The Daily - How a Skeptical Critic Came to Love Hallmark Christmas Movies

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

Hallmark Christmas movies are corny, predictable and just what our critic needed to embrace the holiday spirit.The story of how a big-city culture critic, Amanda Hess, found love where she least expected it — in the monotony of Hallmark’s Christmas movies.Guest: Amanda Hess, a critic at large for the Culture section of The New York TimesBackground reading: One December morning, a millennial critic awoke to discover that she had been begrudgingly charmed by an onslaught of Hallmark and Netflix holiday films.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bobarro. This is The Daily. Today, the story of how a big city culture critic, Amanda Hess, found love where she least expected it, in the monotony of Hallmark's Christmas movies. It's Tuesday, December 24th. Amanda, thank you for coming into the studio. Thank you so much for having me. This is your first time on the show. This is the thing we get to do at the end of the year.

We get to bring on everybody who's never been on the show, but who we secretly have wanted to be on the show. This is my Christmas wish come true. You write about culture for The Times, you're a critic, and you're here today to talk about a subject that I'll be honest, I don't think I or many of us on the show ever imagined might be an episode of The Daily. You are going to be providing an exploration, a meditation, whatever you want to call it, a kind of study of the made-for-TV Christmas movie, which you contend has not quite gotten the critical attention that it deserves.

And specifically, you're going to be talking to us here about that most familiar brand of made-for-TV Christmas movie, the Hallmark Channel Christmas movie. That is our subject today. Yes. How do you justify that? I wasn't always this way. I think I was always interested in Hallmark Christmas movies on a meta level, but I was not interested in sitting down Christmas movies on a meta level. But I was not interested in sitting down and watching them for an hour and a half.

Or talking about them on the daily. Yeah, right. But that changed this year. And now I still think they're bad, but I really like watching them. Well, before we get to how you became this person who watches these movies, I want you to describe, especially for the unacquainted, this entire universe of made-for-TV movies. Just give us a little bit of background about it. Well, like you said, we're really talking about a category that was pioneered by the Hallmark Channel and

is still dominated by that channel. Hallmark produces dozens of these made for TV Christmas movies every year. In 2024, they released 32 of them. And one can imagine that they're not putting a huge amount of production into these movies. They kind of seem like they each have the budget for like one snow flurry, a movie. One fake snowstorm.

Exactly. Her film. What are the names of some of these movies, just so we know what we're talking about here? Let me pull up a list of them. Lucky Christmas. The Case for Christmas. A Christmas Wedding Tale. That one's about dogs. A Christmas Wish.

Holiday Engagement. The Christmas Patchett. Christmas Magic. Christmas Song. Matchmaker Santa. It's Christmas, Carol. Ha ha ha ha ha. It's Christmas, comma, Carol.

Ha ha ha ha. Yes. There's not a lot of variation in this titling. No, these movies are very similar to each other. So I want to now dive into this journey that you have been on with these movies. What had been your relationship to them up until quite recently? When I first became aware of them, I thought they were very stupid. They seemed anti-feminist to me and really, really sentimental.

Had you watched a lot of them? I had seen maybe a combined five minutes of these movies, but it was enough to understand what was happening. And the women always seemed to exist only to fall in love. Like they would throw away their entire lives, like as soon as they were touched by the magic of Christmas. But then, as the narrator of a movie might say, one fateful day, things change for you.

So tell us that story. So a couple of months ago, I learned that someone I know, who's an actor in New York appeared in a Hallmark Christmas movie. And the next time I saw him, I was interrogating him about it. I was like, did you wear a scarf? Did you wear a flannel shirt? How many costume changes did you have?

What colors were you wearing? Did they use the same set for every Christmas movie and just turn it over? And as I was asking him this, he said, do you like Hallmark Christmas movies? And I said, no, even though clearly I was very interested in them. And so I decided that this year maybe I would actually watch a few of them. And it turned out that by the time I sat down to do that, I was in this place in November where someone very close to me had a health scare and they ended up being completely fine. But there was like a week where I was waiting for test results to come back.

And the worst week ever. Yeah. I was so frozen as a person, and I really needed to find something to watch that was really uncomplicated and easy. And I found that there was nothing easier than watching these Christmas movies. And I came out of the experience really starting to like them. Hmm. Well, just explain that. I mean, unpack for us why these movies were such a balm for you in this vulnerable moment.

Well, so they do have this very recognizable formula. And there are some variations. But in the classic one, there's a big city woman who's in her 30s Which in these movies is like she's getting a little long in the tooth like, you know, she needs to find love fast But she has her career that she loves Marianne. Why do you think it is you and I are the top female lawyers in the city? Because we never give up. Hmm I thought you were gonna say because we're very powerful independent women who don't rely on anyone to do our dirty work. Even though she's a little miserable in it deep down. We're looking for unique individuals whose lifestyles are flexible and can keep up with the demand.

That sounds like me in every way. Great. So what I really need to know is, how available are you? I'm very, very available. Even during the holidays? What about family, partner, household pets? Are they okay with this? I'm kind of a one-woman band. Perfect. Then I have a flight for you.

For some bizarre reason, she needs to go back to her hometown. I don't think anybody's going to be getting through this until it dissipates. I suggest you find a place to land before you're out over the ocean. Like she's a pilot, and she's forced to do an emergency landing on Christmas Island. Attention this is your captain Kate Gabriel. Due to severe weather conditions over the Atlantic we are making a temporary stop in Nova Scotia. Canada? So much

for our easy flight to Europe. Or she is forced to go to Scotland for Christmas because her mother has unexpectedly inherited a castle there. 30,000, this place is 30,000 acres. Did you know your family has 30 bathrooms? Why does anyone need 30 bathrooms? You know, whatever it is. Hey, it's me. So believe it or not, I am driving down Main Street.

Yep, I'm home. Listen, it or not, I am driving down Main Street. Yep, I'm home. Listen, we have so much to catch up on. She goes to this small town, and they all look eerily similar. There's this quaint town square. Yeah, you know, most people come here for the lighthouse, but I think this street is pretty special.

That's always very festively decorated for Christmas. And that is how Grandin Falls got her nickname, Christmas Town. And there's just like a random, like really hot guy who she runs into, like often quite literally, they bump into each other. Just watch her step there. Thank you.

He might be a handsome woodworker. It's not very far, I'm just gonna walk. You didn't let me walk with you. He might be a handsome woodworker, or an unassuming groundskeeper, and once they go in his house, even though he's like a 36 to 42 year old single man, it's always aggressively decorated for Christmas. Yeah, here we are. Wow. Nick, this is beautiful. This must have taken you days. And as they embark on some kind of Christmas task together,

whether it's solving the mystery of a missing ornament that will unlock a genealogical mystery for this woman's family... This is grandma's tradition. It's an incredible gift she's given me. ...or they need to turn around a struggling music venue so that her parents can save it. Okay, I need you to declare one of these holiday IPAs as perfect. Otherwise, it might just be game over for Mobile Joe's.

Not bad, huh? Well, now that I know the stakes, let's do this. They fall in love. But there's some impediment to their love. Usually it has something to do with the woman having to go back to the big city. They fall in love. Mm-hmm. But there's some impediment to their love. Usually it has something to do with the woman having to go back to the big city. Andy, I'm leaving for Seattle in the morning. I called your mom and I'm staying with her tonight.

I think it's for the best. She has to make a big decision as to whether she's going to return to her old life in her career or she's going to start her new life, which is based in this new relationship. She goes to the airport, she gets in the car, and then... she's going to start her new life, which is based in this new relationship. She goes to the airport, she gets in the car, and then... Turn the car around. You know, she asks the driver to turn the car around. If I can figure out how to run my own practice, I can figure out how to make this work.

And often the small town man presents her with a seasonally appropriate necklace. Traditionally, you're not supposed to open Christmas presents till midnight. Then I've never been much for tradition. Oh, Charles. May I? And there's usually a scene where he puts the necklace on and maybe he'll adjust it on her collarbone or something. Mm-hmm.

And then they fall in love. This, of course, is a moment of physicality and a blossoming love. Yeah, it's like the closest. It's a release. It's the closest that they're gonna come to like having sex in this movie. And she stays in Hallmark land forever, presumably.

They kiss and then the movie's over. So we don't really know what happens after that. Merry Christmas, Annie. Merry Christmas, Will. ["The Christmas Tree"] I mean, these are pretty cliched plot lines. So what was it about this formula that you just described that serves you so well back in November when you start watching this?

There's something really satisfying about them hitting every single one of the beats every single time over and over again for hundreds and hundreds of movies. Like there's very little variation and it's kind of like completing a paint by numbers craft. I started to get really invested in like predicting when the next predictable plot point was going to happen. And I think like at this point if I watched a Hallmark Christmas movie and they went back to the man's house and it was not decorated for Christmas.

I would be pissed. And I would be like, this woman needs to get out of there because he's a psycho. Like, she needs to leave right now. And so I think I just became so versed in the cliches of the world that I like, I began to find them comforting. I didn't want anything dramatic to happen. I didn't want anything surprising to happen or stressful. I was already feeling enough of that.

