Hallmark Holiday Collection (A Very Merry Mix-Up, The Christmas Ornament, Hitched For the Holidays, Come Dance With Me)

OK, I'm giving this five stars based on how much I liked the movies I DID like, not the one I didn't.My favorites, in order, are 1. The Christmas Ornament. 2. A Very Merry Mix-Up. 3. Come Dance with Me. 4. Hitched for the Holidays.Now, more on that: I was NOT expecting to like TCO because I hate that trope where it's seen as this great tragedy not that a person died, but that the living spouse has to be single. Maybe it's OK to just be happy with the love you had, at least until maybe someday someone else comes along? I don't know. Anyway, I nonetheless really liked this movie because I found Cameron Mathison's character attractive and likeable and Kellie Martin's had a sort of soulful quality that made me feel for her. And, yeah, even though she hooks up with a new guy within a year of her hubbie's untimely death, it's not without the exploration of her feeling guilty and not even being interested in that until the right guy happens to come along. So that helps. I also really liked the best friend played by Jewel Staite. I think I more just like her as an actress, feeling she brings a lot of warmth and sincerity to her character, but either way, a good supporting cast does help. I ALSO liked (without spoiling too much) that CM's character, Tim, had his own romantic issues to deal with (not just being the manic-pixie dreamboy to invigorate the grieving Kathy), and they even went as far as to make you question whether he really wanted to be with her at one point (even though he ultimately did. Duh, this is Hallmark), rather than just being the perfect, devoted, ever-patient romantic-fantasy male lead these movies usually employ.AVMM: Really liked this one, but it's more of a rom-com than a romance, so it goes after TCO just because it, therefore, didn't give me quite as much feels. Liked that the love interest was kind of different (he's represented as a bit awkward, but in a fun way), and even more, that he and Alicia Witt's character seemed to just genuinely have a good time together and like each other as people, rather than the romantic cliche of hating each other at first, but it's all just a ruse for secretly being in love. Even though this follows the silly "I'm leaving my long-term partner for someone I've known two days" trope, their scenes getting to know each other were sweet and made it believable that they would want to be together. I also really liked her (accidental) relationship with the love interest's family (though I don't agree with the message it sends that you have to perfectly mesh with someone's family in order to be in a relationship, and that's some kind of indicator of how compatible you and a person are). I will say, though, that the other holiday-romance trope this movie employs -- the ultimately benign but nonetheless unfulfilling rich boyfriend who gets dumped for an exciting new love -- is silly. Why are these romantic leads always in that type of relationship? It kind of sends the message that all women are gold-diggers (because they always seem to be rich, but have just about nothing else to offer), or too naive to know what they should be looking for in a relationship (Maybe someone who doesn't make snide comments about your passions and decide life-changing matters without consulting you?). There's some majorly cheesy dialogue, of course, particularly when the two characters get together at the end (Oh no! Non-spoiler spoiler alert), but that's part of the fun, in my view.CDwM: Better than I thought it would be since the overall premise didn't really interest me (not into dancing) and I find that, as a woman, these types of movies that have a male as the lead character tend to resonate with me less. But Andrew McCarthy is charming, and I liked his love interest as a character (including that she was not some typical, cute-and-quirky type, but had more elegance and substance). It also has nice visuals and overall ambiance, with a lot of Christmas decorations and beautiful waltz music (for the dancing). At least in this movie, it's the guy who's gold-digging with an incompatible rich chick (Though, again, why do they always do that? I guess the writers think that makes it less sad when the rich person gets dumped for someone else, but rich people have feelings too, and the one in this movie was actually really nice. I'd like to see one of these love triangles where the "point" isn't still with the person they end up leaving because they're rich, but just because they've been together a long time and sort of outgrown each other. Maybe that violates Hallmark's standard of family values).HftH: Ugh. This movie bored me so much while, at the same time, making me roll my eyes at all the stereotypes it employed. A meddling Jewish mother who keeps trying to hook her daughter up (Oh, and her entire family are so obsessed with being Jewish that they actually have "Hava Nagila" as their doorbell tone. Seriously?), and a total mama's boy from a big, loud Italian family that quarrels over its nightly feast of lasagna. Apart from that, I liked that they made the two romantic leads have a healthy relationship from the start (even though they were faking it, they were both agreeing to do that and seemed to genuinely like each other and get along well) that turned into love. BUT, I think I just really don't like Joey Lawrence (nothing personal, just not the type of guy I want to see as a romantic lead), and it annoyed me that the female lead was supposed to be a theater critic, yet she had this major weakness where she couldn't bear to write a bad review. It makes absolutely no sense that she would have ever been hired at a big-city publication to review, that being the case, let alone keep the job for an extended period of time. That sounds more like a problem someone writing for a church newsletter would have, and also didn't add much of anything to the plot (we're supposed to believe Joey Lawrence's character gave her the confidence to finally call a spade a spade and write a bad review, which is actually kind of refreshing in a way since usually love interests are seen as bringing out the better in someone else, not their edgier side. But it also reinforces the idea that women are spineless without men).

