Comparison of Easter Romance Movies

Easter-themed romance films are relatively rare compared to Christmas romance movies. I know of only 1 theatrically-released and 4 made-for-tv romance movies centered around Easter.

Since there's so few, I've watched them all and found a pattern of consumerism and poor labor politics. If they have a good plot about the meaning of Easter, then tend to have a poor romance, and if they have a good romance, then there's little Easter content. I'm not sure an Easter romance movie can work based on this paltry selection.

Quick Summary

1. The Blessing Bracelet - 1.5 hour long advertisement for bracelets sold at Hallmark.

   
   

2. Just in Time - A couple who should have gone to therapy ages ago spend time apart on Easter which helps their marriage and faith in God.

   
   

3. Easter Parade - Revue musical that starts and ends with the NYC Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival.

   
   

4. An Easter Bloom - The male love interest is doing a bad televangelist impression and there's horrible greenscreen effects, but the story centers faith, Easter, and forgiveness, so it's a mixed bag.

   
   

5. Easter Under Wraps - If Marco Rubio wrote an Easter movie to impress the ghost of Roger Ailes.

   
   

   

   
   

Comparative Essays

Consumerist Focus

Many popular holidays face criticism for becoming overly commercialized, shifting the focus from their religious meaning to shopping - and Easter-themed movies are no exception. Easter Parade and Easter Under Wraps make no mention of religion, presenting a completely secularized version of the holiday. The Blessing Bracelet does discuss religion, but is still heavily commercialized as the movie is a long advertisement for bracelets sold at Hallmark stores. A movie that revels in the spectacle of wealth like Easter Parade or one that uses religion to sell a product like The Blessing Bracelet are more money-oriented than I would like out of a themed holiday movie about the resurrection of Jesus, but at least they're not Easter Under Wraps.

Easter Parade starts and ends with a musical number about shopping for Easter clothes and never mentions religion. The film is still an enjoyable watch with the consumerist elements because it stars Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, and Ann Miller with music by Irving Berlin. As a revue musical, it's skits stuck together with the barest of threads. In fact, the plot of a ballroom dancer trying to train a cabaret singer to get back at his former partner who left him to star in Ziegfeld's Follies is already more plot than usual. Irving Berlin gives us 2 Easter songs. One is an Easter shopping song, "Happy Easter," that includes a drum-and-tap dancing solo from Astaire as a way to convince a child to give up a stuffed animal bunny so he can purchase it instead. The other song, "Easter Parade" is about the NYC Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival. That song was written 15 years prior by Berlin for the revue As Thousands Cheer and it's enduring popularity is what inspired the musical. I'll be honest, I didn't know that was a real festival nor had I heard that song until this movie. However, everyone from Bing Crosby to Liberace has covered "Easter Parade." The other 27 songs in the musical barely connect. If you went into the movie expecting something more modern with a story about Easter, the film would be a shock. If you're used to something like Ziegfeld Follies and Royal Wedding, this movie will seem familiar. The element about Easter clothing bookending the movie made me roll my eyes, but I do love Fred Astaire and Judy Garland so I still enjoyed this film for what it was.

The Blessing Bracelet is inspired by the true story of Made As Intended bracelets sold by Hallmark, and the bracelets feature prominently in the movie. The bracelet is made up of four evenly-spaced pearls. The wearer is supposed to touch each pearl and acknowledge one thing they're grateful for until they complete a circle. The main character's life starts to improve once she starts wearing her bracelet, through the combined power of positivity and religion using a product sold by Hallmark.

The first Hallmark Easter movie was Easter Under Wraps. Hallmark has had a dedicated Spring seasonal programming block with spring-themed movies since 2016 so it's interesting it took until 2019 for an Easter movie. Bill Abbot was CEO of Hallmark Channel from 2009 to 2020. He has talked a lot about making sure his made-for-tv movies promote "family values" and Christianity, yet the sole Easter movie made under his tenure has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity. Easter Under Wraps has no mention of prayer, church, or Jesus. Absolutely nothing. There's an Easter festival that has an egg hunt and a bunny song, but no religion. Everything about the movie is solely focused on increasing chocolate sales. A CEO who says he wants to promote Christianity but then makes a movie that's a secular ode to chocolate sales sounds like something out of a novel by Charles Dickens.

