Hallmark’s “Very Different” Holiday Film: Andrew Walker and Lacey Chabert to Star
If you are a romantic, you probably have a specific ritual when the temperature drops and cozy season begins. Andrew Walker and Lacey Chabert star in Hallmark’s “Very Different” holiday film just in time for the season. What lies in store for both fans and skeptics of Hallmark’s “happily ever after” plotlines?
Predictability or Comforting Familiarity?
Grab the fuzzy socks, brew something with an excessive amount of cinnamon, and prepare for a cozy afternoon or evening with the Hallmark Channel. We know exactly what “ingredients” our hearts long to see: a big-city lawyer/baker/veterinarian gets stranded in a town with a name like “Holly Creek,” hates the local flannel-wearing grump, and is engaged to him by Christmas Eve. It is the television equivalent of comfort food. It’s predictable, it’s comforting, and one refuses to apologize for it.
Or does this phenomenon speak to something deeper than mere sentimentality and cliches? This year, Lacey Chabert is shaking up the formula. She is reuniting with Andrew Walker for the first time in seven years, and she wants us to know that we are in for a very different holiday movie experience.
Andrew Walker and Lacey Chabert Star in Hallmark’s “Very Different” Holiday Film
It is hard to believe it has been nearly a decade since Chabert and Walker graced our screens together in “My Secret Valentine”. In the Hallmark universe, seven years is basically a geological era. That 2018 film, where they passed chalkboard notes back and forth while trying to save a family winery, is often cited by fans as a top-tier classic. So, the pressure for their reunion in the upcoming film “She’s Making a List” is arguably higher than the stakes of a gingerbread house competition.
When “Us Weekly” caught up with Chabert recently, she was quick to dispel the idea that they are just rehashing old territory. When asked if the new project was similar to their previous hit, she said bluntly, “I don’t think so. I think they’re very different movies.”
While she reassured us that the movie still has the “happy ending” required by unspoken Hallmark law, she emphasized that the tone is unique. It’s poised to be both funny and poignant.
The Corporate Side of Celebration
Here is where things take a turn from the usual “saving the family inn” plot. In “She’s Making a List,” Chabert plays Isabel, who isn’t a baker or a secret princess. She is a “Naughty or Nice list inspector.”
Yes, you read that right. Apparently, in this cinematic universe, the North Pole has outsourced its judgment calls to a consulting firm because the population has boomed. Better data analytics are needed. It is a premise that is just obscure enough to work.
Isabel is sent to evaluate Charlie, a mischievous 11-year-old boy, to determine his moral standing. Naturally, she ends up falling for his widowed father, Jason (played by Walker), which may violate several clauses in her employment contract.
Chabert teased that the role involves disguises and undercover work, noting, “I have lots of different disguises and ways that I try to blend in. Ways that I’m very unsuccessful [at] blending in.”
Not Your Average Cookie-Cutter Rom-Com
What makes this sound like a truly very different holiday film isn’t just the bureaucratic angle; it’s the depth Chabert and Walker are bringing to it. Viewers are watching two models stare at each other in the snow. Chabert highlighted that the film focuses heavily on her character’s bond with the child, Charlie, not just the romance with the father.
“It’s the relationship that she ends up having with Charlie… she realizes the common bond and the common ground that they both share,” Chabert explained.
Of course, the real magic comes from the off-screen friendship between the two leads. Chabert gushed about Walker, calling him “the kindest human” and noting that their families are close friends in real life. That kind of shorthand usually translates to genuine chemistry on screen—the kind you can’t fake, even with the best lighting and fake snow money can buy.
Why We Can’t Quit the Hallmark Formula
Reading about the sheer volume of content Hallmark produces—40 new films in a single lineup—can feel overwhelming to the uninitiated. A “Vogue” writer who visited a set in Mystic, Connecticut, described the network as a “feel-good pharmacy,” dispensing pills of optimism to a cynical public.
We live in a world that is often chaotic, loud, and decidedly lacking in magical snowstorms that fix our interpersonal relationships. We tune in because we want to see good people find each other. The deepest longings of the human heart transcend time, and Hallmark knows this better than anyone.
So when they tell us this is going to be a very different holiday journey, have your cinnamon coffee ready when it premieres.
