Or: the Bruce Campbell Hallmark Movie. For those of you unaware of the Cult of Campbell, Mr. Bruce Campbell, best known for headlining THE EVIL DEAD, its sequel and the cable TV spin-off ASH VS. THE EVIL DEAD, is a legend on the scare circuit, being a sought-after regular at conventions and an extremely popular interview subject in genre magazines. People outside the horror sphere, alas, don’t seem to share that reverence for Mr. Campbell, which explains why he appeared in a Hallmark rom-com.
Mr. Bruce Campbell, best known for headlining THE EVIL DEAD, its sequel and the cable TV spin-off ASH VS. THE EVIL DEAD, is a legend on the scare circuit,
ONE DECEMBER NIGHT, which premiered on the Hallmark Channel on November 13, 2021, is an important entry in the Hallmark retinue due to its Christmas setting. Hallmark churns out movies all year round (with its 2021 movie count totaling a reported 82), but it’s the generically titled Christmas themed movies for which it’s best known (other ‘21 Hallmark Xmas movies include A PICTURE PERFECT HOLIDAY, CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE, MUCH ADO ABOUT CHRISTMAS, etc).
Hallmark churns out movies all year round (with its 2021 movie count totaling a reported 82), but it’s the generically titled Christmas themed movies for which it’s best known…
This means that Bruce Campbell, in being chosen to headline this movie, was given what in the Hallmark universe constitutes a rather prestigious honor, as were co-star Peter Gallagher (who following his breakthrough role in SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE has had a respectable acting career in film and television) and supporting player Didi Conn (of GREASE and its sequel). In the rest of the world, alas, their appearances in this movie mean these actors’ careers are in bad shape!
Campbell plays Steve Bedford, one half of a “legendary” music duo—with Gallagher playing Mike Sullivan, the other half—that’s been broken up for a decade. Off-setting them is the standard Hallmark heroine: a determined, and very photogenic, young woman who’s lucky in business but unlucky in love. That woman is Quinn (played by Hallmark regular Eloise Mumford), a music manager living in a picturesque Idaho town (actually Goshen, NY, making this a rare Hallmark production that wasn’t filmed in Canada).
Quinn, it so happens, is Sullivan’s daughter, and is dispatched by her agency to help set up a Bedford & Sullivan reunion concert. In so doing she runs into Bedford’s goateed son Jason, who she blames for screwing her father out of his half of the Bedford & Sullivan royalties.
You can guess where all this is going: there are a lot of hiccups in Quinn and Jason’s attempts at getting their fathers to put aside their differences and perform, but they manage to do so. In the process Q&J reconnect with their elders, learn some valuable life lessons and, of course, find romance—although this element is far more subdued than you might expect.
According to one IMDB user, “Ladies, if you have a husband/ boyfriend around and you want to force them to watch a Hallmark movie this Christmas, I guarantee that this one will make them the least ill!” That quote is a bit misleading, but this movie is indeed somewhat divergent from the standard Hallmark movie formula; there are no cute dogs or baking contests, and the heroine grins a bit less than the women in these movies usually do.
“Ladies, if you have a husband/ boyfriend around and you want to force them to watch a Hallmark movie this Christmas, I guarantee that this one will make them the least ill!”
Director Clare Niederpruem, unbelievably enough, makes some concerted attempts at characterization and visual nuance (the burnished lighting clearly took some time and effort to pull off), things you don’t usually find in Hallmark movies. There are even some examples of what can be viewed as subversion, as in Bedford and Sullivan’s climactic outdoor reunion concert, in which Niederpruem makes no effort to disguise the sparseness of the audience—or the stifling blandness of the songs.
Director Clare Niederpruem, unbelievably enough, makes some concerted attempts at characterization and visual nuance…
Campbell appears to be enjoying himself in what has become his standard post-EVIL DEAD role of a carefree smartass (which sums up his part in the popular TV series BURN NOTICE). His strained dynamic with Peter Gallagher recalls that of Jeff and Beau Bridges in THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS (doubtless an “influence” on this movie), and he even has some crying scenes toward the end, when a sad secret is revealed. Not to worry though, because such glumness is not allowed to get in the way of the contrived uplift that’s part and parcel of every Hallmark movie, this one included.
Vital Statistics
ONE DECEMBER NIGHT
Hallmark
Director: Clare Niederpruem
Producers: Tony Glazer, Summer Crockett Moore
Screenplay: Eric Brooks, Sid Ventress
Cinematography: Kristoffer Carrillo
Editing: Kat Spiess
Cast: Bruce Campbell, Peter Gallagher, Brett Dalton, Eloise Mumford, Julia Blanchard, Didi Conn, Sinclair Daniel, Andrew Durand, Jasmine Forsberg, Beth Fowler, Mark Kenneth Smaltz, Jenna Stern