Tis the season! You know what that means! Hallmark trots out its collection of Christmas movies. And my family will watch them. Yes, they are cheesy and formulaic but by God, they are endearing. We love them. And that includes “Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade,” which seems appropriate for today.
Prepare for the arrival of SPOILERS!
The Thanksgiving Day Parade is a Chicago tradition overseen by Emily Jones (Autumn Reeser). It’s a passion of hers as she’s loved the parade since she was a little girl. But she is thrown for a loop when the city brings in a consultant to see if there’s a way to make more money with the parade. Emily believes Henry Williams (Antonio Cupo) only sees the parade with dollar signs and so tries to get him to see it from a more personal perspective. As she does, they get to know each other better and form an odd friendship. It also starts to become something more, especially when the proposal Emily expected from marine biologist boyfriend Brian (Ben Cotton) doesn’t happen. Will she fall in love and get to keep her beloved parade?
Promos for this movie may have been confusing. Reeser’s character was often seen wearing ‘60s apparel, looking like it was capitalizing on the “Mad Men” trend. But it takes place now. And the reason why Emily wears only vintage clothing makes sense…somewhat. She lost her mother at a young age and her father gave all her mother’s clothing away. So Emily buys vintage in hopes of one day getting something her mother wore. But the movie takes place in modern times and Emily doesn’t look old enough for her mother to have worn mod. But she has some really pretty outfits and I would kill to have the black dress she wore when she thought Brian was proposing.
And now we go to Brian and Emily’s relationship. It’s presented at first as a healthy long-distance relationship. Brian is off studying whales and so he and Emily communicate mostly via Skype. They seem to be happy even if Brian is a bit preoccupied with his new book. Which is okay because Emily is preoccupied with the parade. But it does start to set up his return to Chicago, where we see all the up-close problems. Like how he makes plans without checking with Emily. Or doesn’t want to get married because he can’t live up to his parents’ long and happy marriage. Emily later realizes he knows nothing about her despite a five year relationship and leaves him for good.
Henry and Emily are set up for a slap slap kiss kiss type of relationship. And that’s how Reeser plays it. Cupo plays it more as Henry is amused and intrigued by Emily. It works, though. His journey is one of letting someone in and finding what home means. Emily has to learn the perfect life she thinks she’s built isn’t so. Their growing friendship and perhaps love is great. Not much is revealed about his past compared to Emily but it works. There is a twist at the end (which is hinted at through the movie) that makes his lack of information make sense.
So, is it worth watching? I think so. Yes, it’s a Christmas movie disguised as a Thanksgiving one. But it’s cute enough for you to forgive it for this fact.
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