Jen Lilley's New Hallmark Holiday Movie Features an App With a Revolutionary Concept

Jen Lilley’s new Hallmark holiday movie, Mingle All the Way, tells the story of a woman who invents an app that allows singles to find someone to attend upcoming events with without the strings of a potential romance, though in typical rom-com fashion, things don’t turn out exactly as she’d hoped.

Speaking to PopCulture.com, Lilley shared her thoughts on the unique technological option, musing that she “absolutely” thinks an app like the one in the movie would find some legs in today’s market.

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“I wish if I was techy enough I would create it myself because somebody is bound to make a lot of money if that doesn’t exist,” she said.

Lilley’s plays the film’s efficient and organized protagonist, Molly, and shared that she kept a quote from Meryl Streep in mind when approaching her portrayal of the character.

“Any character that you play you have to find the similarities between you and your character,” Lilley explained. “And so, Molly is very A type. Which I can be extremely A type and organized, but she’s also quirky. So I relate to that as well. And she wasn’t scripted to be quirky, but that I brought to the table. But, yeah, she’s just really driven, so I have that in common with her.”

Aside from a straight-laced personality, Molly also has a strained relationship with her mom, and Lilley shared that she hopes the film’s viewers will walk away with a new perspective about any difficult relationships in their own lives.

“Molly and her mother have a very strained relationship and I think that when you have a strained relationship with someone it’s generally because you actually deeply care and value their opinion,” she said. “And so I’m hoping that people who maybe have a strained relationship with their relatives around the holidays just try to reevaluate that, have an open and honest conversation and see how that could be mended.”

Mingle All the Way isn’t Lilley’s first holiday movie, as the actress has a long list of seasonal credits to her name. For the Virginia native, being a part of someone’s holiday memory is what makes creating those films so special for her.

“Someone, whether it’s a child or someone older, I’m going to become part of their Christmas memory,” she said. “And I think that’s such a lovely and unique thing that you would get out of doing a holiday movie. Where you might become part of somebodies tradition and that’s more than I could ask for, honestly.”

As for Hallmark movies in particular, which have become something of a phenomenon in recent years, Lilley credits the films’ positive message for their enduring popularity.

“I think what makes them so popular is that all around the world, there is just so much political and economic and racial tension going on that people really are just tired of bad news,” she opined. “And they really want to de-stress and they want to have entertainment that provides escape.”

“And so, when you turn on Hallmark Channel you know that at the end the guy is gonna get the girl or the girl is gonna get the guy and things are going to be uplifting, there’s no surprises,” Lilley continued. “And I think people just really need something that is semi predictable and is just feel good and very uplifting. I think we need that.”

Mingle All the Way is next airing on the Hallmark Channel on Friday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. ET.