Netflix & Lifetime Holiday Movies

'Tis the season for cozy, predictable, trope-filled holiday romances! I've been powering through these 90-minute movies over the last few weeks. They're perfect to leave on the in the background or watch while doing some online shopping. Some require more attention that others; some are better than others. All of them follow the holiday romance formula in the best ways, from fake dating to a dance that reveals feelings! I write this all with love. I love the holiday movie tradition and I love romance tropes, but some of the recent movies... could be better. So I'll lovingly poke fun at them too. Here's a rundown of some (just some!) of the many movies I've watched this month.

Toying with the Holidays (Lifetime)
The Celebs: Chad Michael Murray take the secondary lead role in this Lifetime original.
The Premise: A divorced, workaholic mom travels home for the holidays with her son. It's the first time she's been home in a while and she's reminiscing about Christmases spent with her father and (checks notes) trying to remind everyone how great trains are. It's a Christmas movie for perfectly crafted for the Joe Biden administration! 
The Verdict: There is almost no conflict in this movie. And obviously conflict is relative when it comes to a holiday movie, but I'm talking nothing. Will Chad Michael Murray be able to fix the toy trains? Boom. Next scene they're fixed. Is Chad Michael Murray dating his ex? Boom. Next scene he openly communicates and says he's not. Is anyone mad that the main character might take a job in California? Meh, not really. They'll just be disappointed. This is definitely a leave-on-in-the-background movie choice!
The "Something Needs Saving" Trope: The annual Christmas festival and train ride is cancelled, so our main characters decide to create a new festival, featuring even more trains! Will they be able to raise the money to fund it and will they be able to get the old train ride working in time?
The "Travel to a Small Town" Trope: Our train-obsessed characters are based in a small town approximately four hours from Chicago.

Single All The Way (Netflix)
The Celebs: The ever-charming Michael Urie stars in this romcom, and the supporting cast features a lot of other people you'll say "hey I recognize that person" about, including Jennifer Coolidge (doing her typical Coolidge thing, if you're into that, which sorry to say I'm not), Luke Macfarlane, Kathy Najimy and Jennifer Robertson (aka Jocelyn from Schitt's Creek.
The Premise: Perpetually single Michael Urie (Peter) brings his best friend, Nick (played by the delightful Philemon Chambers), home for the holidays and everyone wants to know why they aren't together. Michael Urie tries to date another hometown cutie but he might just realize he's been in love with his best friend all along...
The Verdict: Put Michael Urie in more movies! This was cute and charming and a little ridiculous, meaning it has all the elements of holiday movie triumph.
The "Fake Dating" Trope: Sort of. Peter and Nick go home with the intention of pretending they're together so everyone will leave them alone. But that plan quickly falls apart when Luke Macfarlane enters the picture.
The "Someone Has a Secret" Trope: Nick is in love with Peter and the family quickly puts two and two together and tries to force these two to reveal their feelings.
The "Travel to a Small Town" Trope: This movie takes place in a nondescript, New England town.

Love Hard (Netflix)
The Celebs: Starring Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley), Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever) and Harry Shum Jr. (Glee).
The Premise: This one's a doozy! Natalie (Dobrev) matches with someone on a dating site who looks like Tag (Barnet) but is actually Josh (Yang), who used Tag's pictures for his profile as an experiment. They hit it off and he continues cat fishing her. When she decides to fly to see him as a Christmas surprise, she realizes she's been tricked but ends up staying in the hopes that Josh can help her nab Tag (who is an actual person in town) for real.
The Verdict: When I finished watching this movie, I thought it was solid. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that we needed some more romance between our two main characters. Plus the discourse around their favorite holiday movies (Die Hard vs. Love Actually) is so overdone. And the problematic catfishing premise is difficult to move past, even though the movie really, really, really tries.
The "Fake Dating" Trope: Natalie and Josh pretend to be together for the sake of Josh's family (and to one-up Josh's annoying older brother (Shum Jr.)), who are so excited their son has a girlfriend. To add to the drama, Natalie and Josh are not only fake dating for Josh's family, but they're pretending to be fake cousins in front of Tag.
The "Someone Has a Secret" Trope: In addition to the obvious fake dating secret, Natalie is also trying to write an article about the whole experience.
The "Travel to a Small Town" Trope: Most of the action goes down in a small town in upstate New York, where it's possible for Natalie and Josh to steal everyone's newspapers and Tag's parents probably own the restaurant where your fake engagement party takes place. Classic.

