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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
image: Hallmark Crown Media

“‘Twas The Night Before Christmas” starring Torrey DeVitto and Zane Holtz, aired on December 17, 2022 during Hallmark Channel’s 2022 Countdown to Christmas.  The movie is based on a play written by Duncan Crary and Jack Casey, and directed by Gary Yates using a screenplay written by Yates and C. Jay Cox.  The movie was filmed in Ottawa, Canada but the movie is set in Troy, NY (added bonus: the town actually has a Victorian stroll each year).

In a nutshell

I enjoyed this movie a lot. I appreciated that the romance was secondary BUT the actors did have tremendous chemistry in their romantic scenes.  This movie makes me want to take a winter sojourn to Troy, NY to see the city AND the play!

The Plot of “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas”

Madison, a former actress, needs to take charge of a town’s annual Christmas Eve courtroom production debating the true authorship of the poem “A Visit from St. Nick”.

Actors & Chemistry

I really enjoyed the entire cast.  Torrey DeVito is a favorite because she is always so good.  I’ve not seen Zane Holtz in anything despite the fact he’s been a working actor for over 20 years, but thoroughly enjoyed him in this movie.  And let us not forget Sophie Bastelle, who excelled as the bad actress/producer girlfriend Lena. I thought she was hilariously bad.

But let’s talk about the chemistry between DeVitto and Holtz – it was tremendous.  I’ll talk more about this later, but I appreciated that they were clearly friends, but he made no bones at various points that he was interested in her, and she completely accepted that information without getting awkward and weird. The result is that when Madison and Connor DID have “tell me something romantic” moments, they were crackling with chemistry.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
image: Hallmark Crown Media

Find the Tropes!

The movie opened with a drone shot of the town landscape, and included CGI snow. Shoppers were visiting a Christmas market. Connor is a single dad to a cute kid. Edna’s house had a front porch. A brief shot of cookie making, and later building a gingerbread house.  At the Victorian stroll Madison and Connor enjoyed some hot cocoa in some clearly not-real cups of cocoa, given how they were whipping those things around during the walk/talk scene. Later when Connor’s daughter arrived at the B&B, they did some tree decorating.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Maybe I missed this, but did Madison WRITE the play?  Because I don’t think a playwriter would appreciate on-the-spot rewrites just a few days before the play premieres.  I know that re-writes exist.  One of my favorite Broadway musicals from the 1990s, “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” made a ton of changes after its first year, and rearranged the placement of some songs.  The fourth time I went to go see it, it was completely different.  But I’m sure those changes were a long time coming – not done 1-2 days before the new show went live.  AND I’m not sure a play can have re-writes done by a director instead of the playwright.  So correct me if I’m wrong, and that the movie established Madison as not just the director but also the writer.

Feelgoods

Oh, Lena’s bad acting was so cringey.  I remember participating in a one-act play when I was in college, and the director, John (the professor of film/tv/theater at the school), cast me in the 2nd largest part.  I was nervous about the larger role, petrified at the notion of forgetting my lines during a performance, and generally had no idea if I was actually any good or if John only put me in the part because I was a senior, and had been in several of his classes over the years. So to watch Lena brought back every insecurity I had about acting in that one-act play.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
image: Hallmark Crown Media

General Thoughts

Building on what I said about chemistry, I appreciated that Connor and Madison already knew each other coming into the movie, and were comfortable with each other. The result is that there was less need for the screenplay to show them getting to know each other. And then things got tweaked 15 minutes into the movie when she called him a great friend, and he reacted negatively to being called a friend.  At that point, the viewers knew the romantic stakes involved for these characters.

Re-watchability of “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas”

I enjoyed this movie.  I loved the ghosts, I loved the idea of the trial, and I thought it was a cute little movie.  Definitely worth watching again.

