Mingle All the Way
Mingle All the Way
Starring Jen Lilley, Brant Daugherty, Lindsay Wagner, Casey Manderson
Directed by Allan Harmon
The third - and final - Hallmark Christmas Original I was challenged to watch was "Mingle All the Way," and my friend not only suggested it but also watched it with me with her husband at her house with some delicious pasta and bread, so I had a nice full belly going in, and maybe it was the food but I found this one to be the most enjoyable of the three.
This review is brought to you by Jergens...with Jergens, you're more than just a pretty face.
So the premise of the movie is this: Molly (Jen Lilley) is a successful app developer who's just made a new app called "Mingle All the Way" (hence the movie's title) that pairs successful singles together to be each other's platonic partner at networking events so you don't have to go alone because the worst thing possible is being alone - but it's not a dating site (wink). Her overbearing mother (Lindsay Wagner) wants Molly to be married so bad because her younger sister who looks like her eyes, nose, and mouth are way too small for her face managed to do so, and holds firm to the belief that you can't be happy alone.
Meanwhile, Jeff (Brant Daugherty) works at an advertising company whose boss pretty much shuns anyone who doesn't have a ring on, as Jeff isn't invited to any of his boss's reindeer games - but his cocky, arrogant, stuck-up co-worker is because he's married (whose wife we never see, and can only assume he has her chained in his basement until she's needed for functions). I'm pretty sure Jeff's boss is guilty of some sort of discrimination against singles, but Jeff doesn't seem to mind much, until news arises of a prestigious job opening in Los Angeles that his boss only wants to fill with a married man.
Molly signs up for her app so she can have first-hand knowledge of how it works so she can sell it to possible investors, and Jeff signs up as well at the behest of his sister, who is a lot like Molly's mother in that she believes you cannot be happy single, and guess who they match up with! Molly goes on a few networking events with Justin Bieber, while Jeff does the same with Jessica Alba (I'm very surprised Hallmark managed to pay these two big-named famous people to appear in this movie!)...actually, no, that's not what happened. The two are paired (who, ironically, have actually met two times before with equally disastrous results...oh the odds! The first time they met Jeff buys a Christmas topper Molly wanted to buy, and the second time Molly accidentally trips and knocks stuff out of Jeff's hands, to which my friend's five-year-old son shouted "eat that sucker!" and I couldn't be prouder in my choice of friends), and they seem to be complete opposites - Molly hates Christmas, is rather grinchy, and completely focused on her job while Jeff loves Christmas, loves his niece (husband material!), and constantly berates Molly for her lack of holiday spirit (what a knight in shining armor!). Oh, and Molly doesn't tell Jeff she actually invented the app...something I'm sure will never come up again and won't affect the story in any way.
So as the two participate in more functions, the normal thing happens: they begin to fall for once another! It's like Stockholm Syndrome when neither one is chained up - unlike Jeff's d-bag's co-worker's wife. So as the two begin to kindle a relationship, they come across the natural pitfalls - the overbearing mother who lambasts her daughter in front of her prospective new beau (since nothing says commitment like an overbearing future mother-in-law), the ex-girlfriend who shows up (LITERALLY) out of nowhere and causes Molly to completely overreact (heh, women...am I right? No?), and of course the denouement (I taught my friend that word) with the eventual big reveal that Jeff is actually Santa Claus and wanted to put a little holiday magic in everyone's lives.
There's an episode of "American Dad" where Stan (the father) believes Hayley (his daughter) is on the wrong path as she wants to travel the world by herself and experience life to its fullest, so he triggers her with a phrase (he's in the CIA, and at an early age set a trigger phrase in his daughter's head) that makes her loose her self-will, and he assigns her a husband and sets her on "the path of happiness." Ultimately this doesn't end well and pretty much everyone learns a lesson. What I first liked about "Mingle All the Way" is the emphasis placed on being an individual and not having to necessary find someone to complete you - but this is Hallmark after all, and they don't sell many greeting cards to single folk! As a single guy myself I've found the stigma of being alone in social situations, most notably going to movies alone. I actually prefer it for the most part (unless it's a big-budget spectacle, to which I have a wealth of friends to go with), and I actually enjoy my own company (I'm a hoot, get to know me!). The idea of an app for just friends is nice (I think there actually are some of those, but even those end up just being random hookup apps), but this film proves that even that is impossible (and, therefore, technically, the app should've been a total failure).
Yet I actually enjoyed this movie (again, maybe it was because of the company or the pasta) due to it not being a typical Hallmark movie with eye-blinding colors everywhere (there's actually plenty of dark scenes, as well as one outdoors when it's actually raining and not snowing...yet the actors are completely dry, which didn't make sense), and while the ultimate outcome is very Hallmark-y, it flowed more naturally than the other two I saw that made it feel more forced than anything. This one also gives us an actual villain to despise, but again I just felt bad for his chained-up wife.
Also you may be wondering why I said this review was sponsored by Jergens with the screenshot. That's because in one scene Molly and her mother are talking and they literally focus on a container of Jergens as Molly uses it. Product placement is often used in movies, but never to this obvious extent. Now if you'll excuse me I need to use some Jergens on my dry chapped hands.
"Mingle All the Way" gives an important life message: you'll never be happy single. Thank you Hallmark for that life-changing information, I'll continue being miserable for the rest of my life.
The Score: C+
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