As soon as you read the description of a Hallmark movie, you accurately predict the plot. A man and woman meet, there is a low-stakes conflict, (like another love interest the woman clearly won’t end up with), the man and woman make up, they get together, they have a short kiss because it’s network TV and the movie ends. We know the formula.
So why do we watch them every year?
People like familiarity. Sometimes we like to switch our brains off and watch something light-hearted and silly for fun. And with a period of time as hectic as Christmas, sometimes what you need most is a break in the form of a hot drink and a cheesy movie.
We need fluffy, predictable and low stakes media to balance out the chaos that is the modern world.
Some of Hallmark’s movies are quite unique, however. For example, there is an upcoming film called The Christmas Baby, which is about a lesbian couple who find a baby on their doorstep leading up to Christmas. They take care of the baby together while running their business and considering adoption.
Some other movies I’m excited to watch this year are A Newport Christmas, which tells the story of a woman in 1905 wishes on a comet for a new life and is transported to 2025. She falls in love with a historian in Newport and they navigate the complications of the difference in their eras and the effects of their relationship on time itself. How cool is that?
Another is A Christmas Angel Match, where two angels tasked with setting couples up must work together to get two humans together. Their different tactics makes them butt heads and grow closer. I know exactly what is going to happen, but I want to watch this nonetheless!
This is the thing about Hallmark films, they make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Who doesn’t want that?
And if watching lovey-dovey Christmas rom coms is a crime, then I plead guilty!
This funny video by comedian Trey Kennedy sums up most Hallmark movies:
(And I am not that embarrassed to say that I would watch a full length film of this).
Feature Image Credit: Netflix
Third year journalism student. 2025/2026 Lifestyle and Comment Editor at Brig. Published in The Yucatán Times, Mi Campeche and The Mourning Paper. Host of From the 40s with Air3Radio.
