As both a Hallmark Christmas movie and a Hallmark romance, this movie checked all the boxes. You had the irresistibly positive Christmas lover winning over the curmudgeonly Christmas-phobe. You had a small, cute town whose charm was bound to win over our city-dwelling heroine and make her decide to quit her high-powered city job and opt for small-town life. You had the obligatory Christmas activities (the only ones they missed were ice skating and a snowball fight). And you had the single dad and his adorable kid, ripe for the picking by our heroine, who was otherwise "too busy" for a relationship.
There's nothing in this movie we haven't seen before, so it lives or dies based on the performances of the actors. In this case, those performances were good. Brooke D'Orsay as the titular Miss Christmas (or Holly in real life) was wonderful. She was happy, upbeat and engaging through the whole movie. Marc Blucas was also decent as Sam. He was very down-to-earth and relatable, with a certain amount of charm, not based on being funny or clever, but being authentic and sincere. I liked the supporting characters in the McNary family, too. They all seemed like folks you would enjoy getting to know better.
Was there chemistry between Holly and Sam? Maybe a little, but I felt like she had much more chemistry with the rest of his family than with him. Their interactions with each other seemed kind of awkward, even cringy at times. I also thought the initial confrontation phase of their relationship, a seeming requirement of most Hallmark romances, was kind of forced and fake. So, he meets an attractive, nice girl who's from out of town, and he immediately starts insulting her for being a city girl. Really? It just seemed weird. Also, I never quite bought him being a Christmas Grinch. He seemed too nice.
The whole plotline about trying to get the cherished family tree for the Christmas display in Chicago seemed unrealistic to me. I would think the whole family would be against this, but they are all in favor, except for lone holdout Sam. Why would these small-town folk be so willing to give up a precious tree for the 2-week enjoyment of a bunch of city dwellers? It never rang true. The end, where they keep the tree but have it be decorated on-site, rather than chopping it down, seemed fairly predictable.
So, all in all, this was a sold Hallmark Christmas romance movie, buoyed by decent performances and providing all the elements that Hallmark fans want and expect. The romance part was weak, but otherwise, it was a good film that will doubtless please fans of the genre.
There's nothing in this movie we haven't seen before, so it lives or dies based on the performances of the actors. In this case, those performances were good. Brooke D'Orsay as the titular Miss Christmas (or Holly in real life) was wonderful. She was happy, upbeat and engaging through the whole movie. Marc Blucas was also decent as Sam. He was very down-to-earth and relatable, with a certain amount of charm, not based on being funny or clever, but being authentic and sincere. I liked the supporting characters in the McNary family, too. They all seemed like folks you would enjoy getting to know better.
Was there chemistry between Holly and Sam? Maybe a little, but I felt like she had much more chemistry with the rest of his family than with him. Their interactions with each other seemed kind of awkward, even cringy at times. I also thought the initial confrontation phase of their relationship, a seeming requirement of most Hallmark romances, was kind of forced and fake. So, he meets an attractive, nice girl who's from out of town, and he immediately starts insulting her for being a city girl. Really? It just seemed weird. Also, I never quite bought him being a Christmas Grinch. He seemed too nice.
The whole plotline about trying to get the cherished family tree for the Christmas display in Chicago seemed unrealistic to me. I would think the whole family would be against this, but they are all in favor, except for lone holdout Sam. Why would these small-town folk be so willing to give up a precious tree for the 2-week enjoyment of a bunch of city dwellers? It never rang true. The end, where they keep the tree but have it be decorated on-site, rather than chopping it down, seemed fairly predictable.
So, all in all, this was a sold Hallmark Christmas romance movie, buoyed by decent performances and providing all the elements that Hallmark fans want and expect. The romance part was weak, but otherwise, it was a good film that will doubtless please fans of the genre.