Poor Labor Politics

In The Blessing Bracelet, single-mother Dawn is struggling financially after her divorce. Her parents offer to help her with money, but she refuses, determined to pull herself up by her own bootstraps. This decision feels at odds with her lifestyle; she and her son live in what looks like a multimillion-dollar home, complete with a designer wardrobe, an expensive beauty routine, and high-end home decor. While financial struggles can exist in wealthy surroundings, the film’s depiction is jarring. Dawn is facing eviction for not paying rent, yet she refuses a no-strings-attached cash gift because she "wants to do it herself" yet freely accepts the unpaid labor from her mother and fellow parishioners.

The film seems to frame Dawn’s refusal of money as a sign of strength and morality, but it simultaneously devalues the labor of the women around her, which reflects a larger political issue - the widespread underpayment of women's labor. There is an ongoing political conversation about unpaid labor in the home, from grandmothers providing childcare to wives working in family businesses without salaries. The film, like much of society, treats women's labor as though it isn’t real work if it happens outside of an office. That kind of ignorance leads to the widespread belittling of stay-at-home mothers and other unpaid caregivers. The film’s moral lesson reinforces traditional gender roles without questioning them. By celebrating Dawn’s financial independence gained through her 3 jobs while ignoring the unpaid labor propping her up, the story subtly upholds the idea that women’s work -especially care work - isn’t valuable unless it’s tied to personal sacrifice.

Michael Grimm wrote An Easter Bloom and co-wrote The Blessing Bracelet. In both movies, the character works two jobs (where one is in food-service and one is a craft), they find faith, a boyfriend, and financial success together, and banks are the villain even though in both instance the bank is exactly right. In real life, the woman who started the bracelet company featured in The Blessing Bracelet already had a great marriage, experience in owning and operating businesses, and wealth and time to dedicate to a new business. I wouldn't suggest starting a business while facing eviction, especially if you have a child you need to feed. I understand that The Blessing Bracelet aims to convey that a positive attitude and faith can bring miracles, but this message contradicts the Parable of the Drowning Man.

In An Easter Bloom, the main character's flower farm she inherited is struggling and they were denied their business loan so will have to sell the business. Her last ditch effort is to enter a flower arranging competition in an effort to win a grand prize. I should have the same critiques here as I do for The Blessing Bracelet, as winning a competition is a poor business plan and it relies on the unpaid labor of two women in her life. However, I found this story charming. Obviously our main character is an idiot and has run her farm into the ground, but that happens in real life too.

Easter Under Wraps is littered with culture war talking points straight from The Coddling of the American Mind about 'latte liberal elites.' The writers make time to make fun of green tea and habanero chilis as being "not-traditionally American" but couldn't fit time for the true meaning of Easter. I would like to point out that chili in chocolate dates back to how the Mayans would originally prepare cacao. Green tea chocolate had been purchasable at Walmart for over 10 years by the time this movie came out. Chaz the Bluetooth earphone-wearing guy from the city can't understand chocolate in his heart they way small-town folk can, even though this is a large town near Seattle with at least 2 factories and multiple spring festivals. We also get a healthy dosing of gender roles, where the main character is automatically assumed to be good at sewing and her father doesn't consider her as a viable candidate to take over the family business until she's in a serious relationship with a man and the father can work with her male partner. However, the worst part of the movie is the misunderstanding of factory work.

The movie presents "handmade" as inherently superior to "machine-made," despite the fact that the characters are clearly using factory machinery. It ignores the reality that many "factory-made" products still require skilled handwork and that factory labor isn’t inherently less moral than artisanal production. The real issue isn’t whether chocolate is made by hand or machine—it’s what conditions workers face, what protections they have, and whether they’re fairly compensated. By framing the debate around a false dichotomy rather than the well-being of the workers, the film leans into a strange form of anti-technology propaganda that misunderstands labor at its core. If the movie were primarily about Easter traditions, this wouldn’t be as frustrating. Because Easter Under Wraps focuses entirely on factory production and sales, its distorted view of labor feels both deliberate and infuriating.

