A Date By Christmas Eve Review: A Little Naughty But A Whole Lotta Nice!

Have you been naughty or nice?

A Date By Christmas Eve was another adorable holiday movie that brought a little bit of magic into your life. We can all use some of that sometimes.

Fortunately, magic wasn't necessary to bring Chelsea and Fisher together. A little bit of honesty did the trick.

A Date By Christmas Eve is a decent title, but the original A Good List for Christmas was more suitable given the content.

It had an ongoing theme of "lists," from the company Chelsea worked for "The Good List" to the dating app she worked on, and of course, the appearance of Mrs. Kringle and her book of the good and naughty.

The date by Christmas Eve portion of the movie didn't exactly fit with the material. I'm assuming it referred to either Fisher bringing Chelsea to his family's home for the holidays or him showing up at her launch party.

The timeline was a bit hard to follow at times. Either way, it was less about dates and more about lists.

Vanessa Lengies has such a warm, inviting, personable personality that she embodied a soft-spoken, sweet as pie, Chelsea, whose loved ones take her for granted.

She was an adorable protagonist and someone you rooted for throughout the movie. She's not someone who would end up on the Naughty list unless it was by accident.

It was the case after Mrs. Claus gave her a bit too much power with her app. With great power comes great responsibility.

The thing is, Chelsea was well-intended with how she doled out her wishes. Each of them was self-serving, but it wasn't in a malicious way that made her come across as a selfish person.

Her douche of a boyfriend, Hot Rod, didn't "see her" as she hoped, but instead of dumping him as she should have done, she wished he would appreciate her more.

Oh, my darling Chelsea, you deserved better. Then again, there was something classic and relatable about how Chelsea could see how her loved ones deserved better or needed more, but she couldn't apply the same thing to herself.

She knew Keegan needed to stop getting hung up over Zhane, and she recognized her friend deserved much better, but she was still directing all of her energy to Rod, who didn't give a solitary damn about her or anyone but himself.

She also couldn't for the life of her see what was in front of her with Fisher, but we'll get into that in a moment.

She wanted Keegan to be more independent and less needy and reliant on others for her happiness, but again, there was a selfish edge to it as well.

She loved Keegan to pieces, but her friend was a lot. She monopolized a lot of Chelsea's time and energy, and she was a bit exhausted by it all.

It's perfectly fair and reasonable.

You also couldn't blame Chelsea for wanting Blythe to receive some recompense for stealing her idea and being a generally awful person.

Yes, we found out later that she was an insecure woman who wasn't terrible to her core, but it was still an awful thing to do.

It was within reason for Chelsea to want Blythe to learn a lesson. But teaching people lessons became a slippery slope for Chelsea.

She got carried away, and that's why having that type of power over someone and interfering with their free will can end in disaster.

It's odd that she never considered letting Rod go. If he wasn't interested in her nor had the decency to communicate with her effectively, then she should have bid him adieu.

Ugh, Rod. Seeing other people isn't an issue, but you have to tell the person who thinks you guys are exclusive that you're not interested that way. It's about the communication, my guy.

No, not my guy.

My guy was Fisher, who was the best friend a girl could ask for, but Chelsea didn't realize it until later.

Everyone and their mother, including Fisher's actual mom, knew that he was in love with Chelsea, but she didn't see it.

Dede: Look, I know you like being the nice guy when Chelsea's boyfriend is not so nice, but where does that leave you Fish?

Fisher: We're just friends. That's all.

Dede: I've been watching you two all afternoon, and you sure have an awful lot of chemistry for just friends.

Fisher: It's just what we've always been.

It was maddening, and yet, as someone who can be just as aloof in that department as Chelsea, I couldn't be too upset with her. It happens easily enough.

Chelsea is a giver. The unfortunate thing about being a giver is being surrounded by takers. It's the type of transactional thing you can expect from relationships sometimes, and it doesn't always reflect poorly on either party; it just ... is.

It's fascinating how sometimes a giving person who encounters someone similar takes them for granted.

Chelsea and Fisher's relationship was more balanced than she was giving herself credit for based on their interactions. But she did forget that he was the one person who never had expectations out of her.

He didn't even expect her to love him back in the same way, and that is a refreshing take when you're doing stories about the pining "nice guy" best friend.

