Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2 Review

“The love we have in our lives made us who we are. And there’s joy to be found in sharing those memories.”

Darcy and Aiden (now 100% amnesia free!) are trying to get each other the perfect gift. When they aren’t doing that, they’re trying to save a community center. 😫 Yep, that’s pretty much all there is to it.

It’s the sequel to the 2017 Hallmark movie, “A Gift to Remember” – and an actual sequel, featuring the original cast (unlike Graceland or Godwink, which this year had the name but none of the old characters from the original installments). It’s “Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2” (2019).

Our Review: Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2

This movie was sooooo boring. It’s yet another 2019 Hallmark movie without any real plot to be found.

The big conflict had our heroes saving the community center, which was easily accomplished a good 30 minutes before the end of the movie. And it never felt like it was in doubt.

There was also Darcy’s (Ali Liebert) big rivalry with the other book store in town, Books Books Books. (Also, let’s give the writers a pass for not remembering that it’s 2019 when they came up with the idea of having two competitive bookstores existing in the same town, as if that’s really a thing.)

When Darcy learns more people are going to BBB’s Christmas Eve event, she’s all like, “people have no respect for tradition anymore.” Because they’re not going to her store’s party on Christmas Eve? (And when did going to a book store on Christmas Eve become a Christmas tradition?)

How about the writing? Where to start.

So I don’t know who the Darcy is this movie was, but she didn’t resemble the Darcy from “A Gift to Remember”.  At all. This Darcy had only two settings: overly happy or super crabby.

And Aiden (Peter Porte)? Oh boy. He was written to be SO stupid.

In one scene, Darcy is tell him a very simple and straightforward plan. His response was something to the effect of “I don’t know what you’re saying, but I support you.” In another scene with Mrs. Henley shares an idea about the missing village house, he just grins stupidly at her.

What about Darcy and Aiden together? This great romance had zero passion.

Darcy and Aiden felt more at times like good friends than a couple that has been madly in love for a year. If you’re looking to get your vicarious smoochies, no luck – there was little in the way of PDA here.

Oh, but the bad writing and dialogue wasn’t limited to the two stars.

How about Luigi, the stereotypical pizza box Italian guy? He was bordering on cringey to watch.

Worst line of the movie, however, goes to David (the uncle of an author whose book Darcy featured in her store): “My sister has this kid…” 

Brrrr! That’s ice cold.

Not “I have a nephew”. No. “My sister has this kid…”

Well, we don’t know if Hallmark was hoping “A Gift to Remember” would be the next “Father Christmas” trilogy for the network. But after this dumpster fire, we aren’t hoping for “A Wedding to Remember” to come out any time soon.

As for the rest of the movie? Let’s break it down.

The Naughty List

An Ending to Forget

As fans of the original, we’re happy that Aiden popped the question. However, this ending could have been so much better. (Though, yes, you could say that about the beginning and middle as well!)

Sadly, the whole engagement felt a bit tacked on instead of super special. What bugged us:

• Why did Aiden set up Darcy’s present at the party, instead of, you know, at home?
• Darcy never gave Aiden his present.
• The Christmas village house Aiden gave Darcy at end (“our house”) looked to us exactly like her childhood Philadelphia home. It was confusing.
• After it started snowing, we didn’t even get one last kiss between Darcy and Aiden!

Plus, the whole Darcy/Aiden gift/engagement was hurt by the odd timing of Marcus’ (Dominic Mariche) father coming home. What about Marcus’ mom? We were wondering why she wasn’t there, too.

While the movie was clearly trying for a triple whammy of emotional moments here, it didn’t work.

If the rest of the movie that came for it had been better, then perhaps we would have been more emotionally invested in the ending. But we were not.

It Didn’t Feel Super Christmasy

It’s Hallmark, so you know it’s going to look good. But for Hallmark, good is just average. They’ve set the bar that high.

There weren’t a ton of Christmas activities. There was basically a tree lighting, snow maze montage, and the Christmas party – plus a 30-second pointless diversion to judge a cookie contest, where literally only one cookie was eaten.

The music was also unremarkable. There was no caroling and the music was just there.

Acting

So yeah, obviously the main characters were pretty bad.

Mrs. Henley (Tina Lifford) was the best of the bunch. But even her character seems overly worried about her grandson, Marcus. Because, you know, he wasn’t brainlessly happy.

If You Liked Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2, You Should Watch:

• Once Upon a Christmas Miracle
• Engaging Father Christmas
• Christmas in Evergreen