Released: 2016
Director: Peter Sullivan
Writers: Michael Varrati & Topher Payne
Staring: Melissa Joan Hart, Dean Cain, Cynthia Gibb and Susan Shalhoub Larkin as Shirley “Fruitcake” Henderson.
Where to watch: Netflix (click this link to go directly to the movie)
See this movie if...you’re a fan of the holi-rom-com genre and even though you’ve been burned so many times by bad holi-rom-coms, you’re still game to try again. Maybe you’re just like the characters in most holi-rom-coms, skeptical, but willing to give love another shot.
Don't see this movie if...you have really high standards for rom-coms, like Julia Roberts high standards. This movie is a good holi-rom-com, but we’re talking Mellisa Joan Hart and Dean Cain here, not Sandra Bullock and Ryan Renolds. Let’s keep our expectations reasonable people.
I’m always on the lookout for new holi-rom-coms. I don’t have time to watch very many, I got to work for a living, this reviewing gig doesn’t pay the bills. Though I’d be willing to try if anyone is willing to pay me. Anyone, anyone? That’s ok, I get paid by the joy of watching the good holi-rom-coms and the satisfaction from writing reviews about the bad ones.
Anyway, Netflix has come to know my tastes very well. It recently recommended Operation Christmas Drop, the Holiday, Hometown Holiday and Broadcasting Christmas. Well done Mr. Netflix. Now can you recommend a good place to get dinner delivered ‘cause I won’t have time to cook. My wife will be overjoyed that I’ve ordered in so I can watch holi-rom-coms. Mr. Netflix, I may also need a twin bed.
I liked the Netflix recommendations and decided to start with Broadcasting Christmas, but who wouldn’t. Not only does it have the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Melissa Joan Hart), it has Superman (Dean Cain) too! Before you get all excited, it’s not the original Superman, I know Hollywood likes their leading men to be older than their leading ladies, but Kirk Alyn is the dead kind of older and that would be a very different kind of holi-rom-com.
Actually, I kind of like that idea, The Ghost of Superman Saves Christmas. I’m in. Well, this Superman is number six to play the Man of Steel on screen, but being selected to play any Superman is kind of a big deal. It means you’re able to curl one lock of hair on your forehead and you’re comfortable standing in front of everyone with your fists on your hips wearing blue and red spandex with your underwear on the outside of your pants. Oh, and you can change your appearance completely when you put on a pair of glasses. “Superman, have you seen Clark? He was just here a minute ago. He’s like Joseph when Potiphar’s wife comes around.” Bible jokes are the best.
I was pretty stoked to see these two actors headlining this movie. Most holi-rom-coms have, at best, one D-level star (D-level stars: their face is familiar, but you can’t remember their name and you just can’t place where you you’ve seen them. Your curiosity gnaws at you until you go to IMDB and you realize that they played the girl on Wonder Years or they were the side-kick on Charles in Charge. Pretty big stuff.). The lucky holi-rom-coms are able to snag a single C-level star (C-level stars: you recognize their name because they’ve been in at least one big show, but the last time you saw them on screen was probably a gameshow). So, I was blown away when I saw that Broadcasting Christmas has not just one, but two c-level stars. Oh snap! It is on like Donkey Kong!
Broadcasting Christmas is about small-town reporter Emily Morgan (Melissa Joan Hart). She has been slaving away at a local tv station in Connecticut for ten long years, reporting on elementary school food drives, the local production of A Christmas Carol and Friday-night fight club. She loves her job, but she’d like a shot at the big time in the big city.
One day she learns that one of the hosts of the biggest morning show in America, Rise & Shine, is pregnant and has decided to leave the show permanently. When Emily hears this she basically turns into Gollum from The Lord of The Rings. You know…because she “wants it” more than anything and is willing to do anything to get it. Well that and she starts talking in the third person. The station was actually pretty
accepting of her until they covered the Olympics and she completely lost it. You know…because of the rings.
She may have been a nobody from nowhere, but Emily manages to “Samwise” her way into the competition for the job. Yes, Samwise is another Lord of the Rings reference because Samwise weaseled his way into the fellowship of the ring. Too many Lord of the Rings references? Well too bad, I’m just getting warmed up.
While working her Gandalf magic to get into the competition for the job, Emily learns that her ex, Charlie Fisher (Dean Cain) is also in the mix for the job. Emily and Charlie used to work together in Connecticut before Charlie got a news anchor job at a local station in New York. And guess what…no really guess, I’ll wait…no idea? Well, Emily also applied for that same anchor job. So now it’s deja-vu all over again.
Will Emily and Charlie make headlines with their second chance at romance? (Possibly) Will they at least be as civil as a letter to the editor while they compete, yet again, for their dream job? (I hope not, where’s the fun in that?) Does Emily actually become Gollum because that would be pretty cool. A Gollum love story is all that is keeping The Lord of the Rings from being a perfect story. We all knew he was totally ready for a commitment. After all, he was always searching for…a ring. Hey-oooooo, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal. And finally, should you spend your Tuesday evening finding the answers to these questions? The answer is a definitive...yes.
Broadcasting Christmas executes on all three parts of the holi-rom-com where other holi-rom-coms usually only hit one, maybe two of them. Most holi-rom-coms definitely get the holi(day) and they try their darndest to get the rom(ance). It’s the com(edy) that usually don’t get. Broadcasting Christmas isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough on all three parts to be worth watching.
First off, Broadcasting Christmas brings the holi...kind of. It doesn’t have Emily and Charlie making cookies for the elderly or decorating a Christmas tree in the town square or saving Santa from the Central Park police. It does take place around Christmas and it has stories about fruitcake and it has snow. So, sure, the holi part is a little weak, but it’s enough. Not every holiday movie has to save Christmas.
Second off, Broadcasting Christmas has the rom and it’s a pretty strong rom. I like both Charlie and Emily and that is important in a movie. Some rom-coms has one character you like and another you loathe. Think of Gollum and Smeagol. One is a creepy, nasty creature that you fear will murder Frodo while he sleep. The other is still creepy, only slightly less nasty and…well…you still worry will murder Frodo while he sleeps. Anyway, it kind of takes the fun out of the movie when you’re rooting for the girl to run off with the guy’s best friend.
This movie also follows the proper rom-com formula. (Whitney, you’re not going to go on about the proper rom-com formula again, are you!?! You just did that!) I covered the proper rom-com formula in another post which you can find here. Some may say following a pattern is boring, but I like rom-coms that follow the regular formula while still surprising you. It sounds difficult and it is, but it’s comforting, like a warm cup of cocoa on a cold winter’s night.
Third off, Broadcasting Christmas brings the com. The main characters have banter, which you would expect from morning show hosts and the secondary characters have humorous quips. It’s not Elf, but I actually laughed in this movie. Which I haven’t done in a holi-com-com in a long, long, long, long time. Sigh.
If you are look for a blockbuster holi-rom-com to blow your mind or a terrible holi-rom-com to make fun of...you should probably look somewhere else.
If you are in the mood for a movie that brings the holi, rom and com to make a truly enjoyable holi-rom-com...then you should watch Broadcasting Christmas.
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