Christmas by Design

So far, Rebecca Dalton seems to have been cast as characters that have really rubbed me the wrong way. This one was no exception. She plays a snotty little pill in this movie who is not rehabilitated until the last 15 minutes or so. She is mean and rude to her newish stepfather, dismissive of her nice family, and looks down on the townspeople in her small town because she is all so important and cool as a NEW YORK CITY semi-successful fashion designer. She also hurts the guy who has been so nice and helpful to her by disparaging him to her friend when she doesn't know he is listening.

And haven't been too fond of her leading man either. He was actually pretty good in this one except for some reason, they have injected the info that he is the hometown hunk who is the object of desire of all of the cute single women in town. But at least he doesn't play a prince this time. In looks and stature he's kind on the wispy side compared to the usual Hallmark leading man. As kind of a humble sad widower seeking peace and healing in his new town, he was fine. He also comes across as quick witted and intelligent.

Because she was such an unlikable character in the beginning it made her repentance and rehabilitation that much more satisfying. That's all I came to say except that I wish they would use Joanna Douglas more often. I really like her. And the pajamas designed for the contest were spectacularly ugly.

This is a great movie that I thoroughly enjoyed as an any-season view. It IS a Christmas movie, but there was enough substance to make it interesting outside of the Christmas/holiday theme.

The movie is a simple premise - as summarized already on this site - but the subtleties that I found enjoyable differentiate it from most Hallmark Christmas movies.

There is a fair amount of underlying tension throughout the movie, which may not bode well for a family night, but is certainly relatable to most people living in the real world. We all are facing issues or concerns, if not with our own family, perhaps with friendships. People can be self-centered, and they can also have the best intentions, but not meet the needs of those they want to please.

In this movie, the mom is the most amazing, supportive mom possible. Stepdad is a very invisible part until the last quarter of the movie. The sister plays a strong role, and this is where a lot of the tension happens. She is clearly the person who feels she has been there for her family, through thick and thin, but her younger sister fled to NYC, fulfilling her dreams.

This tension is evident from the start, as the moment they reunite at their Mom's house, it's snippy-quip-and-side-eye-galore.

I understand this tension, as I AM that younger sister, the one who left the hometown, and to this day, there is palpable tension from my older sister. I saw - in Charlotte - a little of myself. Wondering, 'what did I do that's so wrong? I tried to make the most of what our parents taught in us, but now I am the bad person because I didn't make my life in this town?" - -- the part about how, when their father was sick, Charlotte was not there -- this really hit home for me, as the same situation happened in my own life. I was desperate to be home, but did not understand that there are rules to preserve jobs if you leave (FMLA in the US) -- and so, I stayed in my new area, working while worrying about my father.

The situations aren't exactly parallel, but these painful feelings don't disappear, and it helps me tremendously to see that other families deal with them too. Yes, it's a HM movie, but these are movies that seem to be based on realistic situations. I definitely don't want to see a movie with the "worst" of life depicted, but this movie had a solid balance of positive and "reality", without it being a downer, in my opinion.

I also loved how she (Char) was not perfect at all; she made stupid comments about Spencer's profession, and even worse, ruthlessly snapped at her stepdad, who was so gentle and kind. Her mom's reaction was so healthy: she wasn't going to tolerate that sort of talk, but also had empathy for her daughter's obvious inner conflict.

I loved that Spencer was a real guy: he didn't just grovel for her to love him. He had his pride, a sense of self-dignity, which is the reality for most young men, as well it should be. It took work for her to earn his trust again, and he wasn't just waiting with roses for her to come back. This is reality for most couples.

The downsides of this movie were few, but typical: some unexplored story points (how did Elfcapades stay afloat in the end, or did it?) and the suspension of reality that only Hallmark can pull off -- but this movie is among my favorites in all of Hallmark history, simply because I could see parts of my own life, and it helped me reflect further on how I can be a better person.

I loved Viggo Hanvelt, who played her nephew - what a total delight and talent. I also loved Dee Dee's role/the actress, as she seems like the perfect backdrop to "cozy Christmas movie" (we all need a Dee Dee to be our comrade).

Highly recommend this movie for the viewer that is looking for a little more complexity and isn't put off by reminders of reality. It's not the best movie for watching with Grandma, or while decorating or making cookies, but a great movie for a couple of good friends to watch and to dissect a bit afterward.

Charlotte and Spencer's meet cute is a fender bender in her hometown, to which she is forced to return because her big city building containing both her home and her high end fashion boutique had a pipe burst and she will be without power for over a week. She has a big deadline to submit designs to a contest that could mean her line being picked up by a chain store. The fender bender results in damage to charlotte's car which, even though she makes assumptions and is quite rude to him, Spencer volunteers to fix for her.

This brings up my first real issue with the film, the rude behavior exhibited by the character Charlotte. She is terribly rude to Spencer when they meet and then she gets home to her mother's house and is rude to her family members...especially her stepfather. I'm glad they resolve all of those relationships eventually, but her behavior as an adult is unacceptable.

This does bring me to something that I liked, Susan Hamann. She plays Charlotte's mother wonderfully and I appreciated the conversation her character has with her adult daughter about her father and her stepfather.

Her high end fashion sense is at odds with the sensibilities of the brand she is competing to join. Her sister and town members all chip in with the same thing...they want to wear something comfortable around the holidays. Inspired by a local event called "Pajamboree", which was a cute idea, Charlotte designs Christmas coverall pajamas for the whole family...and they are truly terrible...but she still wins?!?!? That was actually the most unrealistic part of the whole film.

Jonathan Keltz and Rebecca Dalton make an attractive couple and they did a decent job building the romance between their two characters as Charlotte and Spencer. The town is cute and I really enjoyed the family focused activities of Elfcapades. I did appreciate that if you pulled back this is a story of a grieving widower, who is slowly deciding to open up again and a workaholic, who has been putting work before family and is finally flipping to family before work.

"So you came all this way just to ignore us for work?"-Kristina (sister to Charlotte)

Decent slow build romance that I think fans of Hallmark holiday romances will like, as long as they can get over the rude behavior by Charlotte and don't look too closely at the pajama coveralls.

Rebecca Dalton has been in some real rom/com bombs, but she has had a few good ones. This is a good one. One problem I have seen in the past is flat acting. She seemed totally natural in this one. She also had great chemistry with Jonathan Keltz. Their banter was great. I really enjoyed the development of their relationship.

Another theme throughout the movie is family alienation. She has some chip on her shoulder with her step dad which gets illuminated later. In fact she has friction with her entire family. There are highs and lows there.

There isn't much in the story that sets this movie apart.

How long have we been waiting for someone to say that?

This was a very average Hallmark offering. Not terrible, not great.

A snotty New York clothing designer returns to her hometown, and is forced to confront some memories, meets a guy, et cetera, et cetera.

The difference is the snotty designer is played by Rebecca Dalton. I have said in other posts, I can't take my eyes off Rebecca Dalton. Now that she's entering her mid- thirties, she's ready for Hallmark leads, and I hope she gets a lot of them.

She did a nice job here. The male lead she played against was actually pretty generic, but at least he wasn't a male model type.

This is not an unpleasant way to spend a couple hours.

Will I watch it again?

Yyyyyep.