TV Review: Jingle Bell Bride, W Network/Hallmark

Julie Gonzalo and Ronnie Rowe Jr in Jingle Bell Bride

Every once in a while I think to myself that I would be a good wedding planner—but then I watch a Hallmark movie and realize I simply could not handle it. What specifically, you ask? Well, the stress of catering to a bride’s whims, ending up stuck in Alaska right before the wedding, and having to fall in love with the small town’s one eligible bachelor, of course! 

Basically the plot of Jingle Bell Bride is: a bride (Donna Benedicto), a famous royalty-free Christmas song singer—we all know that genre—decides she wants jingle bell flowers from Alaska for her wedding (TIL jingle bell flowers are a thing, and they are hideous). You can tell our lead, wedding planner Jessica (Julie Gonzalo), is frazzled because her hair is parted strangely this entire movie. You can also tell this from her objectively unwise decision to go to Alaska herself to acquire said flowers. Matt (Canadian actor Ronnie Rowe Jr), the love interest, is probably the only Hallmark guy I’d want to date. He’s a cool botanist, I think? And a caring person who just happens to live in Alaska and for whatever reason is enthused to host Jessica at his house for many days (his meddling Aunt who knows they’d be good together). 

Jingle Bell Bride is different from many Hallmark Channel Christmas movies in several positive ways. They didn’t do the whole “small town is mean to city girl for no reason until she proves herself” thing, which is one of my pet peeves. Both of the leads were charming (her in a kind of “I recently took an improv class” way) and like . . . nice to each other? There wasn’t that annoying trope of flirting = teasing, which was refreshing. They are also both gorgeous which, while irrelevant to the plot, is relevant to me personally as I always find one of the two leads in general just like . . . a little bit off; either CGI deepfakes or bargain bin hot. 

While Jingle Bell Bride is predictable and lacks a level of insanity that I love from these movies (where people usually have no understanding of how jobs or relationships work), it was almost too believable by genre standards for my personal, refined taste—but that’s probably a good thing? Nice to see minority representation in lead roles for once—more of this please! 

Fave Lines: 
“Is this your first time at a Jingle Bell Festival?” 
and
“Anyone can get miniature roses flown in from the side of a volcano.” 

WTH: 
Jessica landed at the small Alaskan airport in the super tiny plane that sat like, four people, with her luggage—why was she expecting a baggage claim area?

Jingle Bell Bride premiered on W Network on November 7, 2020.
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