4 hours ago
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I've watched so many Hallmark movies that I officially have favorite actors on the channel. No one is more surprised by this than me, because I had always made fun of Hallmark movies, thinking that if you've seen one sappy romance, you'd seen them all. But now that I have dozens upon dozens of Hallmark flicks under my belt, I've started to know what to expect from certain actors, ones who bring a heavy dose of charm and comedy to what might otherwise be, well, a sappy romance.
The Hallmark Channel's newest Christmas movie (because they start celebrating Christmas in October, in case you hadn't heard), is called Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! and it premeries on Saturday, Oct. 25. It stars two actors who regularly show up in movies all year round on the channel (and whose work I've come to enjoy): Kimberley Sustad and Robert Buckley.
Buckley might be a familiar face even if you've never seen a Hallmark movie, having previously starred in network shows like iZombie, Lipstick Jungle and One Tree Hill, while the majority of Sustad's acting work has been for Hallmark projects. Separately, they have starred in some of the funnier movies I've seen on Hallmark, but their chemistry, both romantic and comedic, in Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! is so delightful, I can't wait to rewatch it.
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Buckley, who also co-produced the movie, plays Ted Cooper, a local weatherman so notoriously unlucky during the Christmas season that his newsroom colleagues have started a betting pool on what kind of misfortune will hit him next. In past years, Ted has accidentally set his house on fire and gotten stuck in a chimney. This year, the bets are on whether he'll impale himself on reindeer antlers or choke on a bite of fruitcake. Ted's bad luck continues when he's struck on the head by a box of Christmas lights while visiting his sister, but when he goes to the emergency room, he runs into his old high school crush, Hope (Sustad), who's the doctor there, and there's an instant, flirtatious connection.
On paper, it all sounds pretty standard, but watching Buckley ooze effortless, affable charm caused me to wonder why he's not a bigger star. Sustad plays things a little more tightly wound, but when the time is right, she leans into the silly and sarcastic, showing off her comedic range. (She starred in my favorite Hallmark holiday movie last year, The Santa Class -- now streaming on Hallmark Plus -- as a woman who runs a school for mall Santas. It's as delightfully absurd as it sounds.)
And keeping with last year's standout holiday releases, Ted Cooper's writer, Russell Hainline, also penned what was arguably the most talked-about Christmas movie of 2024, Netflix's Hot Frosty. That film, while not quite in the same pantheon as Elf or Miracle on 34th Street, has its charms. Still, despite all the buzz, I'd argue Ted Cooper is the better movie (it just has fewer abs to show off).
The fact that Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! is on Hallmark means that there's really nothing edgy about it, and it's going to be pigeonholed as predictable and generic. You could certainly get away with a lot more if this were on Netflix, or even Lifetime. But there are some running gags and solid jokes in this film that are both family-friendly and legitimately funny and make you forget it's as pure and PG as it gets (and comes complete with a comforting happy ending). As someone who was pretty judgmental about Hallmark movies in the past, when I see a truly great one, I always wish it would get a wider release so people can see that they're not all the same.
Stream Hallmark Channel movies on Frndly TV, through Hoopla's free Hallmark Plus BingePass or on a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV.
