A Biltmore Christmas
A totally meta Christmas
Movie within a movie within a movie… I thought about trying to summarize this, but honestly it’s easier if you just read this blurb from Hallmark:
Lucy Hardgrove (Joy Lenz) is a screenwriter who lands the job of a lifetime when she’s hired to pen the script for a remake of the beloved holiday movie, His Merry Wife! First filmed in 1947 at beautiful, historic Biltmore House, it has long been considered a Christmas classic. When the head of the studio isn’t satisfied with the ending Lucy wrote because it deviates from the original’s feel-good conclusion, he sends Lucy to Biltmore Estate for research and inspiration. While there, she unwittingly discovers the ability to travel to the 1947 set of His Merry Wife! through the help of an hourglass. After shaking off the initial shock of this turn of events, Lucy embraces this as her chance to uncover the truth about the movie’s original ending. While on set, she and Jack Huston (Kristoffer Polaha), one of the film’s stars, spend time together and become close. But her sudden appearance has set off a chain of events that put the production in jeopardy. Before she can return to the present, Lucy must make things right or threaten to alter the future forever. Starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha.
I’ll just say - this isn’t really a Christmas movie. This is yet another one that falls into the “movie that takes place at Christmas,” category. Fortunately, Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha are really enjoyable to watch. And this was one of the “big budget” Hallmark movies this year, so the production value is high. Consequently, this one plays like a movie (vs third tier TV movie, which is the case for many of them).
And don’t you want all of your Christmas movies to have:
A beautiful setting (real-life Biltmore)
Time travel
Period costumes (1940s Hollywood)
A movie within a movie within a movie
Carolling around a piano
Homages to other movies
Shoutouts to Sandra Bullock
You’ll like this if…
You like BJL and your Hallmark to look more like a studio movie.
SCORE: 7/10
Tell me more!
Lucy Hardgrove (Joy Lenz) is a screenwriter who lands the job of a lifetime when she’s hired to pen the script for a remake of the beloved holiday movie, His Merry Wife! First filmed in 1947 at beautiful, historic Biltmore House, it has long been considered a Christmas classic. When the head of the studio isn’t satisfied with the ending Lucy wrote because it deviates from the original’s feel-good conclusion, he sends Lucy to Biltmore Estate for research and inspiration. While there, she unwittingly discovers the ability to travel to the 1947 set of His Merry Wife! through the help of an hourglass. After shaking off the initial shock of this turn of events, Lucy embraces this as her chance to uncover the truth about the movie’s original ending. While on set, she and Jack Huston (Kristoffer Polaha), one of the film’s stars, spend time together and become close. But her sudden appearance has set off a chain of events that put the production in jeopardy. Before she can return to the present, Lucy must make things right or threaten to alter the future forever. Starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha.
