A Reason for the Season
Writer: Brook Durham
Director: Jason Bourque
Cast: Taylor Cole, Kevin McGarry, Sarah-Jane Redmond, Eric Keenleyside
Every year, Hallmark releases dozens of holiday movies — and Pop Heist staffer Brett White has seen them all. All Heistmas long, Brett checks out what Hallmark has to offer, analyzing each movie's setting (Home for the Holidays); calling out the most heavy-handed exposition ('Twas the Night Before This Movie); praising any LOL moments (Ho Ho Ho); singling out the scene-stealer (They Brought Presence!); and deciding if the title matches the story (Exactly as Advertised). To top it all off, each movie is judged on six quintessential Hallmark qualities to determine once and for all if this Hallmark Christmas movie hits or misses the (Hall)mark. Read more Hallmark Hit-or-Miss reviews here.
Taylor Cole (Long Lost Christmas) plays Evie Lane, the daughter of billionaire makeup mogul Elizabeth Lane (Sarah-Jane Redmond). Evie's origin story is itself quite the Christmas miracle: When Elizabeth suddenly went into labor while driving through the tiny town of Brookswood, USA, the kindly town council dropped everything at a nearby diner and saved newborn Evie's life. Now, 35 years have passed — and Elizabeth wants her spoiled daughter to finally understand what it feels like to do something selfless!
Her not-at-all-unhinged plan: send Evie to Brookswood, make her track down the same townsfolk who were in the diner that night, and grant their Christmas wish — or have her trust fund forfeited and donated to a charity. Oh mom, you really shouldn't have. Helping Evie carry out this merry mission is Brookswood's only lawyer and most eligible bachelor, Kyle (When Calls the Heart's Kevin McGarry). Will these two incredibly attractive — and single — strangers have more on their minds than the time-sensitive legal fiasco dumped upon them by a cosmetics magnate? Absolutely.
Home For the Holidays: Brookswood, USA — although, the only Brookswood in North America appears to be located outside Vancouver. I mean, Kyle is a lawyer / hockey coach. Whichever side of the border this Brookswood falls on, they are a small enough community that one millennial taking a photo of a diner is enough to stir up a commotion. Brookswood also celebrates the holiday season with a Christmas Tree Jamboree, as well as Christmas bingo and crafting nights.
'Twas the Night Before This Movie: A Reason for the Season lets us know who the town council members are by having them toast themselves in the diner with a hearty, "To the town council!" In the present day, though, we learn that they were the unofficial town council! Uh, didn't look that way in 1989! Y'all sure were toasting like you had authority over community's well-being!
They Brought Presence: Taylor Cole is such a gift in this movie. I've seen more than my fair share of jaded women from the Big City, but Cole infuses Evie with an energy unlike any I've seen before. She's totally unlikeable — but in a totally likable way. She has the energy of Christine Quinn from Selling Sunset, or June Diane Raphael on Grace & Frankie. Big boss-girl confidence and little time for trifling matters, but so winkingly over-the-top that it's endearing. It makes Evie's gradual heart-grew-three-sizes arc fun to watch.
Ho Ho Ho: When Evie — who is in Brookswood totally incognito — wins Christmas bingo and gets the grand prize, she's handed a huge box of... Lane Cosmetics. The kindly hotel manger says to Evie with excitement, "Look at all the samples you got!"
As Advertised: You would think that "reason for the season" would be incredibly easy to work into the script, even if the movie were gifted this name after Hallmark purchased it — but nope! And it would take Evie having to constantly remind herself that there's "a reason for the season" beyond material things in order for that pretty common saying to feel at all unique to this movie. I mean, it's not a great title, but something like "Trust in Christmas," playing on her trust fund, would be a little more clever!
That's kind of the whole deal with A Reason for the Season, though. While a lot of Hallmark movies have tested the boundaries of what is and isn't permissible in a seasonal made-for-TV movie (Punchlines! Ensemble casts! Nonlinear storytelling!), that is not A Reason for the Season's reason for existing. It is, through and through, classic Hallmark to its core.
Evie is a helluva lot of fun as a character, but she's not that far removed from ye olde Hallmark protagonist of the 2010s. McGarry's Kyle is a bootstraps-y, smoldering Hallmark hunk — although those never go out of style. And their dynamic? They have palpable chemistry, but, and you better believe I cheered when this happened, Kyle actually tells Evie, "Things move a bit slower here than in New York." Talk about playing the hits!
All that adds up to a movie that is perfectly fine to have on your TV this season, but there's not really a reason to seek it out.
