It’s Christmas, Carol! (2012)

Title: It’s Christmas, Carol!
Year of Release: 2012
Available On: Hallmark DVD purchased from Amazon
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Jingle Bells

Carol (Emmanuelle Vaugier) is a high-powered, ruthless publishing editor – a la Anna Wintour. As it goes, she hates Christmas. She appears to hate her employees. She definitely hates herself. Basically, she’s the fucking worst. Though she’s right about one thing:

Carol: Never plan your life around a man. They’d never give you the same courtesy.

Of course I realize that this movie is based on A Christmas Carol, so all of Carol’s ideas and beliefs from the beginning of the movie are going to be challenged and changed. Enjoy Carson Kressley from the original Queer Eye as a catty supporting cast member wearing far too many strong-necked turtlenecks. Enjoy pencil-thin eyebrows from 1999 on the leading lady. Especially enjoy Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher, duh) as the ghost of Christmas past, present, and future. I miss her so, so much. If you miss her, this is an ok place to start with remembering how delicious and delightful and kind she was.

Carol’s former editor, Eve, was more interested in getting lost in a book, integrity, and having her employees feel like family over making a ton of money. After her death, Carol took over and made “a mountain of profit” out what had been a small, less-successful, but ultimately happy publishing house. As Eve takes Carol through her past, she is reintroduced to her past love, Ben (Tygh Runyan), who happens to be shopping around his new novel in her current time. As Carol travels through their relationship together, she tries to remain unimpressed and uninterested, but who can resist the story of one’s first love? There’s a typewriter, a “shitty” walk-up apartment, a treasured gift, encouragement of grand dreams. And then there’s a break-up.

Ben: I miss the girl who gave me that typewriter.
Carol: I’m starting to regret that I ever did.

As someone who holds a bachelors of English literature, I have to say that the literature references don’t reach very far. It stays classical, it stays male-centered. Marquez is as deep as they get. But this is a Hallmark movie, after all. If they had tried to take it further, no one but me and a few other nerds would understand the references. But would it kill you to choose one female author name to drop?

This movie would have been a 1.5, but Carrie Fisher is one of my favorites so she pushed it up a whole jingle bell.