One of my favorite holiday traditions is watching Christmas movies. Last week I wrote about my favorite movies but didn’t include any cheesy Christmas movies.
What are cheesy Christmas movies?
These types of movies typically air on Hallmark and Lifetime, they don’t tend to get high ratings, and the plots are often predictable. I don’t usually watch this category at Christmastime, but I know this genre is quite popular. So this year, I will complete a Cheesy Christmas Movie Challenge. I’m going to watch 25 movies by December 25th.
I started preparing for this challenge in November. First, I watched Falling for Christmas and A Castle for Christmas on Netflix. Then, I created a cheesy Christmas movie bingo and tested it with some family members. We also watched Last Christmas together, which I would categorize as cheesy adjacent (it didn’t work well with our bingo game).
Why do we watch cheesy Christmas movies?
From Huffington Post, Why We Love Bad Christmas Movies. “Our brains love feeling good. Formulaic styles and structure are typical in romantic comedies, helping us feel close to home in our own human stories,” Kanti said. “We’re wired to recognize specific common patterns that are relatable in storytelling. Endings can be incredibly impactful because they can remind us of the importance of solving solutions and the benefits of doing so in simple ways.”
Read about participating in a Lifetime movie, I Made a Lifetime Christmas Movie! Over 100 made-for-TV holiday movies will premiere this season. Here’s what it’s like to work on one. By Rebecca Alter
How should you watch cheesy Christmas movies?
Stream or rent. For my challenge, I’m using Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Peacock (to watch Hallmark movies), and the Lifetime Movie Club (I subscribed to watch movies without commercials).
The Lifetime movie list: It’s A Wonderful Lifetime
Hallmark’s List:
Watch in comfy clothes or matching PJs. While watching the movie, enjoy a nice glass of wine, your favorite hot beverage, or your favorite Christmas cocktail, and don’t forget the movie snacks or Christmas cookies.
Watch with family and friends. I don’t mind watching these movies alone, but watching them with friends and family is more fun. It’s even more fun when you play bingo together.
The Challenge:
Step 1: Create a rating system
I created a Google document with a rating system. I can use it on my phone and tally the score later while watching the movie. There will be a sheet for every movie I watch. There are two parts to the scoring system— part 1: cheesy holiday movie tropes and part 2: cheesy holiday movie clothing.
Step 2: Create a list of movies to watch
This step was challenging as many holiday movies are coming out this year! First, I picked 2022 new releases; some are coming out this month.
Step 3: Watch, rate, and enjoy! Follow me on Instagram to follow my journey.
https://www.instagram.com/lsoffashionista/
I practiced watching some cheesy movies with my family and tested my rating system with The Christmas Prince (on Netflix). Here are my results:
Falling for Christmas (on Netflix)
After losing her memory in a skiing accident, a spoiled heiress lands in the cozy care of a down-on-his-luck widower and his daughter at Christmastime. Total Score 96
A Castle for Christmas (on Netflix)
To escape a scandal, a bestselling author journeys to Scotland, where she falls in love with a castle — and faces off with the grumpy duke who owns it. We tried out my cheesy Christmas bingo while watching the movie and several people got bingo before the movie was over. Total Score 89
A Christmas Prince (2017), Christmas comes early for an aspiring young journalist when she’s sent abroad to get the scoop on a dashing prince who’s poised to be king. Total Score 82
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