Homemade Christmas

The premise boils down to consultant-comes-in-to-save-the-business but there's a different flavor to it. For one thing, there's also a Christmas-coach slant to it. And the consultant to save the business isn't really a business consultant, but a Jacqueline of all trades who majors in DIY. The movie didn't cram in all of the usual Christmas devices, but the snowball exchange was a little obvious. There are no big surprises.

Michelle Argyris has chemistry with both of the male leads, but after a bit, Chase turns into the business-focus exec who doesn't really care about people. He's also controlling and not too respectful of women.

Meanwhile Kurt, played by Travis Nelson has obvious connection with Argyris even when they are sparring with each other and it only goes up from there. This is the enjoyable part of the movie watching these two get closer then back away and then repeat.

Megan seems a little too good to be true at least as far as selflessness. She has some insecurities that come out over time, but a really tough façade.

So, Travis was cute and he did have unexpected depths, but the character of Mike seemed like the better option as the leading guy or even for the leading guy to fall for, because she was actually quite annoying and her voice grated a lot.

I always like Christmas stories that focus on retail and toys in particular, because it doesn't matter how old you are, or even how much of a Scrooge you are, everyone has a memory of a toy shop at Christmas and a desperate desire for a specific item.

It must be tough to try and make a film about toys and their appeal to kids in the age of the X-Box and PlayStation. Even Barbie and Lego barely seem to get a look in nowadays.

Perhaps this difficulty is why this one sadly didn't quite hit the mark and while it wasn't that bad overall, I think that it could have been done a lot better. It is worth a watch, but there are others to see first.

There is a bit too much going on and too many characters brought in, which might have worked with better direction and storyboarding.

6ish?/1000.

It's a classic Christmas movie to be in Christmas mood. I liked it but it's not the best. Actually the love triangle made me curious about what will happen in the end. It's good for those who love classic romantic stories.

As we've all seen Hallmark and Lifetime have produced some real underwhelming movies for 2020. Less moving moments, really bad snowy scenes, etc. But this one is the worst so far. The acting is incredibly bad, and I mean every single character, horrible. The toy shop guys, wth? How do they have one shop let alone try for more. Never any customers, but fully staffed and no one knows anything! Bare shelves, no decorations, really? Hiring someone to decorate a tree in a toystore is an emergency when you have 4 people in the store doing nothing, with no customers? This one is all over the place, no focus, just cliches. I had to struggle through this in hopes in would get better, it didn't.

I thought this Christmas movie was adorable! I found the main actors to have good chemistry together plus I enjoyed the supporting cast as well. I also enjoyed seeing REAL crisp air as this was filmed in Canada during a colder climate... typically Christmas movies are filmed in the spring or summer and you can tell because the sun is shining bright and of course all the fake snow! I see this flick didn't get rave reviews but as for me, I found it refreshing- well done to the cast and crew!