"The Holiday Junkie"

It’s getting to be that time of year when Hallmark
and Lifetime holiday movies are really popular.
These two networks are fighting for the same
audience, but they do it in different ways. Here are
some of those differences.
Lifetime characters have better jobs, Hallmark
characters are mostly Advertising and Marketing
people from the big city.
Lifetime movies have a little more snark and are a
little funnier. Hallmark is more earnest, to the point
of corny, and proud of it. Nothing is ever
impossible, too sweet, or too magical. No
apologies. With Hallmark, objects can have
magical powers, a Nutcracker or a snowman can
come to life, no problem. When I think of Lifetime I
immediately think of drama and women in danger
first, and romance second.
Lifetime characters get together quicker, while
Hallmark takes them through turmoil until the
grand romantic gesture at the end.

Lifetime has more out of the box storylines, while
Hallmark follows the same few basic storylines,
just in different ways.
Lifetime has a larger range of actors. Hallmark has
its favorite actors that you recognize in multiple
movies.
The Holiday Junkie is a Lifetime movie starring
Jennifer Love Hewitt. I’m a big fan. She plays
Andie, a young woman who runs a Christmas
decorating company with her mother. This is the
first Christmas she’s doing it alone since her
mother died. She has the opportunity to make the
company bigger if she can impress a rich venture
capitalist when she decorates his house.
At the house she runs into Mason, played by
Hewitt’s real life husband Brian Hallisay. Mason
hates Christmas for some secret reason. Imagine
that.
Travel problems delay the family’s return, forcing
Mason and Andie to spend time together.
If you have ever watched any of these types of
movies, I don’t need to tell you anything else.

The movie is 1 hour and 28 minutes, Rated-
TVPG-13.
If you can’t find this movie on Lifetime, you can
still watch it on YouTube. That’s where my wife
Carla and I watched it.
We made different predictions about what was
going to happen, what disaster was going to bond
them, what secret is making him hate Christmas,
and we joined in when the coffee shop lady,
talking about the big shindig in town, challenged
Andie to say Holly Hill Holiday Hop, five times fast.
Yes, it was predictable, yes it was corny, but it was
also fun, especially with your significant other.
These movies are easy, relaxing, and maybe even
therapeutic.
Jennifer Love Hewitt wrote and directed this movie
as a tribute to her mother Pat. And because her
husband was her love interest, the chemistry,
especially the kissing scenes, was very
comfortable.

My Score on the Holiday Movie scale is 4 Buds