Hulu Has the Best Cheesy Christmas Movie Double Feature Ever

I’m just gonna be blunt: if you want to watch the best Christmas romcoms, you’re not gonna find them on Netflix. I’m not trying to be a Grinch! Netflix has some good Christmas originals, especially The Princess Switch and The Christmas Chronicles. But neither of those films, especially not the Christmas Prince franchise, hold a Christmas candle to what’s been added over on Hulu just in time for your holiday binge-fests. If you want to host the absolute best made-for-TV Christmas cheer, you need to stream these two movies back-to-back: 12 Dates of Christmas and The Mistle-Tones. As Decider’s in-house Christmas maniac, the reporter/producer who watches literally a hundred-and-a-half Christmas things every year (and then turns them into huge lists and flowcharts), trust me when I say these two movies are heads and shoulders above even the best that Netflix has to offer when it comes to fun and festive films.

Okay, I know how this works: since I made such a bold statement, I have to back it up with reasons. I get it! You don’t know how anything could be campier than A Christmas Prince or more joyful than, uh, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding? If those two are your idea silly seasonal entertainment, get ready to have your mind blown.

12 Dates of Christmas originally aired in 2011 and stars Amy Smart and Saved By the Bell’s all-grown-up Mark-Paul Gosselaar (you can’t have a perfect holiday romcom without a ’90s TV star!). Smart plays Kate, a woman that’s having a hard time getting over her ex-boyfriend even though he’s totally ready to pop the question to his new girlfriend. Fortunately for Kate, she gets all the time she needs to move on! Unfortunately for Kate, all that time comes in the form of a Groundhog Day-style time loop wherein she relives the same Christmas Eve over and over and over again. That Christmas Eve just so happens to involve a blind date with Gosselaar, as well as quirky interactions with a range of relatives, neighbors and strangers who all need a helping hand. It’s wholly unoriginal, but that’s not what you want from these movies! You want great chemistry (Smart and Gosselaar got it) and a zippy plot (this one dashes along with nary a dull moment). There’s a reason why I named this one of the best made-for-TV Christmas movies last year!

I’ve already written at length about the majesty of The Mistle-Tones, a movie I described as Mean Girls vs. Office Space in Pitch Perfect. This one stars not one, but two ’90s TV stars. Sister, Sister co-lead Tia Mowry plays Holly, an office drone that just wants to perform in the annual mall Christmas pageant. If Mowry’s on the nice list, then Tori Spelling (Beverly Hills, 90210) is holding it down over on the naughty list, camping it up as a snarling choir villainess resplendent in couture sweatpants and faux fur. This movie pulls off something that’s actually nearly impossible for these kinds of movies: it has a killer supporting cast that you–*gasp*!–actually want to spend time with! And while there is definitely romance to be had in this film, the real stars of the film are all the totally ridiculous song and dance numbers. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Beyonce moves incorporated into “12 Days of Christmas.”

It’s definitely worth noting that both of these movies aired in back-to-back years (2011 and 2012) on ABC Family, now Freeform. They come from a time not so long ago, but one that still feels ahead of the current glut of holiday content. The difference is, it feels like these movies are actually trying–and they’re also succeeding. They don’t look as cheap as all of the random direct-to-VOD movies that crowd streaming services. Their premises are tried and true, but still a little more original than the dozens of woman-leaves-the-city-and-falls-in-love movies aired on Hallmark every year. And these leads really know how to act! There is life in these movies! There are laughs in these movies! And best of all, you can glide through both of these movies in just under 3 hours.

And once you’re done with that, might I recommend Holiday in Handcuffs…?

Stream 12 Dates of Christmas on Hulu

Stream The Mistle-Tones on Hulu