Chabert X-Mas Watch: The Christmas Waltz (2020)

no idea why dude looks like he's about to abduct Chabert

Watched:  06/07/2025

Format:  Hallmark

Viewing:  First full time through

Director/ Writer:  Michael Damian

Job: Attorney 

Location of story:  Manhattan

new skill:  Waltzing

Man:  Will Kemp

Job of Man:  Dance instructor

Goes to/ Returns to:  It's all in Manhattan

Event:  The Christmas Dance show

Food:  Wedding cake?  

The curious thing about the Will Kemp/ Chabert movies is that (a) Chabert is *not* a classically trained dancer, and (b) Kemp is, like, 9 inches taller than her.  So it's not a traditional ballroom couple.  But it does fulfill some vision of a graceful man taking the audience's stand-in in Chabert and making sure you CAN dance.  And isn't that what it's all about?

The Christmas Waltz (2020) is about power-lawyer Chabert figuring out her perfect life and Christmas wedding are not happening when her absolute shitheel of a fiancé decides to take a promotion and move to Boston less than four weeks before their wedding.  I mean...  honestly, guy.

Chabert has signed them up for dance lessons for their wedding dance, but winds up using the lessons for herself, remembering she loved to dance as a child and walked away from it to lead the perfect life her fiancé just poured gasoline on, and then tossed a match.  

Kemp, a real-life pro dancer, plays the owner of the studio/ her teacher.  He's charming and non-threatening, and his dreams of opening more studios aren't the corporate grind Chabert is in, nor what she lost her fiancé to, so that's attractive.  

This one is from the point at which Hallmark was all-in on Chabert, so the budget is there for locations like a full concert hall, lots of extras, and actual dance sequences.  If you want to watch a Hallmark movie that's better than many at Christmas, I'd rec this one.  Kemp and Chabert are a good pairing.  And the dance bits are better than you'd figure.

Credit to Jeremy Guilbaut, who plays the heel fiancé.  This is the rare Hallmark movie that has not just something of a confrontation between Business Man and New Boyfriend, it actually *feels* like a guy trying to intimidate another guy.  We're not just told this guy sux, he's a genuine asshole.

The biggest mystery is why Kemp's character didn't hook up with his co-worker.  She's right there.

Is it stupid?

No.  It's totally fine.  Maybe not for everyone, but this is Grade A material for Hallmark.

Chabert herself is solid in this.  There's actual acting going on!  I mean, she gets dumped, she has parents who are of no help... she's frustrated.  I know it sounds like an insult by naming the basics, but this is the kind of stuff that usually just gets cued through soundtrack and a blank look in these movies.  

Also, they had wardrobe money, it would seem, so she's in a different outfit in like every shot.