I had a feeling I’d love Christmas at the Catnip Cafe because my brain is inherently wired to adore anything that involves cats, but I didn’t think it’d become my favorite Hallmark Christmas movie of the year. And sure, maybe it’s too soon to say that, but I’m deeming it now: this is it for me.
Paul Campbell and Erin Cahill make a perfect pair as an overworking vet who never asks for help and a woman who’s clearly too scared to get attached because all she knows is loss. When the two of them are thrust toward co-owning the cafe together, the progression of everything that happens between them is so organic that I’m not quite sure who’s a bigger fan, me or the cats.
The bickering, the uncertainties, every side eye, and every quietly soft moment sparkles in a way that’s so enticing, I’m not being hyperbolic when I say this is my favorite. Everything about it works, even when I’m rolling my eyes and screaming at Olivia to go back to her life at the Catnip Cafe because, respectfully, who’d choose California when you have this inheritance in New York? No one. Signed, someone who actually lives in California right now. I’d drop my whole life and change my career if someone left behind a cat cafe for me. Full stop.
But really, this is for the tender-hearted softies. It’s for those of us who don’t let ourselves go to shelters because we can’t leave animals behind. And I adore the idea of a cafe where people can just be. But more than that, the moment I knew this movie was going to be it was when Olivia realized that Ben is the kind of person who never asks for help.
He’s always helping others—always looking out for everyone and everything while he puts his life and happiness on hold. Once it’s made clear that she sees him—really sees him, it also makes total sense of how they can be good together. Because asking for help isn’t a weakness, but some people struggle with it regardless. It’s hard to ask for help when we’d rather just show up for others. It’s hard to ask for help when you’re so used to taking on everything yourself.
And more than that, Christmas at the Catnip Cafe works because of every in-between moment—the quiet and the loud. It’s all the stolen gazes and sincere conversations between Olivia and Ben. It’s the heartfelt stories of adoption that hit especially hard this time of year because no human or pet should have to spend the holidays alone.
It’s the ending that I’ve replayed too many times at this point because there’s something so cozy and warm about Olivia and Ben sitting together and taking in the detail that this relationship is it for them. That every sign that pointed her to her ex-husband wasn’t the right one, but the invisible strings that led her here are tethered just for her. For Ben. For her aunt. For the cats. For the cafe.
It’s a story about grief and second chances. It’s a story about acknowledging those who show up for us. And really, it’s just special. There’s something about it I can’t quite put my finger on, but then again, ask me to tell you how much I love my cats, and I’ll start sobbing. They’re my weakness.
Christmas at the Catnip Cafe is now streaming on Hallmark+.
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