Holiday Movies in Disguise

So, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) went well.  I added over 10,000 words to the 11,611 I started with on my cozy mystery, so I’m happy.  Lots more to write, then edit, so still slogging merrily away 😊

But it’s also the holidays!  We don’t do a lot of decorating but we do have a lot of favorite holiday movies we watch.

Here are a couple of movies I watch during the holidays that you might not necessarily associate with Christmas.

I’m starting with the movie I’m most conflicted about.  I shouldn’t like You’ve Got Mail.  It’s about a big box book store moving into a New York City neighborhood that wants to close all the competition, including The Little Shop Around the Corner.  Tom Hanks plays Joe Fox, the charming figurehead of the big bad bookstore, Fox Books and Meg Ryan plays Kathleen Kelly, who is desperately trying to keep alive her late mother’s childrens bookstore.  Hanks and Ryan are at their peak, playing people who are sworn enemies in real life, not realizing that they’re falling in love via anonymous email (the sound of AOL connecting to the internet!  LOL!).  Part of the story takes place during December, so there are Christmas trees and gift buying, which makes this a holiday movie to me.

While You Were Sleeping is one of my favorite movies and definitely my favorite Sandra Bullock movie.  The action takes place between Christmas and New Year’s—definitely a holiday movie!  Lucy has a crush on Peter and saves his life after a mugging.  Through a mix up at the hospital, where Peter lies in a coma, his family believes she’s Peter’s fiancé.  They enthusiastically welcome her to the family, where she falls in love with Peter’s brother, Jack.  It’s a heartfelt rom-com with all the holiday trimmings.  The Husband and I plan to find the building used for Lucy’s apartment the next time we’re in Chicago!

Yup, Hanks and Ryan again, although they don’t actually have many scenes together in this one.  Sleepless in Seattle starts on Christmas Eve and progresses through New Year’s Eve to Valentine’s Day, so it’s pretty versatile, holiday-wise.  Sam and Annie are made for each other, but they live a continent apart and have never met.  Sam’s son calls a radio show on Christmas Eve and Sam gets roped into talking about his late wife.  Annie hears the show and becomes obsessed with meeting Sam, even though she has a lovely fiancé of her own.  An unusual rom-com with two characters to root for.  And bonus, Rita Wilson describing the plot of An Affair to Remember is one of my favorite scenes of all time!

And last, my fave that I’ve been watching every year for decades, The Desk Set.  The action takes place from early December through early January-definitely holiday fare.  Katharine Hepburn plays Bunny Watson, a librarian for a tv network.  Spencer Tracy plays Richard Sumner, the inventor of a computer system that Bunny and her staff think will take their jobs come the new year.  Hepburn, Tracy, Gig Young, Joan Blondell and Dina Merrill shine as they navigate secrets, misunderstandings and romance.  A very witty screenplay that would be at home on stage, some of my favorite scenes include one on a cold rooftop between Tracy and Hepburn trying to one up each other and two scenes with Hepburn and Blondell that are so funny, mostly because you can see that the two women are enjoying the hell out of themselves!

What movies do you watch during the holidays that most people don’t think of primarily as holiday movies?

PS-Yes, Virginia, Die Hard IS a Christmas movie!!

Current Reads and Watches

What I’m reading now (paper): High Spirits by Carol J. Perry (Takes place around Christmas)

What I’m reading now (Kindle): Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler

What I’m binge watching: Christmas Movies on Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime