Crown Media
Merry and Bright is a delightful new Hallmark Christmas movie that you will love watching. But you should have some candy canes and hot chocolate on hand, because you’ll end up with some serious cravings while watching the movie. Below is a review of the new Hallmark Christmas movie. This review will have spoilers for the Hallmark movie Merry & Bright.
The synopsis for the movie reads: “The story begins when Cate (Sweetin), CEO of the Merry & Bright Candy Cane Company, meets Gabe (Walker) during the busy Christmas season. She assumes Gabe is the suitor her well-meaning mother is trying to set her up with when in reality, he works for Empire Corporate Recovery, which has been hired to take a closer look at Merry & Bright’s operation and find ways to make the company more profitable. As Cate and Gabe begin to work together, they find ways to elevate the business and find that they have more in common than savvy business sense.”
The main characters are Cate (Jodie Sweetin), Gabe (Andrew Walker), and Joy (Sharon Lawrence.)
Although Cate and Gabe’s slowly-developing love story was the heart of the movie, I think my favorite love story was between Joy and the rescue she saved to give to Cate for Christmas. I loved the scenes with the pup and Joy and was rooting for Joy to keep the cute dog rather than giving him to Cate at the end.
(Fun trivia note: The dog’s name is Wilson and this was his film debut! Looks like he has a promising career ahead of him.)
Behind the scenes with #merryandbright star #Wilson 🐾 Making his film debut 🙌🏻 #readyformycloseup @hallmarkchannel
Cate and Gabe had great chemistry in the movie. Their relationship started out so awkwardly that I couldn’t help but giggle. As they worked through their stops and starts, the movie also made me kind of wish that I had a candy company to work at myself.
The Christmas tree lighting ceremony was also a nice touch. I always get a little envious when I see these, wishing that I could go to one myself in a small town.
Pete’s tough decision about getting Sophie a Christmas gift was a funny side story, along with his hesitation about proposing. That was a cute touch.
Their surprise trip to New York was a nice twist, since the characters typically stay in the small town during a movie. But it was a tough meeting. I was all on board with Merry & Bright adding chocolate to their candy cane lineup, and found myself wishing I could try some of those family recipes myself. Hallmark really needs to share a coconut buttercream candy recipe online.
Later in the movie, Cate and Gabe went to a fancy Christmas party and I really enjoyed the contrast between that and the tree lighting ceremony.
This movie has a casual tree lighting ceremony AND a fancy Christmas party. It has everything. #MerryAndBright
These two were not comfortable with their feelings for each other at first, but those awkward moments were really cute to watch.
I also loved how Hallmark threw things for a loop when it came to the traditional storytelling: a kiss earlier in the movie, a trip to the big city from the small town… It was nice and refreshing.
@jashcraft88 They are throwing a lot of plot twists in this movie!
They also had a “sweet” (get it? it’s a candy cane story) message about being you, even if that means breaking a little from tradition… Oh wait, actually, they surprised me again! Right after I wrote this, there was another plot twist. This movie will definitely surprise you a few times and you actually might not be sure what the protagonist’s plan to win the day is going to end up being.
The movie also features some strong female characters, which you’ll enjoy.
And it has a “one year later” epilogue that was a really nice touch. :) So if you haven’t seen the movie yet, don’t finish watching it until those credits roll. You’ll think it’s over, but it won’t be quite yet.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. The secondary plotline with the dog was so cute that it definitely makes Merry and Bright a must-see Hallmark Christmas movie.
I just need the full recipes for these candies.
To learn more about the cast and where Merry & Bright was filmed, see Heavy’s story here.