7.0 stars.
This is a clumsy film with many errors and awkward scenes. Garth's character is deliberately portrayed as scatterbrained and naive, and she does it too convincingly. The theme is about as elevated and "holy" as can be, about a secret Santa benefactor who is giving large and amazing gifts to many needy people in town. These are selfless and righteous acts of kindness, from a "kindhearted" soul. We all suspect immediately who the mysterious donor is and that's the point. We are supposed to know from early on. I just wish the presentation would have been less awkward and more smooth.
I've always liked Jennie Garth who became a "household name" as the ever-so-gentle Kelly in 'Beverly Hills 90210'. She will never escape that stigma or honor, whichever applies. I've mentioned in other reviews I had a love hate relationship with her in the era of 90210, 'Melrose Place', 'Models Inc', etc. (it was an era for sure), which spawned a plethora of watered down clones like 'Dawson's Creek', 'The O. C.', 'One Tree Hill', and then morphed into amalgamations of teen drama and supernatural phenomena: 'Smallville', 'Supernatural', 'Vampire Diaries' and simultaneously 'Gossip Girl', 'Pretty Little Liars', 'Teen Wolf', 'The 100'. I know that if you've seen one of the above shows, YOU'VE SEEN THEM ALL, and literally you've seen them all, because they are so darned addictive guilty pleasures. And so I now refer you back to where I started: Jennie Garth was one of the "originals" for this force of a new genre that we like to call teen romance drama. I was transfixed being introduced to the ultra high society rich snooty teenagers and young adults that were actually portraying good and wonderful rich kids, spoiled, but likable and deep down nice people. This is the caricature I will always think of when I see Garth in a movie. But she is still able to stand on her merits as an actress without the mark or merit of 90210 on her record.
This is a clumsy film with many errors and awkward scenes. Garth's character is deliberately portrayed as scatterbrained and naive, and she does it too convincingly. The theme is about as elevated and "holy" as can be, about a secret Santa benefactor who is giving large and amazing gifts to many needy people in town. These are selfless and righteous acts of kindness, from a "kindhearted" soul. We all suspect immediately who the mysterious donor is and that's the point. We are supposed to know from early on. I just wish the presentation would have been less awkward and more smooth.
I've always liked Jennie Garth who became a "household name" as the ever-so-gentle Kelly in 'Beverly Hills 90210'. She will never escape that stigma or honor, whichever applies. I've mentioned in other reviews I had a love hate relationship with her in the era of 90210, 'Melrose Place', 'Models Inc', etc. (it was an era for sure), which spawned a plethora of watered down clones like 'Dawson's Creek', 'The O. C.', 'One Tree Hill', and then morphed into amalgamations of teen drama and supernatural phenomena: 'Smallville', 'Supernatural', 'Vampire Diaries' and simultaneously 'Gossip Girl', 'Pretty Little Liars', 'Teen Wolf', 'The 100'. I know that if you've seen one of the above shows, YOU'VE SEEN THEM ALL, and literally you've seen them all, because they are so darned addictive guilty pleasures. And so I now refer you back to where I started: Jennie Garth was one of the "originals" for this force of a new genre that we like to call teen romance drama. I was transfixed being introduced to the ultra high society rich snooty teenagers and young adults that were actually portraying good and wonderful rich kids, spoiled, but likable and deep down nice people. This is the caricature I will always think of when I see Garth in a movie. But she is still able to stand on her merits as an actress without the mark or merit of 90210 on her record.