Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Checkin’ It Twice’ on Hallmark, Where Hockey Pucks Lead To Puckering Up

Hallmark kicks off its Countdown to Christmas slate with Checkin’ It Twice, a hockey-forward romance that checks pretty much every box on your holiday movie plot checklist. The question is, is this the tried and true Hallmark formula done right, or should the producers behind Checkin’ It Twice followed the title’s advice, re: the script?

CHECKIN’ IT TWICE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Kim Matula (Ghosts of Christmas Always) plays Ashley, a big-city professional selling corporate real estate in New York City. Everything’s going according to plan — until her boyfriend/co-worker reveals that he totally snaked a major account away from her! Relationship: over — and just in time for Christmas. Uh-oh. Ashley returns home to Idaho Falls where she literally bumps into a tall, handsome stranger. He’s a hockey player, his name is Scott (When Calls the Heart’s Kevin McGarry), he just got dumped, and he’s at the same airport shop as Ashley.

After exchanging pleasantries, they part ways — except they exchanged more than pleasantries. As they each find out in very public ways, they accidentally switched credit cards. Are you still strangers if you have to meet up again? What about if after having two conversations, you find out that the minor league hockey player is staying at the cottage in your parents’ backyard? Scott, meet Ashley. Ashley, meet Scott. You’re part of each other’s lives now!

While apart, Ashley’s trip home for Christmas quickly turns into a tour of all the things she gave up in order to work at a huge firm in New York City alongside co-workers who will literally betray their loved ones for a listing. She misses her parents, her sister, her best friend. Scott, meanwhile, can’t wait to get out of Idaho Falls. He’s hoping that he can crush it on the ice there and then get traded up to the majors in Boise. But instead of spending all his time perfecting his every move on the ice, his new team — the Fighting Trout — have to… spend a waste a whole week hosting Christmas events for the town?!

Will Scott make it out of Idaho Falls? Will Ashley move back to Idaho Falls? And will these two follow their passions, both in their work and love lives?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: A romance at the ice rink will probably make you think of The Cutting Edge, and yes, this movie does have its fair share of Mighty Ducks moments. How could it not? It’s about hockey!

Performance Worth Watching: As far as I know, this is just Kim Matula’s second year in a row doing a Hallmark holiday movie — and she’s quickly establishing herself as a name to look for in the seasonal slate. She brings a level of confident cool to the role, which is kind of the new standard for the Hallmark leading lady. She’s not plucky, she’s witty. She’s more Rhoda than Mary. And while we saw her in a much more ambitious holiday movie last year (Ghosts of Christmas Always), Checkin’ It Twice proves that she can absolutely bring it in the traditional Hallmark holiday movie.

Memorable Dialogue: Scott’s advice to Ashley: “Well, you take the hit, you shake it off, and you get back out there. Do that over and over again and eventually you get where you want to go.”

A Holiday Tradition: Idaho Falls hosts a whole week of holiday events leading up to the big Christmas jamboree and a big Christmas Eve hockey game. You know a town is serious about hockey when they annually incorporate it into their Christmas Eve traditions.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Absolutely not. Now, I know that checking is that thing in hockey where one player shoves another, but strategically. And clearly “checkin’ it twice” is a lyric from “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.” But at no point in this movie does anyone check anything twice, not even once, and there’s at best only one check on the ice. Knowing what Checkin’ It Twice is actually about, maybe Coaching Christmas or — this is horrible — All I Want for Christmas Is a Goon.

Our Take: I have to admit, after seeing Hallmark truly push the boundaries of what a “Hallmark movie” is during what I guess you would call the “off-season,” I was curious how they would kick off Countdown to Christmas. Would they give us a full-on comedy like Field Day or completely jettison the formula, like they did with 3 Bed, 2 Bath, 1 Ghost? The answer, surprisingly, is no.

Checkin’ It Twice is the embodiment of the classic definition of a Hallmark movie, in every single way. It’s about a big city career gal visiting her tiny hometown for Christmas, bumping into a hunky stranger who hates Christmas but totally has a soft side. Every beat is expected, every character is familiar, and every establishing shot is one we’ve seen in Hallmark movies for years.

Now, none of that is a knock against Checkin’ It Twice. It can be seen as an intentional move, to start off the holiday movie season with a kind of mission statement. Y’know, “This is what we do, and we do it well.” Because Checkin’ It Twice is very well-executed. The performances are all top-tier Hallmark; I particularly like Craig March as Ashley’s dad (a character named “Dad”). That is exactly who he is, and he brings a warm energy to every scene he’s in. He’s like a hug, personified, in a zip-up fleece pullover.

I will say that the strict adherence to the formula does allow for the hard jokes — not Hallmark jokes, but hard jokes — to pop more. I loved Ashley asking her sister about any exciting news in Idaho Falls and the answer is, “There’s a new water treatment plant.” And the less said about grandma’s eggnog the better — mainly because I don’t want to spoil a really silly, charming scene.

On the downside, there are a number of plot threads that are left dangling like ribbons off a hastily wrapped present. Scott is staying at a guest cottage in Ashley’s parents’ backyard! There’s a big Christmas Eve hockey match that the town is heavily invested in! Ashley has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of hockey rules, tips, and tricks! Ashley’s family is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a boyfriend who is now an ex and Scott was literally just dumped! All of these plots could have added a little more structure, a little more individuality, or a least a few more hijinks.

Checkin’ It Twice isn’t accomplishing anything new or giving us any of the exciting firsts that a lot of Hallmark movies have been pulling off recently, and that’s okay. It’s the Hallmark movie formula done well, and that’s enough for a Christmas movie airing in October.

Our Call: STREAM IT — but don’t sweat it if you miss it on Saturday night. Checkin’ It Twice is a cute comfort watch, but it’s more the kind of Hallmark movie you can have on in the background 30 times in a holiday season.