I'm in need of some serious movie cheese.Moonlight and Mistletoe from 2008 certainly fits the bit. It’s Candace Cameron Bure. It’s Hallmark. It’s free. It’s solid festive nonsense. It ticks every box you’d expect from a movie like this and if you’re into the Hallmark thing, it’s pretty much exactly what you’d want it to be. I’m exhausted and pissed off with everything as yet another email has pinged in informing us our house move has been delayed again. I’m just trying to keep my shit together and in the mood to switch my brain off for 90 minutes or so. Thanks, Youtube.
Cameron Bure is Holly (of course she is), a woman who, since childhood, has been immersed in Christmassy stuff thanks to growing up working at ‘Santaville’, her dad Nick (Tom Arnold)’s small-town festive theme park that’s weirdly open all year round. At some point, Holly quit, taking a high-flying business job in the big, bad city. Now she deliberately avoids all things Yuletide-y, doing her best to stay away from Santaville, until dad has an accident and she must travel back home for the holidays. We all know by now how that will go.
Holly quickly reconnects with a handsome, smouldering childhood crush, her love for smalltown values is rekindled and she might even just rescue dad’s faltering business from the liquidators right at the last second.
What I appreciate in this one is the slightly spicier than normal inclusion of a potential love triangle. Initially, it looks like Holly might fall for Ben (Matt Walton), a hunky business guy who may possess the financial know-how to save Santaville. However, arty, childhood love interest Peter (Christopher Wiehl) is waiting in the wings with his puppy dog eyes and wonderful wood-whittling nutcracker-making skills. Yes, it’s big business versus homegrown small business so, unlike real life, there are no surprises about who wins out. However, I enjoy that seemingly sweet Ben (SPOILER!) turns out to be a total bastard. It’s credit to the film’s strange cheesy magic that I honestly don't see that coming.
The film does its best to comment on the changing times where modern technology like video games and phones seem more interesting to kids than going out to visit Santa or a festive theme park. To be honest, though, I’d guess that people were staying away from Santaland because it looks rubbish. Still, I appreciate the hours of work the set-builders must have put into creating this colossal candy-striped thing.
Moonlight and Mistletoe is a well-made TV movie, wrapped in a predictable but comforting blanket of festive schmaltz. I mean, only in one of these films would an open-365-days-a-year Christmas theme park be considering a viable money-making option. It’s also odd that it’s called a “theme park” when all we see are a mini-train and a gift shop selling ugly nutcracker toys. Most surprisingly, though, this one features a startlingly un-Hallmark-y reference to actual sex, with Holly promising to give Santa “another elf” in time for next Christmas. Saucy!
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