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Stars: 4.5 / 5
Recommendation: Two stories collide at the end solving the mystery that traverses through the plot. With great cast this is another feather in the series for Hallmark, and a must watch.
Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas is the fifth movie in Hallmark Movies & Mysteries the Time to Come Home Movie series. It was released on November 26 2022 in USA as part of Hallmark’s Miracles of Christmas series. The films has Holland Roden, Tyler Hynes and Steve Bacic in the lead cast. Directed by David Winning and written by Marcy Holland, again it is produced by a plethora of producers including Blake Shelton and his mother Dorothy Shackleford.
Four days before Christmas, Elizabeth Athens (portrayed by Holland Roden) receives a message from a number she doesn’t recognize – message left by Carter Bishop (portrayed by Steve Bacic). The message has a man doing his final plea at a second chance to this woman named Madelyn (portrayed by Meghan Gardner). She reluctantly takes help of her one-time best friend Josh Hart (portrayed by Tyler Hynes) in finding the woman and give her the message before it is too late.
Tyler Hynes as Josh is his usual cynical self but with a hint of comedy within. Having not seen Holland Roden before this film, I went in with no expectations. However the chemistry between both of them was spot on. The ache each of them have for each other brought me tears several times.
I was so glad to see Steve Bacic in this film as Carter Bishop. I loved him in the Garage Sale Mystery movies where he had played the role of Jason Shannon, the husband to Lori Loughlin’s Jen Shannon. Too bad Lori’s scandal had an impact on Bacic’s career as well. He had been missed from Hallmark movies.
The first movie, 2018 Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas was based on the book Time for Me to Come Home written by Blake Shelton’s mother Dorothy Shackleford and Travis Thrasher and released in October of 2013. Blake Shelton had also released a song of the same name as the book with vocals also performed by Dorothy. This appears in Shelton’s 2012 album Cheers, It’s Christmas.
Although neither of the five movies are connected from the point of story or timeline, we do see continuity of Shelton’s song in all the five movies. There are some minor facts and scenes that continue through all the five movies (check Movie Trivia section below) to tie them though. Here is the original song by Shelton
This is also the first of the five movies in the series that writing credits are NOT given to Dorothy Shackleford and Travis Thrasher. It is exclusively credited to Marcy Holland.
The key in this film is the plea coming from a stranger that tugs at both the lead characters who had been avoiding each other. That plea is what makes the entire movie. And then there is a mystery attached to the plea – finding Madelyn and try to get her the message. But also a parallel story runs between the lead characters Elizabeth and Josh. Both the stories converge in the end paving way to forgiveness, revelations and second chances.
The movie also touches on what happens to the people who are left behind after a traumatic incident goes through their life. It’s just not one family that gets impacted, its almost a village that suffers together, heals together, forgives together and survives in the end. That was a powerful message that Hallmark tried to hone in on the viewers with this film,
My favorite of the five movies is the 2020 Time For Us to Come Home for Christmas, even though this post is for the fifth and the latest movie. Although the rest of them are also heartwarming and tear jerking. Having Tyler Hynes on this film helped it be a fan favorite for 2022.
Tyler had just recently been part of another heart warming film by Hallmark – Three Wise Men and A Baby. Love both of his movies. And another one of his films that shows clearly why Tyler Hynes is one of the popular Hallmark movies’ leading man; and one of the four top leading men that I love too. 🙂
Again Hallmark moves a little away from it’s standard formula. There is no big city girl returning to her home town to help the town or her family or fix something that no one could fix until she arrived, meet her old boyfriend, review why they broke up, ponder why her current relationship doesn’t work and why she should go back to her old flame, have an almost kiss, an accidental misunderstanding, and get it all resolved by the last 5 minutes of the movie.
So we have had so far, a Time for – a “Me”, a “You”, a “Us”, a “Them” and a “Him” – to Come Home for Christmas. If we go thru the list of pronouns, my gut says we will have a Time for “Her” to Come Home for Christmas next year. I hope so! **Crossing My Fingers**
A little cheesy, a lot of mystery, we get more than romance; we get revelations, redemption, second chances and forgiveness. Two stories collide at the end solving the mystery that traverses through the plot. With great cast this is another feather in the series for Hallmark, and a must watch.
