If you have watched many holiday films (ie. the Hallmark and Lifestyle telefilms) and are open to watching a film that pokes fun at that, then you may find “Cup of Cheer” to be to your liking!
TITLE: Cup of Cheer
FILM YEAR: 2020
DURATION: 1 Hour and 34 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition
RATED: R
Directed by Jake Horowitz
Written by Jake Horowitz, Andy Lewis
Producer: Daniel Everitt-Lock, Jake Horowitz, Andy Lewis
Associate Producer: Luke Avoledo
Music by Braden Barrie
Cinematography by Daniel Everitt-Lock
Edited by Jake Horowitz
Casting by Colleen Bolton, Maureen Webb
Production Design by Jess Craymer
Starring:
Storm Steenson as Mary
Alexander Oliver as Chris
Liam Marshall as Keith
Jacob Hogan as Authuh
Helly Chester as Mrs. Clovenwitch
Braden Barrie as Henchman
Shawn Vincent as Mai Ex
Steve Kasan Sheriff Rudolph
Adam Jenner as Santa
In a comedic shakeup of every cheesy Christmas film, a big city journalist goes to a small town for the holidays and finds herself in an unlikely romance with the owner of a struggling hot cocoa shop.
From Jake Horowitz and Andy Lewis comes a hilarious holiday comedy film poking some fun on many of those holiday films I have reviewed!
“Cup of Season” originally was streamed on Amazon Prime back in 2020 and now it’s available on many streaming platforms. Currently it’s a holiday film free to watch on VUDU.
The film stars Storm Steenson (“Sunshine City”, “The Boys”, “Forbidden: Dying for Love”), Alexander Oliver (“LIDO TV”, “The Middle”, “Freelancer”), Liam Marshall (“Sunshine City”, “Sofa Queens”), Jacob Hogan (“Out to Lunch”, “View”) and Helly Chester (“Fear Thy Neighbor”, “The Long Weekend”).
The film introduces us to writer named Mary Lady (portrayed by Storm Steenson) from the Big City who writes for a magazine about the Big City and who gets a job to write a Christmas article in Snowy Heights about the town’s world famous Christmas cheer. And it’s a town where Mary grew up.
Her editor tells her to not fall in love with some some small town 8/10 stranger and find the true meaning of Christmas, because she’s lost many good writers. And also, her article is due on Christmas Eve.
So, Mary leaves the big city to head to the small town of Snowy Heights and while visiting through town, a big garbage full of hot cocoa is spilled on Mary. It turns out the person who spilled the hot cocoa on Mary is Chris Mus (portrayed by Alexander Oliver) who runs a coffee shop “Cup of Cheer” with his brother Keith (portrayed by Liam Marshall).
Unfortunately, Mary’s reservations and laptop were destroyed when the hot cocoa fell on her and now she needs a place to stay. But thanks to Keith, he offers her to stay at their place.
But bad news comes to the Cup of Cheer when their landlord, Ebenezer Chan, sends them an anonymous message that if Cup of Cheer can not pay their rent by Christmas Eve, he will be killed.
But can Mary find a way for Kevin and Keith to save Cup of Cheer?
Now, the idea of a film made as satire on Holiday films, peaked my curiousity.
Now, “Cup of Cheer” is consistent with idiotic comedy films in the fact that people will find the jokes fun, some will not. Some will be entertained, some will find the comedy to be too dumb for their taste. I, on the other hand don’t mind these type of comedy films and so I found “Cup of Cheer” a film to be entertained by it and laugh.
From the writer assigned by an editor to cover Christmas in a small town and being warned not to fall in love or find the true meaning of Christmas. To the idiotic nature of these characters (I can only imagine how many takes this film took, to keep a straight face in some of the most obnoxious things being said must have been challenging).
Last year, I did a holiday film marathon in which I watched 50 consecutive holiday films in 2021 and I decided to do it again this year, in 2022. But this time, I have “Cup of Fear” on the list to watch and just laugh because the dialogue coming out of these character’s mouths, especially from Mrs. Clovenwitch is hilarious.
Especially when people sing Christmas songs and they don’t know the words. So, in one scene, people are singing “Silent Night” but don’t know the words, so they just keep singing “Silent Night” over and over. And while there are many hilarious scenes, there were a few scenes that were just not needed (ie. the handwashing scene). And some scenes that were really interesting… The film possibly has one of the wildest kissing scenes ever.
Still, “Cup of Cheer” is still entertaining, or perhaps I’m just a person who enjoyed a lot of the comedy bits.
Is it a great film? Definitely not. But it never intends to be a great comedy film, but something that pokes fun at holiday films. Some jokes are hilarious, some jokes are not. As with a lot of holiday films, some are entertaining, some are not.
If anything, if you have watched many holiday films (ie. the Hallmark and Lifestyle telefilms) and are open to watching a film that pokes fun at that, then you may find “Cup of Cheer” to be to your liking!