Notes on Casting

Easter Under Wraps and Just in Time feature the Magical Negro stereotype. Just in Time is really bad for a movie that came out in 2024. To learn more, here's a link to TV Tropes. I don't think it's a coincidence both of these films were made under the leadership of Bill Abbott.

In Easter Parade, an uncredited Asian butler and Jeni Le Gon as a maid are both written as racial stereotypes of the time. It's especially sad with Jeni, as she's a consummate singer and dancer. The film references race-swapping that would occur on the dance scene of the 1940s.

In An Easter Bloom, the main love interest is doing a Joel Olsteen performance and his fake, Southern televangelist accent is inconsistent. The "meet-cute" with the main character involves him hitting on her while she's at work at the coffee shop and is incredibly creepy. When women say "please don't ask me out at a public space where I'm trapped and paid to be nice to you" this is what they mean. If they had just removed the romance aspect from this movie and focused on the inter-generational friendship of the women, this movie would have been great. There's a possibility that if they had cast someone more experienced with more pull at Hallmark, like Ryan Paevey, this wouldn't have ended up so poorly.

Last note on casting, the rumor is the star of Just in Time, Laura Osnes, was blacklisted from Broadway based on her attitude about vaccinations and masking. This has been denied, but based on her move to Nashville and later interviews, she's fully leaned into being a conservative influencer so I'm tempted to believe those rumors. Add in the alt-right politics of the producers and how boring Just in Time is, feel free to skip this film.

Reviews

An Easter Bloom (2024)

• IMDB rating: 6.2 out of 10 stars

  • My rating: 2 stars

  
  

• Synopsis: Amanda, a flower farmer, strives to save her family's farm after her father's death by entering a prestigious Easter floral competition while also working part-time at a cafe. Along the way, she meets Derrick, a local pastor who helps her rediscover hope and faith.

  
  

• Meet-Cute: I hated this meet-cute. The actor for the pastor is Canadian but is doing a Southern televangelist impersonation. When he meets the main character while ordering coffee at the cafe she works at, my stranger-danger alarm went off. The main love interest is deeply unsettling, the forced flirting is creepy. I'm not the only one with this feeling, the third ranked review on Letterbox mentions that "I'd look around to make sure I'm not alone." The screenwriter is a man, Michael Grimm, so I can't help but wonder if he's got a poor grasp on what's appropriate and the male director didn't clock it? Their later interactions are just as painful, in the end he doesn't seem to understand what is a raised garden bed.

  
  

• Religion: This movie really excels at the mentions of faith. We get talk of Christianity and Easter from the start, we get talk of people being involved in the church and the community it's formed. We also get information on the main character's slow loss of faith and the pastor trying to make his style fit what he thinks people want.

  
  

  The main character saw Christianity as something she practiced with her Dad and when he died, she lost it. This is really well reflected with the frost on the flowers, and when she starts to re-discover her faith, there is hope for their bloom. Also, the part of her father teaching her about praying as a kid and her re-learning prayer as an adult was well done.

  
  

• My Review: I wish I could this a better review as I thought the religious aspect was well-done. However, the romance element left a lot to be desired. There was some egregious green screen and weird sets so it wouldn't have been a perfect film with a different romance, but it would have been higher than 2 stars!

Just in Time (2024)

• IMDB rating: 7 out of 10 stars

  • My rating: 1 star

  
  

• Synopsis: Hannah and her husband, Rowan, have drifted apart due to miscommunication issues and stress of trying to conceive. During a period of separation over Easter weekend, Hannah encounters an elderly gentleman who presents her with an antique watch, leading her to realize that the answers she seeks will come in due time.

  
  

• Meet-Cute: Already an established relationship, but when we first meet the main character she's being a poor boss and when we first meet the love interest he's been stubborn. I think the film did a good job in establishing these people have miscommunication issues and should go to therapy.

  
  

• Religion: Personally, these people should go to therapy. I'm glad that their separation over Easter helps them reflect but it's incredibly boring to have it so easily solved by prayer, when their real issue is deeper than how often they pray.

  
  

• My Review: The greatest problem of this film is it's boring. The second problem is it's made by a bunch of Trump supporters.

The Blessing Bracelet (2023)

• IMDB rating: 6.9 out of 10 stars

  • My rating: 1 star

  
  

• Synopsis: Dawn is a divorced, single-mom who is on the verge of having her home foreclosed upon by the bank and works two jobs. While sorting through her late mother's belongings, she rediscovers a bracelet she made years ago, designed to remind her of life's blessings. As she begins wearing it again, she slowly starts seeing positive changes in her life - rekindling old friendships, finding unexpected romance, establishing a new business, and regaining hope. With each bead representing gratitude, Dawn learns that sometimes, faith and a thankful heart can lead to the miracles she never expected.

  
  

• Meet-Cute: Is cute, she's a vet tech and he brings in his dog. Her son really wants a dog, so they go on a group date to the park together. It's charming.

  
  

• Religion: She uses her fellow parishioners as her unpaid labor. The pastor is a woman which is nice and they have a talk about Easter as a season of change halfway through the movie.

  
  

• My Review: I knew going in this was about a bracelet that's really sold at Hallmark, but I did not realize how much of this was going to be a positive thinking scam. Yes, positive thinking is good, but it's not going to cure you of cancer, bring you a winning lottery ticket, and save your house.

Easter Under Wraps (2019)

• IMDB rating: 6.4 out of 10 stars

  • My rating: 1 star

  
  

• Synopsis: Erin Cavendish goes undercover at her family's chocolate factory to investigate declining sales. While working incognito, she collaborates with Bryan, the head chocolatier, who introduces innovative ideas for the Easter product line, leading to unexpected personal and professional transformations.

  
  

• Meet-Cute: They run into each other and then fall in love as they slowly work together and go on dates. This is a charming romance except she's lying about who she is to investigate the company.

  
  

• Religion: Absolutely none. Everything that's "Easter" has been secularized. Even the Easter pageant is just a public domain rendition of Peter Cottontail story (with a jumping pumpkin).

  
  

• My Review: The film misses several opportunities to add depth to its characters and conflicts. The main lead is 40 but never address why she lacks stability in her work and personal life other than just "I've never felt like I belonged." That sounds like an issue for therapy that one Easter isn't going to solve. The main character’s father, who should be actively managing the company, has allowed an incompetent COO to take over, leading to the company's decline, yet there's no explanation on why this has happened. A more engaging narrative could have explored a strained father-daughter relationship, with the father rediscovering his faith and trying to make amends with his daughter and employees. Thus, the daughter returns to a business that has been mismanaged and through the Easter holiday, finds a new life post-divorce or post some other life changing event, find a family, and finds her faith.

  
  

  The main character as CMO goes to investigate if the COO's changes have actually been successful and if they should reverse them. She discovers the COO's changes are bad so her idea to save the declining sales is to make a custom chocolate egg the size of an adult's arm 3 weeks before Easter and sell these nationwide when she has 0 logistics set-up to do so. That wouldn't work and is a terrible idea. The film sidesteps the real tension of experienced workers losing their jobs due to poor leadership, which could have added stakes to the protagonist’s mission. The main character came in and replaced multiple skilled workers on her "undercover" mission and no one addresses why she's there instead of those skilled workers. In the end, we get shallow culture war jokes, underdeveloped character motivations, and a baffling business plan. It’s frustrating that the writing is so weak because all the actors are charming.

Easter Parade (1948)

• IMDB rating: 7.3 out of 10 stars

  • My rating: 5 stars

  
  

• Synopsis: A ballroom dance performer hires a cabaret girl to become his new dance partner to make his former partner jealous and to prove he can make anyone a star.

  
  

• Meet-Cute: Fred Astaire plays a charming drunk and Judy Garland plays a charming girl whose over her head.

  
  

• Religion: None, the connection to Easter is the NYC Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival.

  
  

• My Review: "The thrill of spring when anything can happen, it only happens with you" is such a sweet line. Also "Why didn't you tell me that I was in love with you" is hilarious. I found the maître d' jokes funny the first time but not the second. Love the running gag that Nadine matched her dogs to her outfit. Most of the revue songs were pretty forgettable. I did get slightly annoyed by the ending as I wanted more groveling from Fred Astaire's character and would have liked to see Nadine and the Professor actually together instead of off screen.

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Are there any other Easter romance movies that I missed? Which have you seen?