When you put Robert Buckley into a role, you can guarantee one thing – he’s going to be so damn charming that you will fall in love with whatever character he is playing. It’s the innocence of the eyes, the sparkle in the smile, and the voice. That voice is as smooth as butter. There’s just something about Robert Buckley that you know – without question – you’re going to love him.
Little did we know that if you put him in a movie alongside Kimberley Sustad on screen, you would have one of the most entrancing and sweet Hallmark movies.
We know it is early in the Countdown to the Christmas season, but it will be hard to beat ‘Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper’ out of our top 5 movies this year. We didn’t expect to love it as much as we did.
The gist? Well, Ted Cooper always has something go wrong at Christmas time. He’s a weatherman trying to figure out life, and everyone reunites with his high school crush while back in his hometown. Ted has a lot going on – deciding if he is going to take on a new job, dealing with the people at his office, making bets on what will go wrong, falling for his high school crush, and figuring out how he feels there, and more.
Now, Ted Cooper, his one fault? Well, that would be just how positive he is all the time. It doesn’t matter to him what it is; he’s going to be overly positive about it. It’s called toxic positivity, Ted. We need to get past that.
Okay, it’s the holidays, and if there is one thing that everyone who knows Ted knows, he’s always got something going wrong around the holidays. His coworkers have a pool going on with what could happen to him this year. The anchorman (Brendan Penny) cracks me up because he’s the driving force behind it.
We all know that I love Brendan Penny, but we gotta get rid of that anchorman mustache cause that thing is just terrifying.
Cooper has headed home for the holidays – partially to work and partially to spend time with family. His sister is in charge of a fundraiser for the local children’s hospital, and being the brother that he is, he wants to support her. Kate knows that her brother has some holiday issues, so she’s definitely trying to minimize those. Cooper, though, believes that this could be the year when everything doesn’t go wrong. It could be the year where everything goes right.
Now, I would love to have that optimism, but I don’t. Yet, I am not Ted, so it doesn’t matter. Ted has some incidents that land him in urgent care, where he runs into his high school crush, Hope, who is now a doctor. He also runs into a teacher, Ruth Mitten.
Hope, played by Sustad, has moved back home to Lackawanna. Between the name of the city and the teacher’s name, I can’t stop laughing over their names. It’s pure gold. Ms. Mittens and her walking group will forever be our favorite thing. Cooper takes to Mittens and spends time with her, helping her. But more than that, her walking group really takes care of Ted.
Ted Cooper needs guidance. He tends to second-guess himself all of the time, while refusing to ever fight or challenge anyone. We’re not saying that he needs to argue; we’re just saying that he needs to express his emotions.
Hope and Ted, as their relationship evolves, we’re getting a lot of near kisses, but a lot of misses. It’s okay, build that tension. The two are definitely having a lot of fun, but there comes a point where Hope feels the need to call Ted out for his passiveness and positivity. He’s not assertive, doesn’t stand up for himself, and doesn’t ever want to confront anyone. She’s not saying fight people, but she does want Ted to express himself.
He seems incapable.
BUT, when Ted is challenged by Hope and this, he doesn’t really see the issue. He doesn’t get how his positivity in any situation is a hindrance. His inability to express himself is frustrating, but inevitably, he does.
What is it that he does want? Well, it’s the new job in Buffalo, as well as the girl. That’s right, he tells Hope that he wants to be with her. We, at this point, finally get what has been missing, and that is the kiss that has always been interrupted.
Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper is a good time. It’s charming, interesting, frustrating, and well injects Christmas into your veins. Sustad and Buckley are both charming, captivating, and make you root for their characters from beginning to end. Not to mention the laughter that you will experience from the beginning to the end.
