The Christmas Thief

I think this is a lovely movie that can be watched with the whole family, and is just fun to watch. I wish the chemistry between Lana and Nick was a bit more obvious and they had more scenes to connect and maybe even a bit more of Lana and her nephew but as a whole, I really enjoyed it. Michelle is one of my favourite actresses and I enjoyed seeing her in this role.

I thought the acting was horrible and boring. Couldn't make it all the way through this mess. It started out bad and got worse from there. Watch at your won peril.

Michelle Borth has long dreamed of being a private investigator. A year ago she quit her job at an insurance agency to solve crimes. She has succeeded in finding a lost cat -- and been paid in cookies. She interviews with Vivica Fox for her 'tec agency, and then it's off to her typical Hallmark Channel hometown, where homeowners apparently clear the snow off their frost-covered lawns, if not their bushes. She is intrigued by a series of robberies, and distracted by her old boyfriend, Leigh Foster, and Jarrid Masse, the handsome detective investigating the crimes. She develops her own theories, and wrangles with Masse.

So it soon becomes apparent this is a Christmas-themed romantic comedy wrapped inside a mystery, or perhaps the other way around. It's a pretty good mystery, with several people dressed as Santa, particularly Tom Lally; I was surprised by who the villain was. But the characters are pretty generic. Even though that's not a terrible thing in classic mysteries, in Hallmark romcoms, my impulse is to say if you've seen one, you've seen them all.

Great, fun, seasonal movie! I really enjoyed it. Wouldn't mind adding it to my collection. I would really like to read the book. Granted, it wasn't a murder mystery, it was still a mystery. A little bit predictable, too- but not the entire time.

I liked the movie, but I'm leaving a review for the beautiful song that was given no credit and took me nearly an hour to find (using the lyrics. ...Even a song identifying app couldn't find it.) The song that plays during the gazebo decorating scene is called "Christmas Lights", by Luna Keller.

When I heard it, It caught my attention to the point that I spent almost the entire rest of the movie trying to find it. This song is better than just about any modern Christmas song by some big name artists. Now that I DID manage to track it down, this song will be be going into my personal collection, and become a classic, to me, at least.

(I submitted this info to be added to the soundtrack credits, But in case that doesn't happen, I left this, too.)