Christmas Pen Pals

Really enjoyed this movie and thought the story played out well. Great acting by all but in particular Michael Gross made the father seem so natural and warm. Well done Hallmark.

My biggest obstacle to enjoying this was Sarah Drew as Hannah, whose piercing voice and manic manner grated against a mostly charming plot.

First we get Hannah's automated, colorless attempt at life, met with shrill anxiety about her company's failing dating app and stock. So Hannah goes home to visit her father and married sister to regroup and find the 'spark'.

Home, Hannah quickly chooses the 'love' option of the town's anonymous pen pal matching effort. Her doubts turn to intrigue as smart, thoughtful letters from her match arrive.

Then, with her shrill sister's input, Hannah promptly obsesses over the identity of her pen pal-despite knowing all will be revealed in 2 weeks.

Anxiety is Hannah's consistent theme. Which reaches a fever pitch of stress as she makes dumb and desperate moves guessing at her soulmate.

It's a shame for the film. Hannah's love interest/ex Sam is a perfectly cast Niall Matter, whose subdued kindness hints at the long hurt underneath.

You may like this much better if you can get past my 2 nagging questions. 1) Did the Lifetime folks really consider Hannah likable? If you dated someone for 4 years, wouldn't you easily be able to rule in, or out, their handwriting???

The experience of Niall Matter in Christmas Halmark films, , the admirable work of Michael Gross as Ted, the atmosfere and, of course, the frame of letters are the secret ingredients making this film just special. Yes,it is a Halmark. But a profound charming one because, în fair and wise way, r,eminds the essential significance of people off line connections and sure, the rules of romance.

This is another twist on the famous movie where instead of email, they use good old fashion US Mail. I thought the whole premise of reviving the WWII tradition was a nice take on it.

Nial Matter is always good in these movies and Sarah Drew is new to me, but they worked well together as they danced closer and then away and back and forth.

There were some secondary mystery romances also.

There are some really interesting little twists near the end even though the viewer always knew how it was going to come out in the end. The last scene was sweet and made better by not getting there the easy way.

The acting in this one was strong, especially on the male side with Niall Matter and a surprise appearance by Michael Gross. It took me awhile to warm up to Sarah Drew whom I am unfamiliar with but I did not dislike her by the end. The supporting characters, especially on the female side were very good.

Writing was better then average. Yes as usual with these movies much was already telegraphed 15 minutes in but there were quite a number of moments that brought a smile to the face. As with all these movies you have to overlook all the plotholes and make assumptions about the resolution of many secondary stories which is a bit unfortunate as several of the secondary characters had a nice way about them.