'Holiday Mismatch' is Perfect for 90s TV Fans

         On November 3, 2024, Hallmark Channel premiered 'Holiday Mismatch', which also acted as a reunion of the iconic Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda from 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' (Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea). In the film, "New retiree Barb joins a Holiday Committee but clashes with long standing member Kath. When they realize their kids have started dating, they conspire to break up the happy couple." But what did the critics say?

        Film Gate Reviews notes, "Holiday Mismatch should be at the top of any Hallmark Christmas rotation. The characters are very simplistic but it’s a really nice romance with the right amount of comedy sprinkled in. It also employs two of the better rom-com tropes: fake dating turning into real dating; and meddling families who are constantly trying to get them together and then break them up and using reverse psychology and reverse-reverse psychology and then rinse and repeat." Adding, "The movie works because the romance works. Actors Jon McLaren and Maxine Denis have good chemistry together, the characters match well, and it is so easy to root for them as a couple. Even though it’s obvious where the ending is headed, you want to watch them get there and it is nicely helped along by all of the comedy along the way. It’s a simple concept but Holiday Mismatch is an enjoyable watch."

©2024 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Philippe Bosse

       Rebekah's Readings and Watchings says, "Of course everything gets messed up. The two mothers end up at loggerheads again, the young couple deciding not to see each other for real or fake, and both mothers end up in their children’s black books for interfering in their lives. Of course happy endings abound professionally and personally for the two young lovers and the two mothers, proving once and for all (NOT!) that opposites really do attract. This movie is a hoot from beginning to end, and I never ever even saw one episode of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. To my fellow ignoramuses, Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea used to star in the old Melissa Joan Hart vehicle together as sister witches, and there were many easter eggs and homages to the sitcom embedded in the script (apparently.) Sorry, I can’t leave this review without pointing out that the actor who played Shane, Jon McLaren, looks exactly like the actor Patrick Wilson."