The More the Merrier: Movie Review

Finding love and community in the hospital.

The More the Merrier is all about community. A movie about finding the silver lining, using positivity and human connection to get through emergencies. Criticizing a movie that’s trying to do good or make the world a better place feels wrong, but part of the problem is this is often too far from reality to feel a real connection here. It’s a sweet and nice idea, but doesn’t have any real weight to it (save one scene).		2025 Directed by: Peter Benson Screenplay by: Caroline Farah, Zac Hug Starring: Rachel Boston, Brendan Penny
The movie takes place inside a community hospital in a small town. This is supposed to be a very small, rural community where everyone knows everyone. It’s very rare for such a town to have a hospital in the first place, let alone, such a nice, big, spacious, modern, state-of-the-art hospital with, count them, at least four very large fully-decorated Christmas trees. This town is also home to five doctors, and three pregnant women all giving birth on Christmas day, the second least common day for birthdays. They say that as if that means anything about the probability of giving birth, but the only reason it’s just behind February 29th in birthdays is because scheduled births like c-sections or inductions aren’t scheduled on Christmas day, all other natural births are just as common as any other day of the year. The two lead characters are both doctors. Dr. Rogers (Rachel Boston) is a very sweet, giggly, well-respected doctor who radiates warmth despite having a closed off, non-existent personal life. And the first half of the movie is just the other characters all describing her exactly like that over and over again. Dr. Grant (Brendan Penny) is a cardiologist who just moved from the big city to be close to his parents and sister; he’s a very by-the-books doctor who has no time for human connections, despite the fact that he flirts with Dr. Rogers during every scene. These characters are easy to like even if the writers think they’re more complex than they actually are. But now for the one scene with real emotional weight to it – which definitely bumped this movie up a notch. As Hallmark fans will recall, last week they did a Buffalo Bills-themed movie, set in Buffalo with real Bills players. That connection is back, and in a special way. Damar Hamlin is a Bills player who had a cardiac arrest during a football game and eventually made a full recovery. He’s back playing with the Bills and he’s also appearing in Hallmark movies connecting with kids who have also had heart surgery. It’s a real program that the movie is promoting. The More the Merrier is an uplifting movie about the love of community, and thanks to one scene, I was slightly less cynical by the end.

Want a different Christmas movie or just more holiday-themed movies? Holiday Movies