) – 568 pts – weighted score: 97.1 (68.1%)
36. Game, Set, Love (air date: Aug 27) – 552 pts – weighted score: 95.3 (66.9%)
37. A Tail of Love (air date: Apr 23) – 557 pts – weighted score: 94.4 (66.2%)
38. The Perfect Pairing (air date: Jan 15) – 563 pts – weighted score: 92.7 (65.0%)
39. Christmas in Toyland (air date: July 23) – 544 pts – weighted score: 92.4 (64.8%)
40. The Wedding Veil Legacy (air date: Feb 19) – 543 pts – weighted score: 92.0 (64.5%)
41. Welcome to Mama’s (air date: Feb 26) – 540 pts – weighted score: 91.9 (64.5%)
42. Butlers in Love (air date: Jan 29) – 527 pts – weighted score: 91.3 (64.0%)
43. Feeling Butterflies (air date: Mar 12) – 542 pts – weighted score: 91.2 (64.0%)
44. To Her, With Love (air date: Sept 11) – 536 pts – weighted score: 89.4 (62.7%)
45. The Wedding Veil Unveiled (air date: Feb 12) – 515 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (61.0%)
46. My Grown-Up Christmas List (air date: July 9) – 514 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (60.9%)
47. Road Trip Romance (air date: May 14) – 492 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.3%)
48. Don’t Forget I Love You (air date: Jan 22) – 508 pts – weighted score: 85.8 (60.2%)
49. The Wedding Veil (air date: Jan 8) – 508 pts – weighted score: 83.3 (58.4%)
50. Where the Heart Belongs (air date: Jan 1) – 435 pts – weighted score: 74.5 (52.3%)
51. 14 Love Letters (air date: July 31) – 420 pts – weighted score: 73.5 (51.6%)

To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of “Three Wise Men and a Baby”?  Comment below and let me know!