Fantastic acting & storyline

My family and I enjoy watching the Countdown to Christmas movies on Hallmark each year. While I enjoy many of the movies, I have to admit to having a couple of favorites that I am willing to watch year round. This four pack includes two of those (“The Christmas Ornament” and “A Very Merry Mix-up”.)While I already own both of these, I couldn't resist the opportunity to pre-order them again with two additional fun movies that I enjoy at such at great value. I am really looking forward to receiving them in early October and starting my own “Countdown” a little earlier than Hallmark.I've duplicated a number of movies over the years (especially as I changed from DVD to Blu-Ray) and I put the duplicate movies in my guest room for my guests to enjoy with the small TV system we have set up in that room.)“The Christmas Ornament” is one of my all time favorites and was the first movie I saw with Cameron Mathieson in it. He has quickly become one of my favorite Hallmark actors, especially in his recent role in a recurring mystery movie series. In this movie, he and Kellie Martin (another wonderful actor) play beautifully together with Ms. Martin as a grieving widow who is trying to make a new life for herself and Mr. Mathieson as the man who wants to be part of that new life. A lovely story and one that strikes me as very realistically written and acted.In “A Very Merry Mix-up”, a young woman (Alicia Witt) is on her way to meet her soon to-be in laws (with her fiance joining her later.) Trouble and laughter break out when she meets up with the man she thinks (wrongly) to be her fiance's brother and ends up celebrating the holidays with an unrelated family. While the plot may not be as credible as others, the movie makes up for it in funny hi-jinks and misadventures.“Hitched for the Holidays” is about a cross-cultural holiday season with Joey Lawrence and Emily Hampshire. They are both looking for someone to bring to family holiday parties to keep matchmaking and comments at bay. Joey celebrates Christmas and Emily Chanukah. I found the two of them pretending to understand the others holiday traditions to be extremely funny. The movie deals with a serious subject with a good deal of fun but doesn't lessen the struggle couples might have with such differences. Getting to see Joey Lawrence again after many years was a lot of fun as well.Finally, “Come Dance with Me” stars Andrew McCarthy and Michelle Nolden. I was so very happy to see Mr. McCarthy after what seemed like many years. In this story, he is a financier who decides to take dance lessons to impress his boss's daughter. He ends up at Ms. Nolden's dance studio. During his lessons, he starts having feelings for Ms. Nolden's character and doesn't want to reveal that he is part of a group that is working to close down her family's dance studio.The movies all have traditional Hallmark happy endings and all are suitable for multi-generations of a family to watch (which is becoming rarer and rarer these days.) As I have enjoyed each and every movie in this collection, I plan to buy it as Christmas gifts for several family members this year.

Very Merry Mix-Up is one of my favorites, love the clock story and their chemistry. After a blunder at an airport causes her to lose the info to her future in-laws Alice thinks she has found her future husband's brother and goes with him. An accident on the way home and some more blunders and Alice finds out she isn't at her future in-laws at all. Once she finally gets picked up by her fiance and makes it to his parent's house, she feels cold and out of place. All her fiance seems to care about is work and money, including selling her parent's store. Alice receives a present from Matt that may change her future and help her realize what's really important.The Christmas Ornament is a heart string puller for sure, after the death of her husband she doesn't know what to do, keep the bike shop open or start a bakery and then the new love interest in her life has her more confused than ever. Super sweet movie!Hitched for the Holidays is funny, to keep their parents from trying to set them up on dates they find someone on the internet to date for the holidays. Only she celebrates Christmas and he is Jewish so trying to mesh the two causes some funny blunders and just maybe a spark of real romance.Come Dance With Me is another kind of tear jerker, a long time tenant who teaches ballroom dancing is about to be evicted by a huge corporation who wants to tear her building down and build something else. One of the developers on the case actually takes her class without revealing to her who he really is and he actually offers to help her. He wants to learn to dance to impress the bosses daughter cause he thinks she is the one to marry but he ends up conflicted with feelings for his dance teacher.

Really looking forward to seeing these as love Christmas 24 for movies. So had to order them . I JUST WISH THAT AMAZON WOULD SELL ALL DVDs in the UK for region 2 . As DVD here needs to be that . AND THESES ARE NOT REGION 2 FOR THE UK .so I had to send them back

Great but formulaic Hallmark films, which make fun watching at Christmas. There are some issues to take into account. We bought them from USA sellers. They took months to arrive and the are NTSC playback. My BluRay player cannot play them, but my old DVD player can. If you don't have an NTSC player, don't buy them. Also order early, as delivery time is not good.

I just adore this boxset of films! I really enjoy the first two films but not fussed on the other two which was a shameI would tell anybody to add this to there collection! :)

Good old fashioned Christmas movies with a story.

Horrible disappointment! Purchased from Amazon UK....UK.... and cannot be played in the UK!!!!! Was bought as a Christmas present!!!I am feeling very disappointed, angry and somewhat losing trust in ordering from Amazon. When I buy a gift, I don't want it to be a dud!!!!