The Rankings

This was the last of the 2022 holiday movies that I watched, but there are few others listed below that I managed to watch today. I ended up with a strong final three movies to watch, as I thoroughly enjoyed “The Holiday Stocking,” while “Time For Him…” brought me to tears at the end. As for “‘Twas,” it is a solid movie whose score almost definitely would have cracked the Top 10 if it had more tropes.

  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. Haul Out the Holly (air date: Nov 26) – 729 pts – weighted score: 121.0 (84.9%)
  4. Lights, Camera, Christmas! (air date: Nov 5) – 671 pts – weighted score: 113.1 (79.4%)
  5. A Kismet Christmas (air date: Oct 24) – 664 pts – weighted score: 113.2 (79.4%)
  6. Our Italian Christmas Memories (air date: Nov 12) 665 pts – weighted score: 112.4 (78.9%)
  7. Christmas at the Golden Dragon (air date: Nov 13) – 665 pts – weighted score: 112.1 (78.7%)
  8. Two Tickets to Paradise (air date: June 25) – 664 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
  9. Just One Kiss (air date: Apr 2) – 660 pts – weighted score: 111.2 (78.0%)
  10. Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas (air date: Nov 26) – 651 pts – weighted score: 111.0 (77.9%)
  11. The Presence of Love (air date: Mar 13) – 650 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
  12. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (air date: Dec 17) – 652 pts – weighted score: 109.8 (77.0%)
  13. The Holiday Stocking (air date: Dec 3) – 648 pts – weighted score: 109.5 (76.8%)
  14. The Gift of Peace (air date: Dec 10) – 636 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
  15. Wedding of a Lifetime (air date: Sept 17) – 640 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
  16. The Holiday Sitter (air date: Dec 11) – 636 pts -weighted score: 107.4 (75.4%)
  17. Dating the Delaneys (air date: Aug 20) – 638 pts – weighted score: 106.5 (74.7%)
  18. Love, Classified (air date: Apr 16) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.1 (74.4%)
  19. Five More Minutes: Moments Like This (air date: Dec 17) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.1 (74.4%)
  20. All Saints Christmas (air date: Nov 5) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.0 (74.4%)
  21. A Royal Runaway Romance (air date: Apr 9) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.9 (74.3%)
  22. Jolly Good Christmas (air date: Oct 29) – 625 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.2%)
  23. #Xmas (air date: Nov 25) – 624 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.1%)
  24. We Wish You a Married Christmas (air date: Oct 22) – 623 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.1%)
  25. A Holiday Spectacular (air date: Nov 27) – 622 pts – weighted score: 105.6 (74.1%)
  26. My Southern Family Christmas (air date: Nov 24) – 621 pts – weighted score: 105.6 (74.1%)
  27. The Royal Nanny (air date: Nov 12) – 611 pts – weighted score: 105.5 (74.0%)
  28. Hannukah on Rye (air date: Dec 18) – 629 pts – weighted score: 105.4 (73.9%)
  29. A Big Fat Family Christmas (air date: Dec 2) – 627 pts – weighted score: 105.4 (73.9%)
  30. In Merry Measure (air date: Nov 11) – 625 pts – weighted score: 105.4 (73.9%)
  31. Rip in Time (air date: May 22) – 622 pts – weighted score: 105.3 (73.9%)
  32. Inventing the Christmas Prince (air date: Nov 18) – 614 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
  33. We Need a Little Christmas (air date: Oct 22) – 614 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
  34. Campfire Christmas (air date: July 16) – 621 pts – weighted score: 104.9 (73.6%)
  35. Noel Next Door (air date: Oct 21) – 609 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
  36. Holiday Heritage (air date: Dec 16) – 607 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
