Single on the 25th
Writer: Joie Botkin
Director: Jonathan Wright
Cast: Lyndsy Fonseca, Daniel Lissing, Lauren Spencer Smith, Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon, Teneisha Collins, Ellen David, Marcel Jeannin
Lyndsy Fonseca (Holiday Crashers) stars as Nell, a super single event planner whoese holiday plans go from cozy to crisis when her entire family backs out of coming into the city for the ultimate Chicago Christmas experience. They have good reasons, okay? That's fine, Nell decides. Why should she cancel her dream week just because she'll be doing all those activities alone? Erase the stigma and be single on the 25th!
There's one person who loves this plan: Nell's neighbor, Cooper (Santa Tell Me's Daniel Lissing). He's a perpetually solo — by choice — bachelor who has to study for small talk with his over eager coworkers. If anyone can show Nell the ropes of being alone on Christmas, it's this guy. And he'll be around to show her, because he got roped into planning a holiday event for a client. Wait — isn't Nell an event planner? Looks like these two will be spending a lot of alone time together, at both work and play. Does that defeat the whole point of, uh, being single on the 25th? Don't think too much about it!
Home for the Holidays: Ah yes, a Hallmark movie set in a major metropolitan area! We've got Chicago in all its glory (or, rather, Montreal as Chicago — but still). Nell's Christmas includes a cranking up the heat in her apartment for maximum coziness, shouting along to her favorite carols, baking cookies, and more.
'Twas the Night Before This Movie: Single on the 25th opts for a show-don't-tell approach to exposition in the opening montage, with Nell opening up Christmas cards that double as wedding and baby announcements and culminating in her seeing a sign for "hot chocolate — perfect for two" — and "two" is underlined.
They Brought Presence: Let's hear it for Teneisha Collins and Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon, who play Nell and Cooper's Christmas confidants, respectively. A Hallmark movie can go from good to great with a solid supporting cast, and these two deliver.
Ho Ho Ho: Nell to Cooper: "I don't have a Prince Charming fantasy. [looks at phone] My carriage is here!" Honestly, the entire bit where Nell takes a solo carriage ride with Cooper walking alongside is the kind of immediately memorable visual moment that, were this an old Hollywood film, would make it's way into decades and decades of montages. It's the most "I'll give you the moon" moment I've seen in a Hallmark movie this year.
Exactly as Advertised: They got this part down. The title comes from a 2022 Lauren Spencer Smith song, and they got not only the song, but Spencer Smith to be in the movie.
To circle back to old Hollywood — Single on the 25th understood the assignment. I've long maintained that Hallmark's entire vibe comes directly from Christmas in Connecticut, and the most successful Hallmark holiday movies feel like they could have been released in that era. With it's snappy banter and singular premise, this one really fulfills that requirement. Remove all the modern trappings, of which there are plenty, and you have a story and performances that feel timeless.
The other requirement I have for Hallmark movies is the Screensaver Test: if you put the movie on in the background, on mute, does it still look like a Christmas movie. Single on the 25th nails this. Every scene is packed with holiday decor, and in a way that builds character (Cooper's barren apartment juxtaposed with Nell's big tree).
Confusingly, Single on the 25th's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness: its premise. The title introduces a premise that, as I mentioned, feels unique and timeless. But ... this is a Hallmark movie. And while Hallmark holiday movies have broadened a little, they're still romances. So this is a movie about how the lead doesn't need a man on Christmas wherein the lead still lands a man on Christmas. It's a movie about being alone during the holiday season wherein the lead is rarely alone.
But, still, there's is absolutely a way to explore the idea of being single on the 25th and finding love during the holiday season at the same time, and I think this movie could have found it with a few more drafts and a longer production time (two things Hallmark movies don't have). As it stands, there's a paradox here but it doesn't ruin the movie; the script and performances are just too good for that to happen.
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