Holiday Hotline

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"Holiday Hotline" is a wonderful and cheerful Christmas movie! Abby is a chef in London who, after a breakup with her boyfriend, goes to Chicago at her parents' suggestion. Abby stays at her Aunt Doreen's former apartment in Chicago. Abby stops cooking, but gets a job at Holiday Hotline, which is where people call in to get help cooking turkeys. I've never heard of a Holiday Hotline before, but it is a cute idea. The boss at Holiday Hotline, Roger, is hilarious! John calls Holiday Hotline to get help cooking turkey, and talks to Abby, who decides to call herself Peggy. They get along well, not knowing that they already met, kind of like "The Shop Around the Corner" or "You've Got Mail." All in all, a cute movie. I will definitely watch it again next year.

This is one of our favorite new Hallmark movies. It's definitely a rewatch. How they filmed the phone conversation scenes was neat and unique. The leads had great chemistry, and his daughter was hilarious. Though the location wasn't filmed in Chicago, it definitely felt like it was. The apartment building was beautiful. The banter between the characters was awesome. Her ex-boyfriend was a piece of work, and I'm happy she kicked him to the curb. We thoroughly enjoyed the concept. Her British accent wasn't that horrible; I've heard worse in other Hallmark movies. Niall's characters are usually combative, so it was nice to see him in a more likable role.

This was a fun movie - not just for the Shop Around the Corner/You've Got Mail storyline, but the satire on Thanksgiving cooking. I strongly suspect all the disasters that people called in about have actually happened at some point. I'll grumble about the details - the sign at O'Hare doesn't just say "Chicago International Airport" and extravagant custom hardware like Abby's doorknob are more inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright than Daniel Burnham. And whenever someone talked about cottage cheese, the container of Daisy brand was taken out and placed squarely in front of the camera (almost poking fun at the obviously paid for product placement) Great film, enjoyed watching! Will watch it again next time it's on.

It's difficult for me to even call this a movie because it is missing some of the key components, chiefly a plot. Sure, we have main characters, they do things that don't make any sense, we have some manufactured conflict, and one of the worst fake british accents i've ever heard. The two main characters develop alter egos of sorts and fall in loev with each other while the british lady is working at a call center for helping people cook turkeys??? Only this apparently causes them both some anxiety after british lady figures out who jack "john" really is (How she didn't recognize him by voice alone is just silly). For some reason, the guy, after she confesses to being peggy, is really hurt by this and is like omg i cant believe this and then theyre all happy again. The plot was just nonsensically bad. None of the actions the characters took make any sense in any context outside of a hallmark movie. None of this would ever happen, it makes no sense, and it's just, so, very bad.

While the idea of a holiday turkey hotline is sort of silly, the evergreen rehashing of The Shop Around The Corner/You've Got Mail as a trope in many ways never gets old. While this isn't on par with those films naturally, I think this was pretty well done! Niall Matter sure loves to play widowed single dads, lol, and this was another good performance from him. I'm not British, but when I Googled the actress that played Abby and found out she was Canadian, I wasn't surprised. At times the accent slipped, but it wasn't too shabby. The most unique aspect of this film was the juxtaposition of the calls. Seeing Abby and Jack fall in love over the phone while visually it looking like they're in the same room was very clever! I liked it. I think the quirky side characters really enhanced the storyline overall. Nobody felt like they were overdoing it, which can sometimes happen in these types of movies. Since we can't input half-star ratings, I'm going with 6.5 overall. Good job Hallmark!

A London sous chef in a relationship with the restaurant's owner discovers not only does he not give her credit for her work, but he's cheating on her. She escapes to Chicago where she stays in her aunt's apartment which is vacant for several weeks. She allows herself to get talked into working the holiday hotline, a how to cook a turkey 800 number. Movie mistake shows Chicago international Airport, rather than calling it by its name, O'Hare. Daisy dairy products must have paid for half the movie because their products are put in front of the viewers numerous times. The Director uses a very unique and different technique in the movie. When two people are on the phone in different locations they are placed next to each other on the screen but not a split screen. I found it very engaging. Abbie is from London but for the holiday hot line she uses an American accent, and uses the name Peggy. Jack doesn't want to be known as Jack on the turkey hotline so he uses a derivative of Jack, John. Needless to say, John and Peggy really connect over the telephone, but, Jack and Abbie connect in person. How will the script writer write their way out of this situation and end it with a happy hallmark ending? You'll need to watch the movie. No spoilers here. This one is worth your time!!

Twice (before I turned the movie off) the camera zoomed in on a brand name product. Nothing irks me more than sneaking in a 'commercial' in between commercials. That's just greedy. Ruined the movie for me. Aside from that the movie was typical Hallmark - live Christmas tree shopping, hot cocoa, and of course the mismatched love interests. It is still a feel good Christmas movie if it were not for the annoying product placement. I hope this is not a trend that Hallmark movies pursues. They already put FIVE AND 1/2 minutes of commercials between movie breaks, which seems already excessive to me.

9.0 stars. Two people start a romantic relationship over the telephone. She is a holiday hotline expert who provides cooking advice, he is a floundering dad who lost his wife a few years ago and needs all the help he can get. The twist is that before they meet on the phone, they have already met in person. We've seen this specific situation in other Hallmark films. The two have already met face to face and have begun a tenuous relationship. But, in contrast to this shaky personal relationship, the telephone meet-cute is immediate and romantic feelings intensify. Eventually the twain shall meet. Will this mutual realization positively ignite the partnership, or is their bond too fragile to survive the encounter? I enjoy this type of romantic juggling act, because it's a constant source of anticipation, culminating when they perceive what's happening. Sometimes one person discovers the secret first and resorts to additional subterfuge for a time, escalating the expectation. 'Holiday Hotline' gradually builds up what I can only describe as the perfect conclusion. We the audience are captivated by his vulnerability and equally by her receptiveness and contrition. Thankfully each and every one of the supporting cast members contributes to an enriching and magical experience you won't soon forget. One of my all-time favorite Hallmarks.

While I liked a lot of things about this movie, the plotting was lazy and in some cases .... dumb. First we have a depressed woman who just dumped her lying, cheating boyfriend and quit her job. She's depressed. So her parents' best idea is to send her a quarter of the way around the world, alone, to a place she has no connection with, to stay in the empty apartment of a friend ... where she knows no one? It doesn't get more contrived and dumb than that. Then Niall Matter, who we really like, has a melt down when a door knob falls off? Strike two. Then she's absolutely forced to take a job at a turkey hot line? Strike three. Then Matter calls the hot line and just happens to get her? Do you get four strikes? Don't get me wrong, there are some nice things about the movie, but PLEASE, writers, use your brains next time.