  37. Caribbean Summer (air date: June 11) – 636 pts – weighted score: 104.7 (73.5%)
  38. A Cozy Christmas Inn (air date: Oct 28) – 626 pts – weighted score: 104.6 (73.5%)
  39. Christmas Class Reunion (air date: Dec 10) – 615 pts – weighted score: 104.6 (73.4%)
  40. Undercover Holiday (air date: Dec 4) – 619 pts – weighted score: 104.5 (73.3%)
  41. Always Amore (air date: Apr 3) – 618 pts – weighted score: 104.5 (73.3%)
  42. A Fabled Holiday (air date: Dec 3) – 616 pts – weighted score: 104.0 (73.0%)
  43. A Tale of Two Christmases (air date: Nov 26) – 605 pts – weighted score: 103.6 (72.7%)
  44. The Most Colorful Time of Year (air date: Dec 9) – 596 pts – weighted score: 103.5 (72.6%)
  45. A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe (air date: ) – 604 pts – weighted score: 102.6 (72.0%)
  46. Hidden Gems (air date: Jun 4) – 611 pts – weighted score: 102.3 (71.8%)
  47. A Magical Christmas Village (air date: Nov 4) – 592 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
  48. Pumpkin Everything (air date: Oct 8) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
  49. Autumn in the City (air date: Oct 15) – 594 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
  50. Love in the Limelight (air date: Aug 6) – 604 pts – weighted score: 100.0 (70.2%)
  51. Second Chance at Love (air date: Mar 26) – 585 pts – weighted score: 99.7 (69.9%)
  52. When I Think of Christmas (air date: Nov 20) – 577 pts – weighted score: 99.3 (69.6%)
  53. Christmas Bedtime Stories (air date: Oct 29) – 575 pts – weighted score: 98.8 (69.3%)
  54. Romance in Style (air date: Aug 13) – 562 pts – weighted score: 97.2 (68.2%)
  55. Big Sky River (air date: Aug 7) – 568 pts – weighted score: 97.1 (68.1%)
  56. Game, Set, Love (air date: Aug 27) – 552 pts – weighted score: 95.3 (66.9%)
  57. A Tail of Love (air date: Apr 23) – 557 pts – weighted score: 94.4 (66.2%)
  58. The Perfect Pairing (air date: Jan 15) – 563 pts – weighted score: 92.7 (65.0%)
  59. Christmas in Toyland (air date: July 23) – 544 pts – weighted score: 92.4 (64.8%)
  60. The Wedding Veil Legacy (air date: Feb 19) – 543 pts – weighted score: 92.0 (64.5%)
  61. Welcome to Mama’s (air date: Feb 26) – 540 pts – weighted score: 91.9 (64.5%)
  62. Long Lost Christmas (air date: Nov 19) – 537 pts – weighted score: 91.9 (64.5%)
  63. Butlers in Love (air date: Jan 29) – 527 pts – weighted score: 91.3 (64.0%)
  64. Feeling Butterflies (air date: Mar 12) – 542 pts – weighted score: 91.2 (64.0%)
  65. A Maple Valley Christmas (air date: Nov 5) – 522 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
  66. To Her, With Love (air date: Sept 11) – 536 pts – weighted score: 89.4 (62.7%)
  67. A Royal Corgi Christmas (air date: Nov 25) – 508 pts – weighted score: 87.1 (61.1%)
  68. The Wedding Veil Unveiled (air date: Feb 12) – 515 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (61.0%)
  69. My Grown-Up Christmas List (air date: July 9) – 514 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (60.9%)
  70. Road Trip Romance (air date: May 14) – 492 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.3%)
  71. Don’t Forget I Love You (air date: Jan 22) – 508 pts – weighted score: 85.8 (60.2%)
  72. The Wedding Veil (air date: Jan 8) – 508 pts – weighted score: 83.3 (58.4%)
  73. Where the Heart Belongs (air date: Jan 1) – 435 pts – weighted score: 74.5 (52.3%)
  74. 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 “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas”?  Comment below and let me know!

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I've been a fan of Hallmark movies for as long as I can remember. In 2018 I decided it was finally time to write about it, and thus this website was born.

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