Hope at Christmas (2018)

Sydney Ragsdale (Thompson), recently divorced, decides to spend Christmas in a house she inherited with her young daughter. As Sydney begins to spend more time at the local bookstore, she ... See full summary »

Director:

Alex Wright

Writers:

Robert Tate Miller (teleplay by), Nancy Naigle (novel)

Stars:

Scottie Thompson, Ryan Paevey, Erica Tremblay

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Scottie Thompson	...	Sydney
Ryan Paevey	...	Mac
Erica Tremblay	...	RayAnne
Colleen Winton	...	Bea Peabody
Jan Bos	...	Mayor Gray
Juliana Wimbles	...	Diane
Chris Shields	...	Lou
Dakota Guppy	...	Sarah
Shelby Armstrong	...	Hannah
Nelson Wong	...	Kenny Kwon
Katey Hoffman	...	Susan
Peter Graham-Gaudreau	...	Reverend Oliver (as Peter Graham Gaudreau)
Kasimir Leskard	...	Todd
Brenda Crichlow	...	Clare (as Brenda M. Crichlow)
Janet Glassford	...	Marnie

Storyline

Sydney Ragsdale (Thompson), recently divorced, decides to spend Christmas in a house she inherited with her young daughter. As Sydney begins to spend more time at the local bookstore, she meets a teacher, Mac (Paevey), who also fills in for the town Santa. Mac tries to make Christmas wishes come true, and this year Sydney is at the top of his 'nice' list. As a new opportunity with the bookstore unfolds, Mac helps Sydney open herself up to life, love, and believing in the spirit of Christmas again.

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Plot Keywords:

grandmother | mother | daughter | brother | sister | 

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Genres:

Romance

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 2018 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Steveston, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Features more than a handful of blatant product placement plugs for author Nancy Naigle, upon whose novel the film was based. In addition to her cameo, Naigle's name appears distractedly in many shots, on fronts and spines of book covers in the book store, even at the top of the all-book Christmas tree in the competition sequence.

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Goofs

Mac invites Sydney to dinner. After having dinner in a lovely darkened restaurant, they walk out into afternoon sunlight. The week before Christmas.

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Quotes

Hannah: He was walking up the candy cane stairs to get to the Christmas throne when he slipped on a ginger bread man and fell off the back of Santa's workshop.

User Reviews

Depressing to see another single mom falling in love as the main story line

In an earlier review I posted today (A Bramble House Christmas) i noted that the only downside to a wonderful film was that the writers focussed their story on a divorced woman raising her child on her won from a father who has all but abandoned them.

Hope at Christmas is another schmaltzy story that prefers to show a young daughter named Rayanne (Erica Tremblay) as relying solely on her mother's care to raise her, so her mother Sydney (Scottie Thompson) has put aside her own life and dreams to take care of her single daughter. Of course there is a very handsome young stud named Mac (Ryan Paevey) who is swooning over the divorced mother Sydney which gives the impression that woman who divorce their husbands will find a handsome hunk waiting to sweep them off their feet before their divorce papers are even dry.

These cookie cutter stories are becoming so much the norm, that it almost is blatantly telling women if you are not happy in your marriage just leave and just look at what a magical rebound you also could attain that the divorced Sydney found with her handsome hunk Mac.

Everyone likes a good news Christmas story but I prefer to see a more earthy and magical Christmas story such as the 1946 Its A Wonderful Life, or the 1954 Christmas musical White Christmas.

I give Hope at Christmas a just passable rating of 5 out of 10.

Please stop with the divorced single mom heroine stories and get back to writing family themed stories where both parents are present in their childrens lives.