Christmas à la Mode

Both actors worked together on "Confess" (a booked I read and a TV show I watched), so there is my excuse for watching this. But, where was the Christmas? We had that one tree, a million Santa Clauses and a couple decorations, that's it. Christmas is not an essential part of the movie. That may be the biggest problem.

"I've fallen for you" excuse me, you spent all of three afternoons together and you are saying things like that to a stranger? I don't think so. There was not enough scenes between Emily and Charlie to actually see them falling for the other. Yes, he is charming, very easy to the eyes, and her enthusiasm is admirable, but they are strangers. I did not care a bit about the sister.

Other than those two being my biggest problems, I actually liked it. Being in quarantine I had to entertain myself and this did it. Would I watch it again? I don't think so. Would I watch another movie with Katie and Ryan together? Yes.

Not that bad, but not all that enjoyable either.

'Christmas a la Mode' is your basic, standard made-for-TV festive film. Katie Leclerc and Ryan Cooper are cute together, though none of the support cast stand out. The plot is a solid if cliché-filled one, I will say they tie it together well enough.

Despite the leading female character being a thoroughly unpleasant person, I enjoyed this very much. The actors playing the two lead characters were very appealing. I loved the hero. He was very attractive both inside and out. I would love to see more of the actor who played the character. I loved the actress as well. She was very cute and wholesome looking. A true girl next door look. There was good chemistry between the two lovebirds.

The story had good tension and suspense. While it is true that the citified sister was an antagonist in the noble quest to save the family farm, for most of the movie, I was onboard with her sensible move to sell it to a large Dairy Farm concern rather than having the family lose the whole thing to bankruptcy. Emily, the farm sister was unreasonable, sulky, and obstinate in her refusal to see anyone's viewpoint other than her own. Not to mention lying to her mother. I didn't have any sympathy for her at first. She was effectively putting loyalty to her dead father over her Mom's future. Homelessness, here we come. And why didn't she go into crisis mode earlier to formulate a plan to save the farm? It was limping along for years, apparently. Also, I'm not a fan of asking for donations to save a business that was not making it on it's own steam and business plan. It does not bode well for the long term viability of the business. It was just putting off the inevitable. Of course when the sister went completely over to the dark side, by switching her support to the housing development, I really started rooting for Emily. By that time she had finally got a fire lit under her and her schemes were bearing some fruit. After she lost the attitude, she was actually very charming.

I also want to note the actress who played their farm hand. Not conventionally pretty, but I liked that choice. She was excellent. I liked the final solution, it made very good sense. And since I didn't hate the city sister from the get-go, I was OK with her retconned personality change at the end. And the apple-pie ice-cream sounded absolutely delicious.

I.

You could summarize the entire movie, along with predicting the ending, from the previews that were shown on the network constantly prior to the premiere. There was one small piece that supported the token outcome and most people will figure it out as soon as the vehicle for that piece is introduced.

I have never liked the save-the-family-business/farm trope. It's tolerable if it stays in the background. But Emily expended 10 times as much effort and emotion on saving the farm as she did on Charlie.

Many Christmas movies have thin plot lines. They back it up and fill out the movie with likeable characters and chemistry between the leads. One character was likeable. The other character might generate sympathy for her cause, and maybe respect for perseverance, but I wouldn't want to spend time with her, much less date her. That's OK, because I wouldn't call anything they did dating. Besides cutting down a tree, and arguing, much of their time together was spent with other characters like her mother and/or sister.

This didn't need to be a Christmas movie. It could have easily been Fourth of July given the apple pie ice cream. There were several references to Santa figurines, and this could have led to an interesting subplot, but it didn't happen. They didn't need them. There were no Christmas Carols, snow ball fights or other common traditions.

Once again we have the family business being squeezed by big business....but also a prodigal sister too. Big business is actually rather ethical throughout this rendition, but the sister is an over-the-top antagonist. Our leads fall into the ubiquitous slow-burn romance once again, but since this is Lifetime, not Hallmark, I was disappointed the romance elements were so hesitant and G-rated. The leads were featured in another series called Confessions. While a much grittier, darker drama, the same leads' romance was much more intense and palpable. However, for a fluff piece movie, their acting was still engaging and we get our somewhat surprise happy ending.