Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater – Film Review
Single mother Maggie O’Donnell (Ashley Williams) is facing Christmas alone until Lucas Cavelli (Niall Matter) crashes into her life and becomes an unexpected house guest. Together, they overcome Christmas while finding comfort in their growing bond.
Sounds like kind of a cute concept right? I thought so too, and I was honestly willing to give Allan Harmon’s Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater a chance, despite its ridiculously goofy title and the fact that it’s a Hallmark original Christmas movie, which is never a good sign. I couldn’t tell you one Hallmark Christmas movie I enjoy.
But, I was willing to put my skepticism aside and see if this would be a delightful and jolly holiday surprise. Unfortunately, this turned out to be exactly the type of film I feared it would be – it’s a cliché-filled, sappy and predictable mess that offers no surprises throughout its running time. Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater feels like every other Hallmark movie you’ve seen, and it’s now getting to the point where I genuinely question how these films get made in the first place.
These movies all feature the same things. A single woman that spends Christmas alone and everything seems to be going wrong in her life when suddenly she meets Prince Charming who can do absolutely nothing wrong and is a blessing in disguise. The two are perhaps a little afraid to admit the feelings that they clearly have for one another until they just can’t take the tension anymore. Sadly, this film features this exact trope.
Courtesy of Hallmark Channel
Surprisingly, the lead actors actually aren’t too bad and they clearly tried their best despite the awfully bland script they were given. Ashley Williams is fine in the role of Maggie and so is Niall Matter as Lucas. But the problem is that their performances never go above being just fine. They feel like they genuinely did not want to be in this movie but did it just to get a little bit of extra cash. I wouldn’t be surprised.
Also, with a running time of just eighty-three minutes, Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater has virtually no room to blossom, even if all the right ingredients were at Allan Harmon’s disposal. The script is just too empty and devoid of any real interest for the film to get interesting. All of the lead characters are flat and incredibly uninteresting, and, much like the movie as a whole, feel like something you’ve seen a million times in these Hallmark Christmas movies. This new holiday flick isn’t going to turn you into a fan of Hallmark movies if you weren’t already.
Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater is yet another ridiculously goofy and trope-filled Hallmark holiday movie, with a predictable story and bland characters.
Overall Grade: F
MPAA Rating: 14A
Cast: Ashley Williams, Niall Matter, Zahra Anderson, Jarrod Evanyshyn, Calix Fraser, Bethel Lee, Matthew MacCaull, Lisa MacFadden, Kayden Magnuson
Directed by: Allan Harmon
Distributed by: Hallmark Channel
Release Date: November 7, 2020
Running Time: 83 minutes