You could tell that Fisher would've happily remained friends with Chelsea even if she didn't have feelings for him, or it led to anything romantic.

Yeah, she turned to him most because of his reliability, and she probably got carried away sometimes, but she also went to his house and made him treats and snacks.

She took care of him too.

Fisher and Chelsea were the sweetest, so it was one of those movies where you were antsy waiting for them to get together by the end. Gosh dammit, just kiss already!

If you were hesitant about the two of them moving beyond a friendship -- which, I'll admit, they were so good as friends that they easily could've remained platonic and been fine, then it shifted when she went with him to his parents' home.

She fit in well with the Dogherty family, and they embraced her in such a warm way, you wanted her to show back up and spend more time with them.

Can we talk about how fabulous all the women in this movie were? The majestic energy of all of them gave me feels.

Dede, Fisher's mother, only had a few minutes of screentime, and yet she stole my heart. Moms, they just know, you know?

She was the ultimate wing woman for Fisher -- she slipped into the role with ease the second she and Chelsea met.

She was shooting Fisher's shot for him. You got to love it!

Fisher was so openly, clearly, insanely in love with Chelsea, oh my gosh. You couldn't blame Dede for trying to set the ball in motion.

Max: I just thought you and Fisher had something, but if not.

She helped, too. I think she got into Chelsea's head a bit and made her see the possibilities she had with Fisher. She was eager to accompany him to a New Year's dinner before she even left his family home.

I mean, what were we supposed to do with these two? They even wore matching sweaters together on accident. It was heading in the right direction until Chelsea's jealousy got the better of her.

Max was nothing but loyal, devoted, and a great friend to Chelsea. She, like everyone else, picked up on Chelsea's feelings for Fisher.

Hell, she became Fisher's confidant when he needed someone to talk to about how in love with Chelsea he was, but Chelsea thought something else was brewing between the two.

You already know how her plan was going to backfire when she made her wish for Fisher. She wanted him to see her -- to have the same feelings for him that he had for her, but she missed that he beat her to all of these feelings ages ago.

Chelsea: I wish Fisher would see me the way that I see him.

She shot herself in the foot and got a dose of how she comes across to him. It was painful to see.

Meanwhile, Rod was a total character trying to win her affections, but it wasn't real. It was so fake it was a turn-off.

No, but really, how on earth did she ever manage to date someone like Rod in the first place? It made no sense at all.

Fisher was the one who spent a great deal of time warning her about how she used the magical app Mrs. Claus gave her, so he was particularly annoyed when he found out she used it on him.

Everyone was upset, but they came around to forgiving her. Chelsea was such a sweet girl, it made it difficult to hold anything against her.

Mrs. Claus was able to guide her back to the good side of things.

Speaking, again, of the fabulous cast of women, can we take a moment to appreciate how Morgan Fairchild looks like an actual goddess? We are not worthy.

Mrs. Kringle: I told you anyone can find themselves on either list.

She was the perfect Mrs. Claus. She was so regal and elegant, but she took no nonsense either. She stole every single scene she was in.

We also need to talk about Chelsea's boss, Simone. The woman exuded power and queen energy. She was also a bit of a fashion icon.

They truly captured the versatility of that black girl magic with Simone. 

She was such a great boss, and so fair and considerate. Aside from the whole pitch stealing and everything, The Good List seemed like a pretty awesome place to work, and it was female-oriented and centric, and all of the girl power there with Chelsea, Max, and Simone was the absolute best.

But back to Chelsea who was the ultimate winner. She got her well-deserved promotion. She helped Blythe see the light and become a better person.

She learned how to be a better friend to Keegan and also to encourage Keegan in healthier ways how to assert herself and become more independent.

She has the best ride or die girlfriend with Max who helped her with both her professional and personal/love life.

She has a new family to spend the holidays with if she doesn't want to travel to some island for Christmas.

She dropped hot Rod like the bad habit he was.

Chelsea: Do I really ask that much of him? Is that the way I always see him?

And, of course, she found love with her best friend Fisher. They were so freaking adorable together, and darn, you have to love those happy endings, am I right?

Over to you guys. Did you love this movie?

Did all the girl power make you squeal a little?

Is Morgan Fairchild immortal?

Hit the comments below and let me hear all of your thoughts. 

Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.