And so... You didn't want much to be demanded of you. Yeah. I wanted everything to be firmly predictable. And it was. I'm thinking back to what you said at the beginning of this conversation, which is that when you were not as familiar with these films and when you were not in an acute phase of being very open to them because of this medical situation happening around you, you found

them to be anti-feminist. And if I'm reading the room correctly, you thought you were a little bit better than these movies. And yet, you go through this phase where you're very open to them, they are this solution to something, and you've warmed to them a lot. So what does that tell us, not just about these movies and their formula, but about you? What did you learn about yourself? I think I've been beaten down enough by life at this point to be more open to sentimental

things. I think when I first learned about these movies maybe 15 years ago, my career was my identity. I was not unlike one of these Hallmark heroines. And so now- Big city girl? Yeah, exactly. Now, like, I can see the appeal of, you know, moving to Christmastown, USA, and giving it all up. But also I realized once I actually watched the movies

that typically it's not that the woman just quits her job in order to do nothing and to be barefoot and pregnant with her new woodworking husband's baby. She is quitting her big city job for this idealized form of work that's inherently creative and meaningful. She's running a candy cane shop or she's taking over a small town diner. And so she's still working, but she has a job that, you know. Is more connected.

Yeah. To a place. A kind of job that maybe is less and less likely to exist. Right. And she's finding a different kind of fulfillment than the big city media kind of world. Right. Just to name an example. So I guess in your affection for these movies, you learn that you have changed and in the ways that you have changed, you identify more with these larger questions and perhaps even

critiques of modern ambition and quote unquote success. Yeah, I mean I definitely know now more than I did before that like work is not going to love you back. I don't think that means that necessarily a small town air traffic controller is going to love you back or a small town groundskeeper is going to love you back, but I'm more open to watching a movie where that is the case. I mean, it's also true that like when I first became aware of these movies, the actors seemed really old, but now I am old. And so they're usually a little bit younger than me now. And so I've definitely just aged into the category. We'll be right back. What does the critic in you make of this journey that you have been on? From skeptic and maybe even slightly disdainful skeptic to maybe not even all that grudging a fan.

Well, I think of my journey as somewhat of a romantic comedy plot. Where in a rom-com, one party ups his game and one party lowers her defenses until they meet on level ground and they can have a relationship. And that's what's happened here. That's you and the Hallmark holiday movie? I've definitely gotten softer as a person and more open to what they're selling. But they have also gotten a little bit more cynical and a little more arch, and they're selling themselves more aggressively to people like me.

Just explain that. How have they gotten a little bit more arched? Because from everything you're saying, the formula is faithful and not arch. Right. So the formula remains the same, but there are new entrants to the category that are putting little twists on it. The big one is Netflix. So Netflix is now a Christmas movie generator of its own, and its movies tend to be marketed

a little bit more as comedies. So there's still romances, but there's a little bit more of an emphasis on the comedy. Mm-hmm. Remember that muscular snowman from the snow sculpture festival? And so in Hot Frosty, for example. Which has been emblazoned across my Netflix homepage. Yes. It's hard to avoid.

So he says he doesn't remember anything before last night. That's not good. I was a snowman. That's definitely not good. I was a snowman. That's definitely not good. It's a movie about a snowman who becomes a real person. How could you possibly trust me? Because you put the scarf on me. And falls in love with Lucy Shebert.

So there's the remote, the power on and off. There's a moment where Hot Frosty is learning everything about the human world by watching television. And one of the things he watches is a previous Netflix Christmas movie. And so there is some acknowledgement of the idea that this is a category that even if people love to watch these movies, they may still like to poke a little bit of fun at them. Right, it's winking at itself. Yeah.

Netflix has also made their Christmas movies a little bit more risque. I got you some clothes, but you're going to have to try them on. Oh, no, not right now. Got it. So there's usually a shirtless man who's romping around the Christmas wonderland and for some bizarre reason. It's gonna be a Christmas spectacular full of hot up and coming men. There's a movie called The Merry Gentlemen,

which is basically Magic Mike meets Christmas. There's just, there's gotta be a way to get people excited about this place again. Did you think male strippers are the answer? A bunch of local men need to put on an erotic male review in order to save a local bar that's fallen into debt. Of course they do. Yes.

A little spice on the old hallmark formula. Yeah. Yes. Oh my god, you're naked. Okay, first of all, my shirt was dry. So you can imagine that the cable Hallmark channel audience is probably a little different than the Netflix streaming audience.

And it does seem like Netflix's Christmas offerings are meeting its audience where they're at a little bit more. So there are more like sexual situations, even if there's not like a sex scene. There are more jokes. There are more actors that you might recognize from sitcoms. So it really does seem like Netflix is specifically seeding its movies with millennial bait. Especially because the actor who now is most associated with Netflix holiday movies is Lindsay Lohan. And she, I think more than anyone else, has been kind of the avatar of millennial girlhood

and then teenhood and now middle age, unfortunately, is where we are at. So Amanda, when you finished this exercise of immersing yourself in the world of these holiday movies this fall and now into this winter, you ended up writing about it in an essay that ran in the Times entitled, How I Aged into the Bad Christmas Movie. What was the response to that essay? I got a stronger response to that essay than any other piece I've ever written. Ever?

