Coup de foudre au village de Noël

The four main actors Alison Sweeney, Luke Macfarlane, Marlo Thomas, and Maesa Nicholson did their very best to make this a pleasant Christmas themed film, which they succeeded in doing. Having said that I need a heck of a lot more icing on my Christmas Yule logs than a run of the mill romance with a new handsome guy moving into town to sweep a single mom off of her feet.

Marlo Thomas's performance as the mom and grandma who lives life not only as a glass half full type of mom and grandma but more like a gypsy woman who can cure all that is needed for her family and friends. Marlo Thomas may have been in her mid 80's when she filmed this but you wouldn't have guessed her age with the expressive energy she has displayed of a much younger octogenarian.

It is an okay Christmas film but I must admit it's rather a forgettable film to watch once and forget about it.

Allison Sweeney and Luke Macfarlane are better than this forced and fairly empty mess. Too easy to solve issues, too sappy and sugary and disgustingly sweet. Hallmark took an outline and filled it in with fluff and nonsense, but no heart. Why does the network feel it necessary to churn out mediocre junk in great numbers rather than make fewer but much better movies? The magic Christmas village was a wasted element that was tossed into the story to provide Christmas Magic? It didn't. I found Marlo Thomas's dated hippy philosophy and preachy tendencies distracting and annoying. (As was her plastic surgery face, especially as I am old enough to remember That Girl). I couldn't wait for the movie to end. It won't be on many Do Not Miss lists next year.

This was not one of Hallmark's better efforts. One issue is the complete lack of chemistry between Alison Sweeney and Luke Macfarlane. First time I have seen Macfarlane not connect with his leading lady. As someone who has always admired Marlo Thomas and enjoyed her performances over the year, I was disappointed that her role was so quirky and off center. I do not know what is happening over at Hallmark, but the quality of the Countdown to Christmas movies this year have been a disappointment. This film was so slowly paced and at no time did I feel the main characters were a match. I just kept hoping the story would develop, but it never did.

When I saw Marlo Thomas attached to this movie, I was eager to see it. I'm an original Marlo Thomas fan since That Girl back in the 60s. However, her role in this movie didn't work for me, and I believe that was a failure by the writers.

They went for kind of a zany hippy but wise character who was irresponsible but several times promoted the idea that "the universe will make things right". The dialogue simply sounded contrived and delusional.

I also found it painful to watch her. Marlo has done a lot of great things, including continuing to support and promote her father's effort with St. Jude's hospital, but she's also now a cautionary tale for any older woman considering plastic surgery. It doesn't look good on her ... at all. But with the face lift and died hair, they had her playing a role probably 25 years younger than her actual age, and that didn't work well, either.

More on just the movie. Despite us liking the actors in the romantic lead roles, I wasn't sold there. Again, just writers going through the motions rather than selling the characters and the relationships with something deeper than a magical fake pond causing him to suggest ice skating or some very thin dialogue about architecture.

This movie won't be on our rewatch list.

Agree with the other reviewer. Marlo Thomas's freakish looks were distracting and I found it hard to watch her. She has had more than one too many face lifts. Also agree her character was rude and disrespectful and the whole " just believe was " was very annoying. I found myself wanting to yell at the tv every time Marlo was on screen. Also I have always found her voice annoying.

She was in no way a sympathetic or likeable character. It was impossible to find any redeeming qualities in her character as a mother. Alison Sweeney as always did a marvellous job. It was easy to feel sympathy for her character.