A Castle for Christmas (Netflix)
The Celebs: Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes star in this destination holiday romance.
The Premise: Brooke Shields plays Sophie, a divorced romance novelist, who decides to kill off the love interest in her book series. In order to escape the fan hatred, she flies to Scotland to get writing inspiration and buy the castle that she used to visit as a child. But she runs into trouble when she meets Myles, a Scottish duke who is reluctant to sell.
The Verdict: Another one to leave on in the background. The Scottish destination and the sweet townies that Sophie meets along the way are charming, but the "enemies to lovers" momentum between Sophie and Myles is severely lacking.
The "Travel to a Small Town" Trope: I know, I know, this takes place in Edinburgh, which is the capital of Scotland, but Sophie seems to befriend EVERYONE in town.
The "Dance that Reveals Feelings" Trope: Sophie and Myles are in a bar where people are dancing and singing folk songs and she tries to get him to sing and he eventually does and then they stand really close together in the hallway and insist that THEY ARE JUST FRIENDS. It's in the same "dance that reveals feelings" realm.
The "Something Needs Saving" Trope: It turns out that in order to save the castle, someone has to buy it! But grumpy Myles is having a hard time letting go.

An Unexpected Christmas (Lifetime)
The Celebs: If Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill) is in a holiday movie, you know it's going to be good.
The Premise: Bethany Joy Lenz (Emily) travels to a small town to work on an advertising campaign and immediately runs into Tyler Hynes (Jamie), who dumped her a few months earlier. Unfortunately, he never told his family they broke up, so these two end up pretending to be together to cover his lies.
The Verdict: Probably my favorite Lifetime/Hallmark movie of the season! The chemistry & romance is there, and the fun family dynamic & professional drama cause just enough tension to keep you hooked.
The "Fake Dating" Trope: It's right there in the premise. Will these two exes rekindle their love despite the lies and deception??
The "Someone Has a Secret" Trope: Besides the fake dating secret at the heart of the plot, speechwriter Jamie promises that he can deliver the Governor of Illinois for Emily's ad campaign when a celebrity drops out before he's had a chance to check with the Chief of Staff. Rookie mistake.
The "Travel to a Small Town" Trope: Another nondescript small town in Illinois.
The "Something Needs Saving" Trope: Jamie can't find inspiration to write the Governor's Christmas Day speech! Jamie's sister needs help to save the school play! Emily's ad campaign is on the brink of collapse!

Midnight at the Magnolia (Netflix)
The Celebs: No noteworthy cast members here (unless you watched All My Children, then yes, that's where you know the lead from!), but everyone in the cast will kind of remind you of another well-known celebrity.
The Premise: Maggie and Jack are childhood best friends and radio co-hosts, who need to make a splash in order to get their show syndicated. When they both get dumped and loose the hook for the New Year's Eve radio show (they were going to introduce their respective significant others to their parents live, on-air), they decide to pretend to be together save their show and their fathers' jazz club.
The Verdict: I liked this one more than I was expecting! The acting is a little clunky but at its core, you really buy the childhood friendship between Maggie and Jack which fuels the entire movie.
The "Fake Dating" Trope: Maggie and Jack originally intend to keep the fake dating business focused, but their families accidentally find out and are thrilled that these two are finally together.
The "Someone Has a Secret" Trope: Maggie has secretly been in love with Jack since high school, so when they begin fake dating, things get complicated!
The "Something Needs Saving" Trope: If this New Year's Eve party doesn't drum up some business for the Magnolia jazz club, Maggie and Jack's dads will have to sell.
The "Dance that Reveals Feelings" Trope: When Maggie and Jack attend a holiday party, they end up slow dancing together and realizing that fake dating is starting to feel real...

A California Christmas (Netflix)
The Celebs: No celebrities here, but our romantic leads are played by real-life husband and wife, which means their chemistry is steamier than your typical holiday flick.
The Premise: Wealthy businessman Joseph travels to rural California to convince Callie to sell her family's farm, but when he arrives, he's mistaken as the new ranch hand and decides to continue with the charade to get close to Callie. Meanwhile poor Callie is saddled with the most tragic backstory I've ever seen in a holiday movie - she's lost her fiancé and her father, her mom is sick and they can't afford to keep the farm.
The Verdict: Another pleasant surprise! Steamy chemistry from our two leads? Check. A surprisingly delightful supporting cast (shoutout to Manny and Leo!)? Check. A big decision that needs to be made by Christmas? Check.
The "Travel to a Small Town" Trope: Will Joseph like the small-town lifestyle or miss the big city? He adjusts pretty quickly to his tiny trailer home!
The "Someone Has a Secret" Trope: Joseph is lying about everything and Callie's suspicious friend, Connor, is ready to expose him. 
The "Something Needs Saving" Trope: The future of the farm is not looking good. But surely Callie has had enough tragedy in her life - we need to let this lady keep her home!
The "Dance that Reveals Feelings" Trope: In addition to her work on the farm, Callie also works part-time at a bar. When Joseph goes to meet her there, sparks fly on the dance floor.