The Twelve Nudges of Christmas
One Christmas, when they were in college, Maggie (Brooke Nevin - Come Dance at My Wedding) and Mitch (Robin Dunne - Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery) shared a car journey back to Harrison and it was a sweet journey home as Mitch and Maggie made snow angels together and enjoyed getting into the Christmas spirit. A decade later with Maggie having moved to Harrison to work for the local paper she hears that Mitch has returned to town to become the host of a local radio show. But Mitch has changed in those 10 years and has gone from being a fan of Christmas to hating it which is why Maggie takes it upon herself to become his secret Santa and give him a series of gifts to remind him of the joy of Christmas they shared. But not only does Mitch's producer decides to put the secret Santa gifts on the shows website, turning it into a quest to find out who his secret Santa is but Maggie's boss asks her to cover the story of secret Santa for the paper.
As I write this I am entering the week before Christmas, a time when kids are breaking up for school holidays and many people really start getting in to the Christmas swing of things. Unfortunately for me this is actually the point where Christmas burnout is hitting me hard as having started reviewing Christmas movies a few weeks back I have long become numb to what most of them have to offer. I say this because as I watched the Hallmark Christmas movie "On the Twelfth Day of Christmas" I found this movie playing out in front of my eyes but never really grabbing my attention.
The daft thing is, is that "On the Twelfth Day of Christmas" has one of the more original ideas I have come across in a Christmas movie this year. Okay so obviously we are talking romance here as it is a Hallmark Christmas movie but the whole secret Santa which gets combined with the radio show using it as a slot on the air whilst Maggie's boss wants her to cover this story is a little fun and not something I have already watched this year. Plus for those who enjoy the classic Hallmark Christmas movie look where streets are covered in snow and shops are laden with picture perfect decorations "On the Twelfth Day of Christmas" is going to score heavily.
I suppose my issue with "On the Twelfth Day of Christmas" is that ultimately it is comparable to other Hallmark movies with characters who whilst pleasant enough in the context of the movie are not that memorable. As such both Brooke Nevin and Robin Dunne are likeable and in truth play their parts well, but not well enough to stick out from the crowd.
What this all boils down to is that if you haven't over indulged on Hallmark Christmas movies already I am sure "On the Twelfth Day of Christmas" will be an entertaining and even fun experience as it had a good idea and a nice look. But if you have over done it with this sort of Christmas movie it might struggle to command your attention as well as some others do.
Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies
