The Most Colorful Time of the Year highlights a profession that’s often overlooked when it comes to Hallmark holiday movies. Katrina Bowden (30 Rock) stars as an optometrist who just can’t help but help her daughter’s science teacher face his color blindness head-on. Does this movie have 20/20 vision, or will you need a pair of eye patches to get through it? Get it — so you can cover your eyes instead of watching it? Moving on…
THE MOST COLORFUL TIME OF THE YEAR: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Katrina Bowden plays Dr. Michelle Stevens, an optometrist who suspects something’s up with her daughter’s science teacher. Mr. Ryan Tanner (Christopher Russell) is smart, tall, and handsome — so why does he get flustered when anyone mentions colors to him? And why does he hate Christmas, so much so that he’s banned all decorations from his stuffy classroom? Michelle knows what’s up: Ryan sees the world in black and white. Literally. He sees no color at all. That’s when Michelle comes across a clinical trial for lenses that — fingers crossed — will reverse the genetic condition of colorblindness.
Michelle is determined to help her daughter’s science teacher in this personal matter that he’s gone to great lengths to hide from everyone, but will he ever let her help him? Oh — and Michelle’s creepy ex Mark (Austin Ball) won’t leave her alone.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: After a season of genre-defying movies and movies with big laughs, this is a Hallmark movie that feels way more like the Hallmark of years past. There’s also a touch of the 1994 Miracle on 34th Street, re: Michelle’s daughter Bailey (Ava Weiss), but I’ll leave that connection for you to make.
Performance Worth Watching: Ava Weiss gives a good performance as Michelle’s daughter. This kid is bold enough to use a Christmas tree in her “where do colors come from” presentation even though all the kids know Mr. Tanner’s a big ol’ grinch.
Memorable Dialogue: Said the optometrist to the science teacher, “I’m not gonna give up on you. I’m determined to help, I really am. I just hope you decide to let me.”
A Holiday Tradition: The town of Centerville has the usual tree lighting event, Brighton Elementary School has a Christmas concert, and Michelle’s sister’s church has a present wrapping event. Ryan doesn’t do Christmas — but he does now.
Two Turtle Doves: Instead of pairing The Most Colorful Time of the Year with another movie with a similar premise from 2022, it may be fun to follow it up with the most colorful Christmas movie or special you can think of. Honestly, this year’s Spirited or The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special could work, as could any iteration of The Grinch.
Does the Title Make Any Sense?: I’m all for any movie title that makes me think of Andy Williams.
Our Take: Well, they can’t all be winners. Okay — maybe The Most Colorful Time of the Year would have fared better in previous Hallmark lineups. Compared to all of the ambitious, weird, and classy holiday movies we’ve gotten from Hallmark this year, though, it doesn’t really compare. And that has nothing to do with the performances; I love seeing Katrina Bowden in this kind of role, such a far cry from 30 Rock’s Cerie. It has everything to do with the fact that this story is, to be honest, absolute madness. That’s not necessarily a bad thing! The Hallmark movies that have wild motives and bizarre plot twists are often memorable, and The Most Colorful Time of the Year definitely has those.
As an optometrist, Dr. Stevens is a total loose cannon. She does not let any personal or professional boundaries stop her from attempting to fix her daughter’s science teacher’s vision. She goes so far that a couple of characters — Mr. Tanner included — bring up the concept of consent to her. She absolutely goes too far, but Bowden’s likable performance keeps Dr. Stevens from veering into stalker territory. It also doesn’t hurt that all of the movie’s stalker energy radiates from Michelle’s ex Mark.
But the real head scratcher unfolds over the course of the movie, almost in slow motion. Eventually, after numerous hints, it becomes clear that the movie does not know how color blindness works. Mr. Tanner isn’t merely red-green or blue-yellow color blind. He can see no color, like all of his vision is a TV show from the 1950s. I’m not color blind but I thought it was pretty common knowledge that being color blind does not mean that you see no color. Granted, there is a condition called monochromacy that affects vision in this manner — but it occurs in 1 in 100,000 men. Red-green colorblindness occurs in 1 in 12 men. Just a cursory Google search gave me that info, and this major plot goof could have been avoided by having Dr. Stevens — an optometrist — simply say, “You have monochromatism.” Instead she says his condition is “rather acute” which feels like an understatement. This man is 1 in 100,000 — literally!
Then there’s the magical cure-all lenses that, despite what viral videos lead you to believe, don’t really allow colorblind people to see all the colors. Instead they increase the contrast between the colors that, normally for them, appear as one muddy color. But hey — the lenses are going through clinical trials. I have no idea what medical breakthroughs have been made in the Hallmark movie-verse. And again, I may be getting some facts wrong. I’m not an expert, but at least I googled.
I can, without a doubt, forgive the magic lenses. After all, I did watch a Hallmark movie wherein a widower hooked up with an immortal witch who lives in a storybook village. Magic lenses that make the season bright for everyone? Sure! But not knowing how color blindness works, the very thing upon which the entire movie’s premise is built upon, is — well, it makes for a very memorable Hallmark movie, just maybe not in the way the filmmakers intended.
Our Call: SKIP IT. And please, members of the optometry and/or colorblind community, I want to know about every single factual error in the movie.