Unwrapping Christmas: Tina's Miracle

Of course I had never heard about this movie, as I usually don't bother with Christmas movies. But every now and again, with years apart, I go all in and spend all days in December up to the 24th watching sappy Christmas movies. And 2024 would be one such year, and thus I happened to stumble upon the 2024 movie "Unwrapping Christmas: Tina's Miracle" as I was essentially sitting down to watch any Christmas movie I possibly could.

Was I expecting much? No, not really. I mean, the movie's cover is a bit boring, so I didn't really have any grand expectations. Not that I normally have high hopes for Christmas movies, as they tend to be rather formulaic and generic; once you've seen one Hallmark Christmas movie, you've essentially seen them all. But still, I opted to give director Max McGuire the benefit of the doubt.

Writer T. Booker James put together an enjoyable and entertaining script and storyline. I will say that the movie actually turned out to be an enjoyable Christmassy movie, for better or worse. I was genuinely entertained, and surprised of course, with the outcome of the script. Sure, it was generic and formulaic, but it was sappy enough to actually make it work and stand out in a vast sea of similar Christmas movies.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with leading actor Alec Santos. I will say that the acting performances in "Unwrapping Christmas: Tina's Miracle" were good. And there was a good on-screen chemistry between leading actress Natalie Hall and leading actor Alec Santos.

I am sure that the diehard fans of the sappy Christmas movies out there would really enjoy this 2024 movie.

My rating of director Max McGuire's 2024 movie "Unwrapping Christmas: Tina's Miracle" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Did Hallmark put out an open casting call throughout Canada which read: "Actors, have you been rejected for a role in a Hallmark Christmas movie? We want you! The less talented you are, the bigger the role." I kept thinking that surely this movie was going to improve, but each scene introduced another terrible actor. The phony camaraderie of the 4 shop owners was cringeworthy. Plus, how can a little wrapping store support 4 women, enabling them to dress in upscale clothing and live in expensive places? Then the hero "hunk" looks scruffy enough to have recently jumped out of a freight train car. No, I will definitely not be watching the other three movies.

They have a great cast of female leads for the first three stories. I don't like Cindy because to me her performances always seem forced.

So far I like the stories. This one was interesting as a mystery of sorts. I already watched the second and I see that each story is cleverly woven together with the others.

I don't care for three of the four male leads though. Not everyone can pull off the haggard disheveled look and the guy in this movie is one of them. His background story was a bit muddled and I didn't get the story of his company. So I may watch it again. Overall I liked it and love the women's relationships with their families and each other.

The story was ok and the guy didn't annoy me as much as the girl did.

She was very weepy. She also said "Michael" so many times, I was cringing. It was like in almost every sentence she spoke to him. She did the same when speaking to her "Dad". I don't know what her purpose was for doing it, but it sure was annoying.

Not sure that this is a writer thing as much as the actress inserting it herself. I couldn't bear to watch this ever again.

The idea of the wrapping business is interesting but I have no idea how a business like that can survive year round with 4 main people plus other employees.

6.6 stars.

This is the simple story of a woman who is trying to save an historical building. We've seen a variation of this trope at least 50 times in Hallmark movies.... Save the manor, shop, building, landmark, etc...

In the opening scene we see not one, but four female leads. There is no mystery that this is the first of several movies in a series. I figured, since there are four leading ladies, there must be four films in this "unwrapping" franchise. I see only three listed, but that simply means it's a couple weeks too early to list the air date of the fourth. I noticed that the most notable female of the four is not starring in the three listed, so I assume she'll get the fourth installment (the currently unlisted one). If one is released each week, the fourth one will be in early December. The first week in December is usually an important week for Hallmark releases.

This particular story begins very sluggishly, but it starts to grow on you gradually until the conclusion, which was somewhat endearing. But in the end, this film is right in the middle of the pack. If I had to pick a quintessential average Hallmark movie, this one is one of a thousand that blends in to the woodwork. I don't plan on returning to watch it, but it was nice for a one time viewing. It was not a total waste of time, if you are wondering.