Yes. And when I wrote the story, because I am making a bit of fun at these movies, I was curious whether fans of them would be upset with me. And it turns out that a lot of people are watching these movies in the same mode that I'm watching them. Which is to say, as a formulaic escape, as a predictable way of navigating a challenging time.

Exactly. Is there one of these emails that stands out to you? I'm gonna find it. Okay, dear Amanda, I watched my first Hallmark bad Christmas movie that super cold Sunday the other week. While I meant to do some things around the house, as I was not venturing outside, I saw our fat kitty on the couch looking for a belly rub,

sat down and turned on the television. Randomly scrolling through the channels, I came across the start of a Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel. My mom was always a fan and watched them religiously. She passed last year at 90, and for whatever reason, I felt compelled to watch. Boy was it bad. I loved it. And watched another write after it and cried. Thank you for the article. Spot on for me. Best to you, Amanda. You rock. Judy. She's describing this as a kind of inheritance.

Yeah, it's a new kind of tradition. All right, I want another. Okay. Let's see. Here's another that I really liked. Hi Amanda. I've never written to a journalist before. Here we go. Or written in the comments section, but I was compelled to do so by your article. Boy do I feel old this holiday season lol. I had the exact same reaction you did about a week ago.

I'm currently undergoing IVF and had my embryo transfer Tuesday. And as part of my lay low routine, I watched every single good, bad Christmas movie on Netflix. By hot frosty, I was like, wow, what happened to me? When did I reach this low? How can they keep a straight face? Why can't I look away? I am their target demographic. Thanks, XX Alejandra." That is literally the mirror image of what happened to you. Yeah. Whenever I write anything, I think I'm like, I'm so odd.

No one could ever relate to me. There's something wrong with me. And, you know, I found out in this case that that's definitely not true. Yeah. You're more universal than you maybe give yourself credit for. Maybe so. In listening to you read those emails and assuming that there's dozens more like them in your inbox, it occurs to me that the phenomenon you're experiencing here is not that complicated,

right? And maybe in the beginning you overcomplicated the whole thing with your view of these movies. And you should have never doubted their value. I mean, we do at the New York Times tend to fetishize complexity, right? Right. In arts and in culture. But complex doesn't always make for a comforting ritual, because life is pretty complicated as it is. So maybe the movies don't have to be.

Yeah, I mean, I think at the beginning I was thinking, the existence of these movies fascinates me, but they're so bad and I would never watch them. And, you know, I should have just been more comfortable stopping at these movies fascinate me. You know, there were many years that I could have just been more comfortable stopping at these movies fascinate me. There were many years that I could have been enjoying these hundreds of movies that I chose not to. So what is the future here between you and this brand of movie? Is this like a forever thing?

I think it is. I sound so depressed when I say that. I mean, I think, you know, it's like none of these movies will become my classic Christmas movie that I watch every year, but I will watch a movie that is nearly identical when it comes out next year. I'll watch 12 of them. Yeah, I mean, to put this very simply, they've got you. They got me. You didn't want to be gotten, but you got. No, they've got you. They got me.

You didn't want to be gotten, but you got. No, they want me over. And I'm in love. Well, Amanda, thank you very much for being here. As it happens, this is the last episode that we are going to be running of The Daily before Christmas Day. So Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you.

And thank you for coming. Thank you so much for having me. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. On Monday, President Biden commuted the sentences of nearly all prisoners on federal death row, meaning that they will instead serve life sentences without parole. The decision prevents President-elect Trump from ordering the prisoners executions, as he has promised to do. Biden campaigned on ending the federal death penalty and ordered that such executions be

stopped during his presidency. Still, he did not commute the sentences of three notorious death row prisoners, who were convicted of hate-motivated mass murder and terrorism, including the Boston Marathon bomber. And, a highly anticipated report by the House Ethics Committee found that Matt Gaetz, the former Republican congressman from Florida, regularly paid for sex, had sexual relations with an underage girl, and used illegal drugs. Gaetz, who resigned from Congress last month, was Trump's pick to run the Department of Justice before he withdrew over accusations that were largely confirmed by the House Ethics Report. Gates, for his part, denies any wrongdoing.

Today's episode was produced by Rob Zipko, Alex Stern, and Michael Simon Johnson. It was edited by Rachel Quester with help from Lexi Diao. Contains original music by Alisha Bitu and Diane Wong and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim That's it for the daily. I'm Michael Bobarro. See you tomorrow.