Christmas Incorporated

The movie begins with Riley Vance (Shenae Grimes-Beech) struggling to find employment when she gets a tip on a personal assistant job. When they call her name to be interviewed they call Riley V., and while in the interview she realizes that the interview was suppose to be for Riley Vanderdale but she was already committed and hired so she just goes with it. So Riley becomes the assistant to William Young (Steve Lund) who has inherited his father's massive company and is challenged to perform well to prove his worth. William is faced with possibly closing the company's flagship toy factory in Dover, New Hampshire. While in Dover several delightful characters are introduced such as Piper (Hannah Spear) who is resourceful, delightful and fills several roles for the town; Mayor Martin Keegan (Ron Lea) is cheerful, funny and provides William with wonderful advice; the sheriff, and several others contribute to the fun.

The chemistry between Riley and William feels real and you know they will be great together. This is a fun and romantic movie that shares to spirit of Christmas.

Victor J

6.0 stars.

I'm not sure how anyone could have ignored the awkward and mismatched relationship and dialogue between the leads, which was most difficult to watch. I figured it was a fluke at first, but it continued and continued and continued. They are not synchronized at all.

His acting style seemed very forced, maybe because he was uncomfortable with the part, or he was actually so infatuated with her in real life that he couldn't contain his angst. Additionally, she was bland and uninterested, and as a result totally uninteresting. Near the end they are attempting to express feelings and moments that never existed. It's a very strange experience watching them push a romance that just isn't there.

The grinch reporter was very easy to loathe, and it was nice to have an antagonist for once that we could sink our teeth into (not in the usual positive sense).

I give it 6.0 stars instead of 5.0 because the story was well done, saving a town, saving a man's boyhood joy of Christmas, the portrayal of a very intelligent and capable executive assistant... these qualities of the film were flawless, but could not capably carry the dead weight.

The plot was of course unoriginal, but so are 95% of these Hallmarks, and many of them pass my litmus test of re-watchability. 'Christmas Incorporated' deplorably failed.

Sure, it was corny and formulaic, but that's exactly what I love about Hallmark movies. They're clean, have mild religious overtones, no sex, maybe just a kiss at the end. Riley talks about her family attending Midnight Mass. Love that. I believe people crave these types of movies rather than Hollywood filth with their obligatory premarital sex scenes.

Riley is an appealing character, and she carried the film She's a little tart, not too mushy, not too gorgeous, but a nice down-to- earth girl you'd love for her to invite you to her parents' home for Christmas. The male lead wasn't as strong. The story wasn't all that strong, but I don't care. I liked it, and wanted to watch it until the end.

Film historians of the future will no doubt teach seminars on the impact of the Canadian film factory (heavily taxpayer subsidized) on the content circulating through north America from approximately 1985 onwards.

Hollywood bluebloods hate the Canuck film machine because it takes food off the table. But, based on a lower dollar, the Canadians have found multiple "niches" where year after year they can slip almost-generic content into the maw, each one virtually into profit the moment the film leaves the camera because of the lower costs.

Some 90% of the movies that flood the airways around X-mas, in particular, are of this origin and most Americans don't have a clue.

This film is unusual for two reasons. Behind the camera is David Perlmutter who has been a Canuck film producer since the 80s and is by no definition a Johnny Come Lately.

And in front of the camera we have Shenae Grimes-Beech, an actress possessed of enough charisma for two leading ladies. She carries this film on her back and in the many areas where the script fails, or the casting of the extras (all too-familiar Canadian faces) fails, or the set design fails (the "toy factory" looks like an empty warehouse with a cheap sign installed at very the last minute) she simply cracks a smile and the audience decides to stick with the film for a few moments longer.

Finally and for the benefit of newbies to these sorts of films, a "6" rating is veritably an Oscar nod for such a film. I have seen worse.

Christmas Incorporated was my introduction to Steve Lund and it made me want to see more of his work. Hallmark movies tend to be predictable but I really enjoyed this one. I highly recommend it.