Must Love Christmas

This Christmas film was loaded with a great supporting cast and beautiful Christmas decorations. What it had that others lack was a wonderfully cohesive story about a famous romance writer Natalie who has shut herself away in her apartment and her latest book may be suffering for it. Her publisher kicks the last thirty pages back to her for a redo and advises her to get out of her apartment. Her agent had the perfect low risk outing, a single book signing in the first bookstore that carried her books. At the book signing our reclusive author runs into a journalist named Nick who is trying to score an exclusive interview with Natalie to save his magazine. The two do not exactly hit it off and then there is a snow storm trapping them in the small town of Cranberry Falls. In Cranberry Falls, Natalie runs into her first high school crush...the one she has based a romance character on. Nick helps Natalie make a connection with Caleb and wins himself an exclusive interview.

This holiday movie was heartfelt and contained several love lost stories within the greater romantic story arc. I didn't just like this holiday romance, I loved it.

I highly recommend this film to all romantics out there and I applaud CBS for the film...I also think I now have a crush on Neal Bledsoe!

Happy holidays, CBS and thank you!

This superbly done movie has what every Christmas rom-com should strive to attain: snappy dialogue with some humor, good acting, and a well-motivated storyline. All the usual expected rom-com tropes are included without trivializing them, in other words, they are nicely incorporated into the plot. What I noticed right away about this movie, which I have also seen in some other rom-coms that were a cut above the rest, is a sense of "presence" in the opening scenes that lets the viewer know right away that this is a movie to pay attention to. And, as in those other rom-coms that were a cut above, the plot moves forward at a good pace without slow spots. Lastly, the plot elements all come together without appearing to have been "contrived" to do so.

This is one is of my Top 10 favorite 2022 Christmas movies of 2022. You can see my other favorite 2022 Christmas movies by clicking on my profile link above; then look for "2022 FAVORITE CHRISTMAS ROM-COMs" under "Lists".

For a movie that is almost exclusively a Christmas rom/com, this may be one of the best I've seen in a long while, and I watch dozens every season. The premise starts out with two common devices but quickly fills in with interesting details. A recluse novelist struggling with writer's block escapes to her home town and encounters a high school crush. A journalist seeking to save his job vows to break a story about the novelist.

As I watched the story unfold, I expected it to follow one predictable line after another and I was usually wrong. Not to say that the broad strokes are not predictable. Natalie's backstory has elements that are a little hard to swallow, but the final one surprised me. The conflict with Nick seemed a little unfair to him, but it represented a development in the story that avoided one of the most common tropes for a journalist.

Probably most impressive was how the story actually sells why the two should be attracted to one another in a serious way. Sure, it was fast, but time compression is always a given in this kind of story. Along with that, the writer's block is dealt with in some detail and not just magically cured by new found love.

The acting and dialogue are good. The protagonists are mostly appealing but not perfect. Most of all, this story is well written.

In this movie I liked Nick better than his potential romantic partner. Yes, it is true they don't get along and there's no chance. And doesn't this usually mean they will end up together? It does mean there's a chance. But Neal Bledsoe did a very good job and he was exactly the man I would want to end up with the girl. He was professional and kind and even funny.

Liza Lapira was harder to like but of course there was no question as to which girl. She was quite pretty and intelligent, and sometimes funny in a sarcastic way, but the scenes where I could really like her weren't that common. I didn't see her carrying luggage but she had so many pretty clothes. Maybe she bought some while in town.

And how could anyone not like BJ Harrison's Miss Olivia who ran the inn? She's exactly who anyone would want to stay with. Though I personally don't like the idea of a bed and breakfast.

Adam Beauchesne would have made a great potential romantic partner but it was established at some point that Ryan was gay. And somehow I could tell even at the start. But if not, I could have certainly seen him and Natalie together.

Nathan Witte, the other major contender, didn't quite work for me. He was good, but just somehow harder to like.

And I really liked Ian Collins, the photographer who ended up having a bigger role than I had expected. But he established that he was gay right from the start. I wasn't looking at him as a romantic partner anyway, but he's just easy to like.

I never got the fire chief's name and don't know who played him, but he was quite professional.

Cranberry Falls, of course, is this ideal Christmas town with all the decorations. And add the period costumes during the festival and it's a holiday paradise.

New York City is pretty with snow on the ground. It was always snowing just a little, which is pretty to look at on screen.

Most of the music was good. Lots of traditional carols, many of them Christian (though that was the only mention of the real meaning of the holiday), many of those instrumental or performed by choirs. There was a group of traditional carolers in a very brief scene. However, toward the end there was a rock version of "Joy to the World" which I couldn't stand, and something even worse followed. An unfamiliar song with holiday-related lyrics and the style of the garbage young people think is music in 2022.

Family friendly? It was TV-G, but unlike last week when the CBS movie seemed to have nothing controversial, there are references to affairs and cheating. Now in 2022 apparently people can be gay and talk about their relationships in a clean way, and even have a relationship on screen, and it's all right. And if this is acceptable to you, there's nothing really that would make this movie a problem.

I am seeing a lot of holiday romances this year, and this is one of the good ones.

Pretty good for a Christmas rom-com. I thought it was going to be too cheesy for me to watch. I was able to watch the entire thing which speaks volumes. I definitely recommend. The acting was pretty decent. I thought the entire plot was although predictable (but most romcoms are), this one actually made me laugh at a few jokes. I think you should give it a try if you want something easy to watch. It's also nice to see some diversity in these characters. The movie did not feel too long. The only critique is I think the ending was a little too rushed but it was still good to watch overall. I rate this 9/10.