Rating: 🎄🎄
Premiere Date: November 30, 2025
Description: Olivia Pierce (Cahill) is a marketing executive from Oakland, California who is this close to realizing her dream of purchasing a condo, but she’s a bit short on the down payment. When she learns that her late great aunt left her half of a cat café in upstate New York she thinks it’s the Christmas miracle she needed – as long as she can sell and close the deal before the holidays. Olivia’s plan hits a bump in the road when she meets Dr. Ben Kane (Campbell), the veterinarian who owns the other half. The café serves an important role in the town – helping homeless cats find forever homes – and he has no intention of closing up shop. Christmas is the most important time of the year as they plan many activities to help raise funds and get them into the black. Olivia and Ben strike a deal – she agrees to help him plan the fundraising events at the café over the next three weeks in exchange for Ben promising not to drag his heels on selling at the end of that time. Unless, Ben notes, she ends up changing her mind – a lot can happen in three weeks, after all. As they work together and a spark between them grows, Olivia becomes part of the neighborhood, gains an appreciation for the café’s adorable feline inhabitants and what it means to Ben, as well as to the entire community. And when she learns the surprising reason her great aunt opened the café in the first place, that just might be the cat-alyst for change that will give them all a Merry Christmas. Starring Erin Cahill and Paul Campbell.
Chemistry: Ok, look. I’m going to shoot you straight. Cahill and Campbell are Hallmark veterans who normally provide great Hallmark fodder for the season. This wasn’t it. They didn’t click together and it wasn’t believable.
Plot: I’m also a hard sell on movies centered around pets. I don’t mind cats. In fact, I enjoy cats. But this one was a push. There was one shot of a cat getting close to a latte at the beginning that made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. I do not understand the appeal of a cat cafe, and that turned me off from the entire plot of this one.
Design: It was Hallmark, so the design was fine. There wasn’t anything glaring–or great, for that matter.
Overall: Put it on if you’ve got time or have a deep, deep affinity for cat culture. It wasn’t my cup of cat fur filled tea, but it might be yours.
Best Enjoyed With: A latte from a cafe that doesn’t allow cats on the counter.
Holiday Movie Wrap 