A Nutcracker Christmas

2016's A NUTCRACKER CHRISTMAS is the first Hallmark movie of any type that I've watched from start to finish.  Why? If you're a regular consumer of this blog and bother to check the comments, you may note that an anonymous individual has requested a review of one of them.  I'm quite sure I know this individual in "real life" and can attest that he is a huge fan of these TV movies, ones that tend to be ribbed for their predictability, paper thin characterizations, and tidy plot resolutions.  Oh, and their utter lack of even a speck of lint in homes that all look like a page from a Crate & Barrel catalogue.  I've seen bits and pieces of these movies over the years, usually chuckling at the cheesy dialogue and the interchangeability of the plotlines (and genders).  But I understand why folks dig them.  They're inoffensive and warm, free of the sort of cynicism and darkness one sees in so much entertainment anymore.

Anything related to the Nutcracker ballet grabs my attention, and so it went that Sunday afternoon as I perused the Hallmark Christmas offerings on Peacock.  This movie looked different than what I'd glimpsed before, the usual "woman discovers she prefers the modest small town dude over the slick big city dude" while they slurp hot chocolate and trade mild barbs with each other, their parents, and cute children in immaculate environs.   

Lily (Amy Acker) is a girl from Georgia who has loved ballet since childhood.  She eventually gets to dance professionally in NYC, but on her big night learns her sister just died in a car accident, leaving behind a daughter named Sadie (Sophia Lucia).  Lily's fellow dancer/boyfriend Mark (Sascha Radetsky) vetoes her going on with the show, something Lily insists her sister would've wanted. She storms out and returns home.  Eight years later, she's running a yoga studio and has since abandoned her dreams, perhaps now living vicariously through her niece, who shows promise.

Sadie will be invited to perform at a renowned school in Philadelphia for a staging of The Nutcracker.  Lily goes along to chaperone and discovers, uh huh, Mark is the director.  But of course.  Awkwardness and even hostility ensues before the inevitable finale.  There will be misunderstandings, gossip among the "dance moms", and the search for just the right Christmas tree along the way.

But also some nice moments of dance.  I was unable to tell if the actors were already good dancers or if they learned just enough for this movie.    Director Michael Lembeck, who appeared in a few films and television programs back in the day, does a decent job of highlighting the rehearsals and final performance.  Otherwise this movie plays in the same sterile fashion as most made for TV/streaming movies do.  But who's watching any of these for mise-en-scene? Nicole Avril's script colors within the lines pleasantly enough, though a potential subplot about Mark's military service is teased and then abruptly dropped.  Strange.  Even stranger is an impromptu salsa dance bit that kinda came out of left field.

Yes, there are plenty of Christmassy shots, scenes of well decorated shops and homes, though not as over the top as you'd see in other Hallmark movies.  Maybe I will watch a few others in their entirety?