Les cookies de Noël

The friendship of two young girls develops into a deep-seated rivalry that festers over twenty years. They become elementary teachers who are always trying to one-up each other.

The action revolves around a school-sponsored baking contest that, somehow, drags over three days. As they keep their eyes on the winning cash prize, they become interested in an attractive, unattached man who moves into town with his daughter.

I found the early going in this Hallmark holiday romance to be tame and plodding. And the story offers no surprises. You might call it "cookie cutter."

The acting is actually okay, though the central character, Christie, is played by Erin Krakow as perhaps too subdued. Christie is a gentle spirit and likable, but this script could have used more energy. However, the final act of the film is satisfying, even touching. And Krakow shines in those concluding scenes.

Expectations were very mixed before watching 'A Cookie Cutter Christmas'. Love Christmas and many Christmas films. Have liked Erin Krakow and David Haydn-Jones in other performances, although not everything they've done has been good let alone great. Hallmark is an extremely mixed bag when it comes to their festive output, but they certainly showed more than once that they could make films that were above watchable.

Sadly, 'A Cookie Cutter Christmas' isn't one of them. The premise didn't excite me, but there have been many times where a predictable or ordinary premise has been executed in a way that exceeded expectations. This premise is done nothing with and there is not even enough to 'A Cookie Cutter Christmas' to make it cookie cutter. It's completely bland, lacking taste and flavour and the excessive cheese really does spoil the mix.

'A Cookie Cutter Christmas' has very few redeeming qualities, but credit is due for some nice location work.

Likewise the sweet (but not sickly sweet) and spirited lead performance of Krakow.

Haydn-Jones however has been much better in other things, he has been in misfires but this is one of the very few times where he isn't a redeeming merit. The character is just too uptight and vapid and Haydn-Jones really struggles to bring any personality to him. There is no chemistry between him and Krakow, they look ill at ease together, very disconnected from each other and nothing ignites. Miranda Frigon is also very annoying, from trying too hard, as a character whose negative qualities are so overwritten and overacted it was like seeing a caricature with no redeeming qualities. When she is with Krakow it was like a competition to see who could over-compensate the most, Frigon always winning because at least Krakow made an effort to bring some likeability to her character. The rest of the acting is nothing to write home about in roles that are so blandly and cartoonishly written that none of the characters come over as real people.

The script is incredibly childish and is excessively cheesy in many parts and very empty in others, the amount of cringing and wincing is enough to induce a need to sleep off nausea for an hour afterwards. The character motivations are so abrupt, all over the place and don't make much sense at all. One expects the story to be predictable as it is following the more of the same basic formula that most Hallmark films follow, but to me there are very few other Hallmark Christmas films that are as over the top ridiculous and lacking in maturity as 'A Cookie Cutter Christmas'. Those distinctions reach whole new heights here. The music is both grating and overbearing, the direction lacks character and distinction and other than the locations the film has a dull look.

In conclusion, very poor. 2/10

Erin Krakow is an actress that I never herd of until this year. I saw her on another Christmas Hallmark Film and I thought she was very good. The film I first saw her in was "Finding Father Christmas" and that was a nice little film. So when I put on this film " A cookie Cutter Christmas" I pleasantly surprised to see her again.

What I love about this actress is that she plays a nice "Girl Next Door" and you would want to be friends with her. In this film she plays a teacher that you wish you had growing up.

In this film Erin plays Christie Reynolds. Christie has been competing with fellow school teacher Penny in just about everything and have since they were young kids. One thing leads to another for them and before they know it they end up competing against each other once again on a cookie making contest!

At the same time, both teachers are showing interest in a student's single father. their competitive spirit rises to a higher and more desperate level.

This film is pleasant to watch. It has a nice warmth to it. I will watch it again someday. I recommend this film to all people who love a little romance around the holidays!

I love me some Hallmark holiday moves. I can't tolerate this one. Two catty, unlikable women competing over the new dad in town. I assume you're supposed to like the lead actress because she's the "nicer" of the two? But she's just as pathetic as the nastier one, meeting the new dad once and immediately setting her desperate sights on him. That is literally the whole plot of this movie. No charming romanticism that develops over two hours. Nope. Just that a single hot guy shows up, and the ladies pull out their claws. Oh, and the hot dad's "job" is running a nonprofit goodwill type ramshackle empty storefront for needy people. Ugh.

I'm an avid follower of When Calls the Heart, so if Erin Krakow is starring I will most likely tune in. That said both female lead characters were pretty unlikable sparring for the attention of the new single dad in town. Towards the end one of the characters has absolutely despicable morals for a teacher. Cute but lacking in wholesome Hallmark values..