A Merry Christmas Wish

Project Christmas movie-watch continues but it seems I'm knee deep in Hallmark land already. Turning out these soporific seasonal romance movies seems akin to the film makers rearranging the slushy words in greeting cards to say the same thing in a different way.

In this one, we're introduced to New York-based advertising executive Jill Wagner's Janie character who seems to have it all. She's successful in her job, has a mirror-image boyfriend in wealth management and is getting ready to go with him to L. A. for Christmas.

Then, just her luck, she learns her rich, great uncle Randall has died and left her his farm at Brigadoon, sorry, that should read Woodland Falls, an idyllic little town three hours drive away from the city hustle and bustle, where she spent a happy childhood. So she makes the journey there to tie up the estate where she reconnects with her old childhood girlfriend, who now has a cute daughter and wouldn't you know it, hunky brother who apparently comes with the farm. We learn that her bequest comes with one condition, she has to continue the tradition of putting on the town's annual Christmas fair. Of course she's going to need help to do that and just where do you suppose she'll get a chunky hunk of help to do just that...?

It all ends up with our heroine having to choose between the city and the country, as well as the old slick, suited and booted beau or her new rugged, check-shirted boyfriend. No surprises for guessing which way she ends up going both times.

Listen, there's lots of Christmas Muzak playing in the background, there are plenty of Christmas decorations everywhere and everybody in Woodland Falls is just so gosh-darned nice as they make rosemary-flavoured honey and eat Friendship cookies, with Janie making their lives better yet with some free marketing advice she dispenses to all and sundry.

It's a typical seasonal TV movie, blandly predictable, supposedly heart-warming and undemanding if you like this sort of thing but in truth I think I'll look for something a little more substantial next time I peruse the schedules.

I really liked this movie and even though I could see exactly how it would end, I enjoyed the road getting there. The two main leads are definitely both seasoned actors and I thought their chemistry sparkled. The plot "save the farm" is a bit overdone but it is a Christmas flick after all.... I do not have an Instagram account so I don't follow the actors in their private lives but I instantly knew JW either just had a baby or was pregnant during filming, turns out she had her first child in 2020 and I think she was pregnant in this movie, congratulations! I'm glad CM & JW among others switched networks, I look forward to seeing them!

Overall a good movie to watch, but go in knowing that the plot and surroundings are typical Hallmark-like. No mystery as to what the final outcome will be (including so long, old boyfriend!). Positives include the well known stars, other excellent cast members, and the pleasant winter setting (in reality, northward in Ontario) and Christmas decor.

However, there is one major flaw in the timeline of the story, which could easily have been avoided by the writer. Namely (and this is all known early on in the movie, so not a spoiler), Jill Wagner inherits a farm in "upstate New York" from a great uncle with whom she had a close summertime relationship until age 10, in 2003. There is no specific mention to my recollection as to why no contact after that or anything about her immediate family. Now it's 20 years later, i.e., age 30-ish. Well, as attractive as the stars are, they aren't 30 years old anymore! The script could have described the close relationship until 2003 at age 17 or 18, after which a youth would more likely lose contact; then 20 years later would more closely match the actors' real ages.

The other always unbelievable timing in Hallmark and now Great American movies is the sudden need to plan, organize and put on a major event in something like a week, which would in reality takes weeks or months. But they can always do it!

A Christmas movie with the classical theme of the unplanned return to the home town in the Christmas period. Janie Collins who works and live in Manhattan has to come back to Wodland Falls because of the death of her great uncle Randall and surprise she becomes owner of the farm of Randall: a great surprise for her. Then another surprise in a letter Randall asked her to rganize the Winter Wonderland in the barn of the estate.

Janie meets Dylan, the brother of her best friend Nicole, little by little she knows other people and prepares the Winter Wonderland with the help of Dylan, at the same time Jane has some memories (the song that she was dancing with Randall). Dylan is full of humour and very careful with Janie. Janie has also moments of doubts about her stay in Woodland Falls.

I enjoyed the performances of Jill Wagner, Cameron Matheson Morgan David Jones and Jeanna Jarvis.

This movie doesn't have ideas above its station, and I like that about it. It ticks all the twinkly Hallmark Christmas boxes, and the plot is cohesive enough, the actors skilled enough, the settings realistic enough to make an enjoyable, frosted-but-not-sickly slice of escapism.

Several scenes are quite heartwarming (particularly the one in the attic), and the city slicker love interest having more than a two-dimensional personality was a nice touch. The country boy love interest's relationship with his young niece is charming, and the character of his sister as the glue that holds everyone together works well. I concur with other reviews about the wonky timeline, but it was easy to shrug off. Overall, this is a movie I would watch again.

Note: If you like honey, have some ready as a snack before watching, because this movie will make you want some.