12 Men of Christmas (2009)

Twelve Rescuers, One Publicist, and a Very Festive Calendar

Before Hallmark turned Christmas movies into an industrial enterprise, Lifetime had its own factory running at full speed. 12 Men of Christmas (2009) arrived from that production line on December 5 of that year, and it brought along the single best asset any holiday TV movie could ask for: Kristin Chenoweth at full wattage. The film is formulaic, cheerfully implausible, and runs on pure charisma. For a certain kind of viewer -- one who genuinely enjoys watching a Tony winner square off against a reluctant mountain rescuer over a charity beefcake calendar -- it delivers exactly what it promises.

New York Meets the Rockies

E.J. Baxter (Chenoweth) is a Manhattan publicist who loses her job and her fiance in a single catastrophic afternoon. The two losses are connected, which should tell you everything about the fiance. Desperate for work, she accepts the only offer on the table: a gig promoting corporate tourism in Kalispell, Montana. The culture shock is immediate and played for maximum comic mileage.

Once in Montana, E.J. spots an opportunity. The local volunteer mountain rescue team -- twelve men who risk their lives pulling hikers off Glacier National Park's less forgiving terrain -- is underfunded and struggling. Her solution is a suggestive charity calendar, which lands her in direct conflict with Will Albrecht (Josh Hopkins), the rescue team's de facto leader and Kalispell's resident skeptic of big-city ideas. From there the film follows the exact trajectory you expect, and it does so without embarrassment.

Hopkins is charming and holds his own, but this is Chenoweth's show from first frame to last. Her comic timing is immaculate, her physical comedy is fearless, and she makes E.J.'s fish-out-of-water arc feel earned even when the script hands her the thinnest possible material. Her Emmy win for Pushing Daisies came the same year this aired, and watching the two back to back you understand why television kept finding excuses to put her in front of a camera.

The Calendar Problem

The film's central premise -- a suggestive but tasteful charity calendar -- is handled with a light touch that keeps the film squarely in PG territory. Each shoot sequence provides a fresh comedic setpiece, and director Arlene Sanford milks them efficiently. The rescuers, played by a mix of Canadian character actors, are given just enough personality to distinguish one from the next.

Anna Chlumsky, who most audiences remember as Vada from My Girl (1991), appears as E.J.'s colleague Jan and brings a dry energy that pairs well with Chenoweth's broader performance. The dynamic between the two women is one of the film's underappreciated pleasures.

Montana on a Calgary Budget

The production was shot in Calgary, Alberta, which stands in for Kalispell with passable conviction. The mountain scenery is appropriately dramatic, and the snow -- always a luxury in Christmas movies that actually want to look cold -- is plentiful and genuine. The film earns a few visual points just by looking like December rather than a California backlot in October.

The Christmas setting is atmospheric rather than central. Decorations appear, carols drift in and out of the score, and the climax is appropriately festive. But the holiday is a backdrop, not a plot engine. The real engine is E.J.'s personal reinvention, and the snow just makes it prettier.

What Works, What Does Not

The script, credited to Jon Maas and adapted from Phillipa Ashley's British novel Decent Exposure (published in the US as Dating Mr. December), transplants a Lake District story to Montana with competent if unexciting results. The romantic arc is predictable to the point of parody. The obstacles separating E.J. and Will are thin, and the resolution arrives on schedule without much dramatic pressure behind it.

But Lifetime holiday films have never been primarily about surprise. They are about comfort, and 12 Men of Christmas delivers comfort with a side of genuine wit. Chenoweth's line readings elevate dialogue that would be inert in other hands. Several scenes that should be groan-worthy instead land because she commits so completely.

This is a film that knows exactly what it is and elects not to apologize for it. That kind of self-awareness, even in a modest TV movie, is worth something.

Verdict

If you are assembling a playlist of Christmas romantic comedies and want something lighter than a full studio picture but sharper than the average streaming placeholder, 12 Men of Christmas belongs in the rotation. It is not a great film. It is a very enjoyable 95 minutes anchored by a star doing her best work in material that does not quite deserve it. Pair it with a warm drink and low expectations, and it will exceed them.

The chemistry between Chenoweth and Hopkins is natural enough to sell the ending, and the Montana scenery does the rest. For fans of the genre, it remains one of the more watchable entries from the pre-streaming era of holiday television.

The Lifetime network released a real printed calendar to promote the film's premiere -- making it the rare Christmas movie whose marketing gimmick was literally the same object the characters spend the entire story arguing about.