Stream It or Skip It: ‘Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater’ on Hallmark, a Sweet Film with a Silly Title

If there’s one Hallmark holiday movie title that stuck out to you, it has to be Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater. The film’s title is a piece of sage advice that literally no one has ever uttered before. Who said it first? Is it good advice? These are the questions that hopefully stars Ashley Williams and Niall Matter will answer. 

NEVER KISS A MAN IN A CHRISTMAS SWEATER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Maggie (Ashley Williams) is a single mom prepping for her first ever Christmas alone since her daughter is spending the holidays with her father. She’ll be able to keep her mind occupied, she thinks, since she’s going to once again volunteer at the military base and help bring some Christmas cheer to kids who have a parent serving overseas. And then she meets Lucas (Niall Matter), a stranger in a gaudy Christmas sweater—who she accidentally slams a Christmas tree into and sends to the hospital! To make it up to Lucas, who just so happens to be a hunky architect from New York City, Maggie offers to let him recuperate in her guest house/art studio. Will close proximity to Maggie’s Christmas cheer and a military base full of kids in need of a helping hand help Lucas shift out of grinch mode? And most importantly—will he fall in love with the woman who accidentally clobbered him?

And just to point this out: this is the third Hallmark Christmas movie I’ve watched this year that’s set in Colorado, following Christmas Tree Lane and The Christmas Bow. I know there’s a fourth coming (A Christmas Tree Grows in Colorado on November 24). I gotta ask: what is going on in Colorado? Is it the new North Pole? Does it have a natural supply of peppermint? Are all of these movies part of the same Christmas cinematic universe? What’s going on?! Maybe the answer is that, according to this movie, the cost of living in Colorado is so low that a schoolteacher can afford a house that comes with a second house. Should we all move to Colorado…?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The stuck-with-you setup and falling-in-love-with-an-injured-dude gives the movie a slight While You Were Sleeping vibe, just with a guy that’s fully awake and a thousand percent less morally dubious deception.

Performance Worth Watching: Between the Christmas in Evergreen franchise and annual one-off romcoms like Holiday Hearts, Ashley Williams is a Hallmark movie mainstay. Williams is an absolute delight in this role, with a smile so bright it could guide Santa’s sleigh through the thickest of fogs. I also love the natural, awkward, endearing charm she brings to this role. She’s an overachiever who gives everything and everyone her all, but she’s also got a sense of humor. She makes all the classic Hallmark movie dialogue so natural.

Memorable Dialogue: Speaking of classic Hallmark movie dialogue, the titular line is perfect. Maggie asks, “Isn’t there an old saying, ‘one should never kiss a man in a Christmas sweater’?” To which her BFF Alyssa (Lisa MacFadden) replies, “No, that’s not a thing.”

A Holiday Tradition: Every year, Maggie volunteers at Fort Pine Military Base, providing holiday activities to kids with one or two parents stationed overseas.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: It absolutely does not, and that’s exactly why this was the Hallmark movie I had to watch this year. As Alyssa pointedly points out to Maggie, this “old saying” is very much not a thing—but it was a book! This movie is based on Debbie Johnson’s 2015 romance novel Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Jumper (because that’s what they call sweaters in the UK). Maybe between that book and this movie, we’ve all witnessed the birth of a new saying that will one day become an old saying. I will say this, though: I wanted way more Christmas sweaters in this movie!

Our Take: Like I said, I had to watch this movie based on the title alone. It’s a title so ridiculous that my colleague Josh Sorokach used it to kick off his epic, hilarious post about real and fake Hallmark movies. As you know by now, Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater is very much a real Hallmark movie—and it’s also a really charming Hallmark movie.

As with all the best Hallmark movies, the main selling points are the leads and their chemistry. I already went into how much of a total delight Ashley Williams is in this role (I would watch her in any movie centered around any holiday, even a Presidents’ Day romcom). Now I want to talk about Niall Matter, another Hallmark mainstay who starred in last year’s Christmas at Dollywood (a personal favorite).

The leading man roles in these movies can be tough to pull off, especially if the guy is more scroogey than jolly. If he’s too much of a fuddy duddy, you wonder why the other lead is even considering giving him a kiss at Christmas. As Lucas, Matter has to make a guy whose ski trip has been ruined, who doesn’t necessarily like hanging out with his family, who’s lost interest in his career, and who is not into Christmas into a likable dude. And, somehow, he does it! You like Lucas, and you like seeing him slowly find purpose again when he starts to use his fancy schmancy architect skills to build something that really matters: gingerbread houses.

I will say, though, that the movie doesn’t live up to the absolute wackiness of its title. For example, the titular “man in a Christmas sweater” only wears one sweater. The title led me to believe that our heroine would be falling in love with an over-the-top Christmas nut with a closet full of tacky knitwear, each more bedazzled and festive than the last. That’s not the case! Is that a movie I’d rather see? Y’know, there’s always next year. Considering how many movies Hallmark makes every year, they’ll get to that plot eventually.

What we get instead is a perfectly pleasant slice of cozy holiday comfort that doesn’t live up to the extra-ness of its title but definitely delivers that Hallmark magic.

Our Call: STREAM IT—and stream it while wearing your ugliest Christmas sweater to make up for what the movie lacks.

Stream Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater on Hallmark