Spoiler Alerts:
Movie Trivia:
- The other four movies in the Time to Come Home for Christmas are – 2018 Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas; 2019 Time for You to Come Home for Christmas; 2020 Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas; and 2021 Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas. Interestingly enough three of them were directed by David Winning. The 2019 one was by Terry Ingram and the 2021 one was directed by Peter Benson, another Hallmark regular and a favorite.
- The main song in question that the series of movies revolve around has different origin in each movie:
- In the 2018 Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas, the lead actor Josh’s character Heath Sawyer creates the song for his Christmas album. Towards the end of the movie, Josh Henderson and Megan Park supported by Susan Hogan and other characters sing the song while Josh gives his guitar skills a spin.
ii. In the 2019 Time for You to Come Home for Christmas, the lead actor Lucas Bryant’s character Jack Sutherland and his trio of band members – Maggie Rhodes (portrayed by Caitlin Stryker) and Roger Barnes (portrayed by Sebastian Stewart) – work on to create this new song for the Snow Ball during Christmas. And towards the end Maggie Rhodes sings a few lines in the final scene.
iii. In the 2020 Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas, the song is part of a 1980s album The Blue Note Trio by Leon’s character Jasper Penderson in the film. Leon is in real-life also a singer-song writer and a musician. And the song keeps playing all through the film by various characters who play the album or on radio. And in the end Leon sings on stage in the final scene. Although Leon was not credited for his signing. In fact this version of the original song I like much better than the actual song. Perhaps Leon’s voice gives it a much needed tug at your heart than what Shelton could bring to the song. Check out the video that I recorded and you will know what I mean.
iv. In the 2021 Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas, the movie opens with the main song sung by Blake Shelton. Then the song keeps playing all through the movie. We also hear a band playing the movie in a county fair in a town the lead cast stop.
3. The five movies have several continuity scenes or facts to tie them all together:
i. In the 2019 Time for You to Come Home for Christmas movie, Katherine Moss (Portrayed by Alison Sweeney) makes thumbprint jam cookies using Stone Bridge preserves, Cara Hill’s (portrayed by Megan Park) company from 2018 Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas movie.
ii. Alison Sweeney reprises her role as Katherine Moss in the 2021 Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas movie. She also gives Brendan and Jessy’s characters a box of Winter Family Christmas Croissants and says that they are her husband’s favorite. So we get to see that Katherine Moss married Jack Sutherland two years later, and she continues to make Christmas Croissants that she made for Jack in that 2019 film.
iii. In the 2019 Time for You to Come Home for Christmas movie, lead cast Lucas Bryant and Alison Sweeney’s characters Jack Sutherland and Katherine Moss respectively watch the 1940 American fantasy film Beyond Tomorrow being played in the barn scene. In the 2021 Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas movie, the lead cast Jessy Schram and Brenda Penny’s characters Rebecca and Paul Bennett respectively watch the same movie in the hotel room while they are sheltering from snow.
iv. In the 2022 movie, the lead cast search for the song tune and find it in the 1986 album The Blue Note trio. The same album we hear about in the 2020 Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas movie, but the year is mentioned as 1984 in that film. And both scenes have Leon’s voice for the song as opposed to Blake Shelton’s.
4. These series of movies also have some famous country singers vying to be part of it. First was Josh Henderson, an American country music singer, who was the lead in the first film in the series, 2018 Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas. And in this current film – Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas – we see Tenille Townes making her debut. She performs her version of Blake Shelton’s song towards the end of the movie.
Grammatical / Historical / Location / Character Errors:
- When Elizabeth and Josh are walking out the diner, we see in the window that Carter and Madeline are already sitting at the table. But a closeup shot of the diner window shows them going to the table at that moment. And then in the long shot we see Elizabeth and Josh watching them seated at the table.
Galavant Reflections 