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This is a decent Lifetime Christmas movie, not one of the best nor one of their worst this season. And it gives wheelchair users some representation on screen in this genre of film, which is a plus. In this one, a romance novelist (Izzi) heads off on her yearly Christmas getaway. Unfortunately, she has missed a deadline for her book, thus must spend her holiday finishing it. To her surprise, the owner's son (Matt) has taken over the Inn, and he happens to look like the protagonist in her book (on the cover of her books, that is). Shortly thereafter, the two start to develop a connection, a relationship as they take part in the towns Christmas festivities. It is a lovely romance story, and the movie does give off a warm Christmas vibe during the last 40 minutes or so. The script too was decent. There were a couple of scenes with some fun and entertaining dialogue (e.g., the scene where she complains about the floor not squeaking and meets Matt, some witty lines in that scene). However, I found the first 30 minutes difficult to engage with; i.e., the story did not pull me in. I had to stop myself a couple of times from multitasking. It was not until Izzi agreed to help Matt with the Christmas lights competition that I finally started to connect with the film. The acting, overall, was good. Ali Stroker (playing Izzi) had a very strong performance. I thought she had some very good dialogue and exchanges with Daniel di Tomasso (playing Matt). He had a strong yet gentle and sincere presence on screen, I felt. The chemistry between the two was also pretty good. As I alluded to above, I thought Stroker had a very convincing performance here. Her dialogue and exchanges came off as genuine and heartfelt on screen. The supporting cast was a bit mixed. Bill Marchant's performance (playing Bob, Matt's father and former Inn owner) was difficult to watch at times. His lines and exchanges often felt forced and exaggerated, which made for some awkward scenes, I felt. Melia Charlotte Cressaty (playing Matt's daughter), on the other hand, had a very cute performance. The scenery, props, and sets were charming and festive. As I noted above, the movie had a warm Christmas vibe to it, which is partly due to the cozy Christmas atmosphere at the inn and village. All in all, it is a pretty good Christmas movie, especially the last 40 minutes or so. Well worth a watch, I'd say.
score 6/10
toddsgraham 11 December 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6357230/ |
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6-3-2021 12:07:10