Holly and Ivy Review: Friendship, Love, and Hallmark Cheer

Even in a chaotic world and with America on the brink of its most influential and important election, some things never change. These include Hallmark films kicking off the holiday season the day after Halloween.

Holy and Ivy is one of the first 20020 installments of a yearly series of TV movies centered around being heartwarming, family-oriented and romantic. This little world of holiday love has a fanbase of its own, members of which know just what they expect and want.

As such, Holly and Ivy fills a number of tropes that could collectively form a Hallmark movie bingo card: a single mom with loveable kids, a tragic diagnosis, a meet-cute moment between the main character and her love interest, and more.

It’s easy to be cynical about all this. It’s also easy to use those feelings in nitpicking everything that, at best, can be considered creative license for moving the plot of a woman offering to be godparent to her new best friend’s kids forward.

There are few time jumps in Holly and Ivy. In the space of a year, Nina and Melody meet and bond, Nina is re-diagnosed with cancer, Melody falls for Nina’s kids so much she offers to adopt them, and Nina happily agrees. Oh, and there’s a love story too, of course.

A few questions: How does this all happen so fast? How is the unemployed Melody able to buy a house? Can a library stifled by politics (which, as someone who once worked in a library, I can say are portrayed accurately) give programs to random people to run?

Finally, a criticism that’s more an expression of disappointment: after spending nearly an hour getting Nina’s diagnosis and another with little progression of it, we almost believe the movie could buck tradition and let her live. Instead, her death is narrated in the final minutes.

We can argue this choice is inevitable. This is a story that ends with Melody adopting Holly and Ivy and living happily as a family with them and Adam. Still, there are plenty of “nontraditional family” scenarios where Nina could live and let everyone work together as a unit.

So, with all of this in mind, are you going to like Holly and Ivy as a movie? Yes, probably so—at least as long as you’re watching with the knowledge you are watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, and that you want what you know you’ll get from that.

Most of what works about this story hinges on the interactions between the people in it. Holly and Ivy as characters are lovable kids, and we get enough screen time between them to see the depths of their bond with Melody, even if it comes quickly.

Melody can only work so well with the girls because she works so well with their mother. Though it will be tragically short-lived, this female friendship is lovely to see on screen. The movie is more about Nina and Melody’s relationship than romance, and it’s a refreshing take.

At the same time, the romance we do get between Melody and Adam is just the sort of sweet love story romcom fans love. They share big dreams and love of family and understand that the latter sometime means putting the former on hold.

Cheesy and cliché as it might be, Holy and Ivy does what it sets out to do- makes you fall in love with its characters and the love they share for each other while getting you in the Christmas spirit and invoking a craving for gingerbread and hot chocolate.

More than ever, this slate of festive cheer can feel at odds with the state of the real world. It’s a big part of why many welcome it so enthusiastically. If you share this view, it’s easy to dismiss various flaws, and welcome the warmth these movies bring.

 

What did you think of  Holly and Ivy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Holly and Ivy is available through Hallmark Movies and Mystery.

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