L'Invité surprise de Noël

The story was just okay. I thought the lead actresse's character was very harsh toward her parents and the Ryan character. She was controlling, didn't let the parents talk to her, when they were trying to be upfront with her. She took over and wouldn't let them talk. The two had chemistry and that was about it. I prefer watching the older movies like "The Christmas Card" and "Christmas Shepherd" which were good stories. Also, they are putting actors/actresses together that don't even click or don't have chemistry. The older "Hallmark Hall of Fame" holiday movies are better than these, as well. I am so disappointed in the new movies.

Unfortunately, this storyline has been done too many times. I watched the whole movie.....but found it boring and slow. Big fan of Ryan Pavey, was really hoping for more.

Overall, this is a pretty ordinary and unoriginal (even for Hallmark) Christmas movie with some decent acting. It does, however, do a good job of getting you (the viewer) into the Christmas spirit via some festive scenes and some beautiful scenery, props, and sets. And don't forget Charlotte the marmot, you got like 'find the marmot' tradition in Coyote Creek. The protagonists in this story are Paige (played by Janel Parrish), a career-driven woman at an event-planning business where she has been feeling unappreciated of late, and Dylan (played by Ryan Paevey), a single father who gave up on love when his wife left him to raise their son Noah (played by Azriel Dalman). Both find themselves in Coyote Creek this Christmas holiday. Paige, who is looking forward to spending the holiday at her parents' Coyote Creek Inn and continuing its Christmas traditions, meets Dylan, who is there scoping out the 'mom and pop' inn as a potential investment for him and his brother's development corporation. And so our story begins, as the two start spending time together, enjoying all that this scenic town and inn in the Rockies has to offer during Christmas. Though the plot was predictable and unoriginal, it was pleasant enough and did keep me engaged (for the most part). However, as other reviewers have pointed out, the plot was overly complicated around the selling of the Inn. Simply put, it is unclear why the parents did not tell their daughter they were selling, especially if they thought she had no interest in returning to Coyote Creek. The acting overall was pretty good. I usually enjoy Paevey's Hallmark movies. For example, his performance in last year's, A Timeless Christmas, was strong. He had this warm and gentle vibe to his performance here, which I enjoyed watching on screen. Parrish was pretty good, though I had a difficult time connecting to her performance in some scenes. The chemistry between the two was much more 'low key' in this one than in other Hallmark movies, which potentially explains some of the reviews. I felt, it worked well; that is, it was convincing enough for this story. As I alluded to above, I enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere and feel of the movie, which is one of the things I like about Hallmark films. The find Charlotte the Marmot tradition was fun and cute. The 'Christmas around the World' theme at the inn was a nice touch. I also really enjoy those scenes where Hallmark has these educational moments by including information on and/or historical accounts of particular Christmas cultures and traditions. In this one, we learned about cobwebs on Christmas trees in Ukrainian folklore. All in all, it is an entertaining Christmas movie, not one of Hallmark's best but certainly not one of their worse.

Anything with Ryan Paevey automatically rates higher with me. He's a natural. I enjoyed the story and the locale was great. I did, however, want to give "Noah" a haircut.

First, Janel Parrish may be immature, but only 4 years younger than Ryan Paevey... (for those who hate the disparity in age between the two). .. Strongly agree with the many who disliked the pairing... Hallmark has often put a popular weak female lead opposite a strong male. Doesn't work for me as a viewer, and really did not work here. Am tired, as many are, of the Hallmark recipe of the loud, often obnoxious, teary girls/females as the central character.

Second, The strong male leads are Rare in the Hallmark universe, but thankfully still exist in good movies. Women, and men, need stories where both leads are believable. We need good stories and better directing. It can happen- and does- in "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Paevey and Italia Ricci.

Third, Hallmark writers are now so very often: repetitive, seemingly clueless, and inept ... might be because there is only 4 weeks between projects.... Still Bad.

Fourth, the last ones standing, the ones who release movies with this magnitude of errors, the directors and their studios.. How can you not see the problems, not notice miscasting, not want an original, cohesive script? How can you be so blind to so many flaws on the finished products?

Shame on Hallmark. (Hopefully with the changes happening now at Hallmark, GAC, Lifetime, etc. ,these problems will be lessened.)