12 Men of Christmas (2009)

A high-powered New York City publicist finds herself in Montana promoting a charity calendar after being betrayed by her boss and fiancé. Unfortunately, matters of the heart are just as complicated in the wilds as they are in the big city.

Director:

Arlene Sanford

Writers:

Jon Maas (teleplay), Phillipa Ashley (novel)

Stars:

Kristin Chenoweth, Josh Hopkins, Anna Chlumsky

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kristin Chenoweth	...	E.J. Baxter
Josh Hopkins	...	Will Albrecht
Anna Chlumsky	...	Jan Lucas
Erin Dilly	...	Roz Baxter
Stephen Huszar	...	Jason Farrar
Heather Hanson	...	Lillah Sherwood
Jefferson Brown	...	Eric
Craig Eldridge	...	Mayor Bob Baker
Chantal Perron	...	Dr. Marci Hempel
Paul Constable	...	Dave Hempel
Aaron Abrams	...	Les Pizula
Frank Chiesurin	...	Scott Lewis
Peter Mooney	...	Noah
Joe Norman Shaw	...	Eddie
Jessie Pavelka	...	Henry Diepeveen

Storyline

E.J. Baxter has what she considers the trifecta of New York perfection: the perfect job as a PR executive with Lillah Sherwood's firm where she is the miracle maker; the perfect apartment; and the perfect man in her fiancé and coworker, Noah. E.J.'s life comes crashing down just before Christmas when she is fired from her job, and finds out that Noah is cheating on her, which not only leads to her calling off their engagement but changing what were to be their romantic holiday plans. After a few months of not being able to find a job with a reputable rival PR firm because of no one willing to cross Lillah, E.J. is forced to accept one of the two less than perfect jobs offered to her. The job that she accepts from Mayor Bob Baker is to work in Kalispell, Montana - population 19,000 and located hours from a large city - on a one year contract for its tourist board to encourage corporate retreats to the town. E.J. is a fish out of water in Kalispell, but finds that there are some ...

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Plot Keywords:

reference to jane austen | montana | calendar | white panties | panties | 

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Taglines:

Calendar Girls meets The Full Monty

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 December 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Twelve Men of Christmas

Filming Locations:

Big Bear, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lisa Demberg Productions, Fox Television Studios, Lifetime Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kristin Chenoweth's character talks to her sister about The Wizard of Oz (1939); Chenoweth starred in the Broadway musical production "Wicked" which parallels the story depicted in the classic film.

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Goofs

Kalispell is right outside one of the gates to Glacier National Park so there would not be snowboarding in the park while it is summer in the town (as implied by the avalanche news article).

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Quotes

Will Albrecht: Well, Ms. Baxter.
E.J. Baxter: Mr. Albrecht.
Will Albrecht: How 'bout that? We actually have something in common. We both go to the post office on Saturdays.
E.J. Baxter: Hm. I imagine a lot of people do.
Will Albrecht: Yeah, well, I'm sure you're right. Enjoying your day?
E.J. Baxter: Hm. Just doing errands.
Will Albrecht: Me too.
E.J. Baxter: You'll be surprised to know that I haven't gotten lost once yet today.
Will Albrecht: Well, it's not even noon yet, so... Yeah, Saturday mornings are all about errands for me, but then I always head to this little brunch place down the block.
E.J. Baxter: Nice.
[...]

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Connections

References Pride and Prejudice: Episode #1.4 (1995)

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Soundtracks

Bang for Bucks
(uncredited)
Performed by Nicholas Nolan
[at the bake sale]

User Reviews

Sassy movie, but not altogether bad.

This movie had sassy written all over it, but yet I sat through it till the very end.

The story told in "Twelve Men of Christmas" is right out of the academy of clichés; a corporate high-end New York woman going to a small town in Montana to get away, and here she ends up taking advantage of all her skill she acquired in New York, in order to raise funds for the local search and rescue crew. Alrighty then, not really believable, but still a movie came from it. The story is, of course, the type of story that you have figured out the course it will take and how it will end right from the beginning. So no big surprise there!

As for the cast and acting, well I can't really say that it was bad. I found the cast to actually be good enough, though I haven't really seen any of the faces before (and the head of Kristin Chenoweth is kind of hard to get around), though I seem to recall having seen Josh Hopkins somewhere before, though I can't recall where exactly. Josh was actually the most memorable of all people in the movie here.

The setting of the movie was fantastic. Really nice and beautiful scenery, nature, and an idyllic town setting. That was so nice to look at.

There were a couple of times throughout the movie where the movie might have actually become funny, but it never shined through. It was always just brooding beneath the surface. But of course, this wasn't really a comedy.

Despite it being a super predictable movie, I still found "Twelve Men of Christmas" to be good enough entertainment, though you have to fight your way through a tsunami of sassyness along the way. But ultimately, I was entertained, but I doubt that I will be returning to the movie for a second watching, ever. This is the type of movie that will go well with women with big romantic hearts and suckers for sassy movies.

Oh, and before I forgot. I noticed the coolest blooper ever in this movie. If you manage to sit through the movie, take a good look at the drummer in the background at the pre-launch party for the calender. He goes crazy at the drums at a certain time, and it doesn't even match the drumming sounds from the actual music playing. But wait, it gets better. The guy isn't even hitting the drums, hi-hats or cymbals, he is just drumming in midair, and it is so obviously clear to see. I had to go back in the movie to watch it a second time, it was just that priceless. Hilarious stuff right there.