Christmas 2019: The Christmas Calendar (2017) vs The Holiday Calendar (2018)

This week, I look at two films that each follow a woman who receives an antique advent calendar that belonged to their late grandmother, and how the calendar has the potential to bring love onto their lives.

The Christmas Calendar (2017)

The Christmas Calendar follows Laura Bell Bundy as Emily, a lawyer-turned-baker, after inheriting her late grandmother's bakery. Business is slow, thanks to a rival bakery across the street, where attractive fellow baker Gerard (played by Brendon Zub) works. However, when an antique advent calendar mysteriously arrives at the bakery, and each door reveals parts of a love letter to Emily, the town becomes enraptured with the mystery of her secret admirer. However, as Gerard and Emily get to know each other across December, will Emily open her heart to him, or save it for her secret admirer?

This is just a very standard Hallmark film. The only thing that kept it from being entirely boring was Brendon Zub's entrance as Gerard, the French baker. The accent Zub puts on is incredibly hammy, and he was rolling his r's so hard that I was worried he would choke on them. However, the novelty of this soon wears off, and it becomes a little irksome at times.

The acting is rather flat, (apart from the boss of Gerard's shop, who is a very campy villainous) and although this may not be the case for every viewer, I personally was able to guess who Emily's secret admirer was as soon as the advent calendar was onscreen. The two leads have perfectly fine chemistry, although their characters can be annoyingly childish - how they survive long term as professionals and grown humans, I don't know.

There's also a bowling scene that's really bizarre and completely irrelevant to the plot, yet it takes up at least ten minutes of the film.

The bakery setting is nice, although I'm learning that a high percentage of Hallmark female characters work in the food industry, and if I were to recommend a Hallmark Christmas film with a baker as the main character, I'd sooner recommend A Very Nutty Christmas over this.

The premise of this film is good - the advent calendar is pretty, and I love the idea of opening a door each day to find a new love note. It's just the execution of this production that's disappointing.

Is this a chick flick or romance film for all? Chick flick

Would I recommend this film? No

Rating: 3/10

The Holiday Calendar (2018)

In this 2018 film, we follow Abby (played by Kat Graham). Abby is a photographer working in a job she isn't happy with, but things aren't all bad. Her best friend Josh (Quincy Brown) has just returned from his world travels, which he has been successfully blogging, as he is a fellow photographer. Abby also has a loving family, including her sweet grandfather (played by Ron Cephas Jones), who gives Abby an advent calendar that belonged to his late wife, Abby's grandmother. The advent calendar brings Abby some magical experiences, including a meet-cute with handsome man Ty (played by Ethan Peck). But does this calendar have the potential to damage Abby's relationship with Josh?

The Holiday Calendar isn't a plot driven, interesting piece of cinema to watch, but it is a very sweet hour and a half of Christmas-filled escapism. While The Christmas Calendar left me more frustrated than festive, The Holiday Calendar is a very Christmas influenced film, with each day in the calendar tying into something Christmas related (apart from the day she opens a door and finds a reindeer inside, but the connection to the reindeer is revealed to be a horse drawn carriage, which just feels like a mistake. It's as if they couldn't get reindeer, but it was too late to change what Abby found in the calendar that day, so they just improvised).

The chemistry between the two leads is fantastic - you really believe that these are two people who not only grew up together, but really love each other. It almost felt like I was witnessing a conversation between friends, rather than an acted scene at times. It was lovely to watch.

Graham is able to share chemistry with pretty much everyone in the cast as well as Josh, notably her grandfather and Ty, which is particularly helpful in making the love triangle a bit more mysterious. However, a lot of the side characters are bland (notably Abby's sister and parents) which makes the believability of the world a bit harder to grasp.

Abby is a likeable character, although she suffers from some of the typical female heroine woe-is-me tropes that aren't very relatable, such as having a basic wage job but a beautiful flat, being stunningly gorgeous but unaware of it, and not seeing all the good things in her life that are right in front of her, which becomes a little grating during the third act. However, this does give her room to grow, and happily, she does.

The rest of the film is a bit basic, and the first ten minutes or so are full of exposition heavy dialogue. As I say, the strength of this film really comes from the lead actress and her chemistry with Quincy Brown as Josh. It's a cute, festive romance that's nice to watch on a cosy December day spent inside.

Fun fact: this is the film that Vanessa Hudgens' character puts on TV in The Knight Before Christmas, so it's nice how everything comes full circle on this blog.

Is this a chick flick or romance film for all? Family friendly romance

Would I recommend this film? Yes

Rating: 6/10

Thinking of this week's charity wasn't too hard, as I knew the cause I wanted to address. Both main characters in these two films are inspired by their grandmothers, and I know that Christmas can be the loneliest time of year for many people, but particularly the elderly. The clothing brand Caroline Gardner knows this, which is why they collaborated with the charity Age UK to create the Give to Give campaign.

The Give to Give campaign (and yes, I know they spelt "loneliness" wrong in their poster) allows you to write and submit a Christmas message that will be written in a Christmas card, and given to a lonely older person.

In the past two weeks I've done charity shoutouts that require you pay to help someone. I know that as much as people may want to help others, we don't always have the means to give as much as we like. Give to Give is completely free, and will only take a couple of minutes of your time at most. Additionally, you can write as many cards as you want, so you have the chance to reach out to as many lonely elderly people as you like.

There is also something else you could do for the elderly for free this Christmas, if you would:

Talk to them. Whether it's a stranger waiting at the same bus stop as you, or reaching out to a grandparent (if you're lucky enough to still have any who are living), I implore you to talk to the older people around you.

I am lucky enough to be in regular contact with both of my grandmothers (my only living grandparents left), and they are both wonderful people who are interesting in completely different ways, but still equally great to talk to.

I've also made brief acquaintances with many elderly people, thanks to taking public transportation. Once, I was chatting with a lady sitting next to me on the bus, who was popping into town to buy ingredients to make a birthday cake for her son, who was about to turn 73. Recently, I met a lovely old Indian man, who was blind in one eye. That didn't stop him from telling me all about his work day in construction, and the fact that he's currently helping his three adult children buy houses for the first time.

I know that these are just simple anecdotes, and these people probably won't remember me as I've remembered them, but the fact is, sometimes it's nice to have a chat with a stranger. At Christmas, some strangers may need to have a conversation more than others. Thank you.