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watch this, Felicity, ABC Family, Entertainment, Netflix, video, media, Interview, tear-jerker, family friendly, meg says watch this, Christmas movies, holiday movies, holiday cheer, family movies, free movies, Love Actually, The Family Stone, Jack Frost, Fringe, time travel, dream come true, made for tv movies, Amy Smart, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Zack Morris, Saved By The Bell, ground hogs day Christmas eve style, Hulu, heartwarming, 12 Dates of Christmas
Last Saturday I was hanging out with my roommate at the house, and after watching an episode of Fringe (where my dream come true – time travel! was happening, but had a tragic consequence so now I’m rethinking that dream…) we decided to put on a holiday movie. I have since repurchased Love Actually, as well as adding The Family Stone to my personal collection but at the time neither of these were in the house so somehow after a bit of searching through free titles (and agree that Jack Frost was too depressing to handle that night) we decided on 12 Dates of Christmas, the cheesy ABC Family movie starring Amy Smart (I loved her in her Felicity days) and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack Morris! Saved By The Bell!) When we first started watching it, we were both kind of mocking the movie. But then as it progressed I found myself genuinely laughing at certain scenes, and wondering what would happen next. By the end my eyes were teary, and when my roommate left the room to use the restroom I made her rewind it and watch the scenes she’d missed because they were that heartwarming.
The basic gist of the movie is that Kate has a minor accident while shopping for a present for her ex-boyfriend at the mall on Christmas Eve. She ends up ditching her blind date Miles in order to meet up with the ex to give him his gift, and hoping to rekindle the old flame. After a particularly rough evening Kate wakes up to realize she’s at the scene of the accident again, reliving the day. (It’s like Ground Dog Day, Christmas-style.) Kate soon finds out that she’ll continue to re-live that day, until she makes some changes in life. She has to recognize relationships for what they are, see the good people she’s surrounded by, the opportunity for her own relationships, and to help strangers-turned-friends relationships better, too. She just might happen to find what she’d been looking for all along, on the way. It’s definitely corny, but it’s also touching. If you’re not a Netflix subscriber you can watch the movie free on Hulu!
You can watch an interview with Smart from last year about the movie if you’re interested:
I watched this as part of my “cheesy Christmas movies” spree movies and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It might be a little over the top but I think it was actually fairly creative, might even watch it again next year.