This movie is cheesy, but I have been in the mood for cheesy Christmas movies this year. Howard Hesseman I've always liked, he's the reason I give A Christmas in Vermont the stars it gets.
This isn't a realistic look at Vermont. First, it is filmed in Buffalo, NY, which isn't Vermont. They could have filmed it in Stowe and provided a much more realistic setting. I laughed when I saw the supposed Vermont license plates. That's a NY plate with "Vermont" photoshopped over NY. That's simply lazy. As was putting one photoshopped plate in while all other plates on cars parked on the streets were NY plates.
I've seen feedback about snow. It's almost Christmas and there's no snow on the ground. It was 50 this weekend. Snow at Christmas isn't a guarantee in Vermont. That said, cold weather usually is and any Vermonter stood out in the cold for that long would have a coat zipped up all the way and a hat or scarf covering the ears.
I've lived in Vermont for more than 40 years and I have not heard anyone say "Howdy." I don't know why authors and scriptwriters continue to think that Vermonter's talk like that. Again, circle back to Hesseman, who is as Vermonter-like as I've seen. He often reminded me of my dad, right down to the speech and mannerisms.
Acting is weak for the most part. The plot is same-old, same-old, but I expected the same Christmas romance redone, so I could handle that. The downfall to me came from making "Vermont" about as un-Vermont as possible.
