To All a Good Night

I love the HMM Miracles of Christmas movies that tug on your heartstrings. This did that, but not as much as some. If doing that was the only good thing about this movie it would be good but not great.

What made this movie was all the little things, especially the little gags and jokes. By the way, I'm a dad and I love dad jokes. Mine are so bad I started calling them granddad jokes. There are a few dad jokes at the end which aren't as bad as they could be. But so many other things. The dog thief was great. Restoring the stolen items was often great. The funny things were not earth shattering funny, but they were good and all through the movie. So often the funny stuff will be only at the beginning, or the beginning and end.

There is a romance too. Unlike a lot of the movies that pull the heartstrings over one theme, the romance wasn't shortchanged in this one. But the sentimental story was still there.

Kimberley Sustad! What can I say? I think I thought the same thing with her Christmas movie last year. She has good comedic timing. She had great chemistry with Mark Ghanimé. Other actors were good too although Karen Kruper's Vivian was just a little bit too harsh in the beginning.

There were little mysteries stretched throughout the movie and some surprises. Not big ones, but just enough. I did know what Vivian was going to say before she said it, but then I think the way she worked up to it was my clue.

I'm not sure the last scene didn't steal from the super impressive shot just before it. Wow! Gorgeous! Wish I'd watched it in HD.

Ceci Carmichael (Kimberley Sustad) is a photographer for her small town newspaper. She recently lost her father and cancels a local Christmas tradition called Good Night. She comes to the aid of motorcyclist Sam Calloway (Mark Ghanimé) who crashes in the woods. Right before passing out, he asks her to marry him.

I really like the elephant necklace premise. I like a lot of that back and forth and its eventual resolution. I don't really like that he keeps his land development idea a secret. He could simply tell her that he's not buying her land and she would not believe him. That's a lot cuter and reasonable. I would like for her to read the letter. It would jumble the ending around a little, but I think it improve it. This is a movie filled with only nice people and that's a nice fit for Christmas.

This Hallmark holiday film was a little different than the usual formula. It had an unconventional male lead, who was mysterious, supportive, funny and giving. It had an adorable dog who was the thief of Harmony Bay, which worked into an ongoing gag. It had a female lead who was grieving the loss of her father, but open to healing and help.

It still had the loving, small town community and it had a gorgeous backdrop that looked exactly like my backyard growing up (it came as no surprise that it was film on Victoria Island...which you literally can look across the Salish Sea and see from my Fidalgo Island backyard).

Great supporting cast and a demonic bongo Santa. The dialog was wonderfully written...jokes, romantic stories, military support, and the concept of sharing something beautiful with the community that you love.

Ceci and Sam are a match made in heaven. Their meeting over a motorcycle accident and her first aid and conversation...and his proposal were great.

This is one for the romantics. The story was funny and romantic. I highly recommend it to romantics like me. Kimberley Sustad (Ceci) and newcomer Mark Ghanimé (Sam) had wonderful chemistry. I liked the multiple stories within this storyline and I really appreciated that they didn't make Vivian a villain.

8.2 stars.

Sustad is the source of this drama gold if you ask me. Just about every movie I've seen her in is a winner. I don't know if that's dumb luck, or she has some special connections with one of the big wigs, or she's just that good. I am always ready for a fun time with her characters. Although most of her personalities are similar, they have some minor nuances that she likes to surprise us with now and then. Her character in this film is a very down-to-earth woman who misses her dad something awful, he died recently. Her stepmother is the only person she has left, and their relationship was never a close one.

She has a bestie who helps her through the trials, but the people she meets, a man and his cousin, these become new and wonderful friends. The whole town supports her, they keep her little secret because of a mystery behind a man on a motorcycle. He crashes into some trees, gets injured and she rescues him, but why is he there, what does he want? She hides her identity from him in order to maintain a low key surveillance operation. All these factors come together to make this a very rich story, full of entertainment and very interesting personalities. What an amazing movie.

This was a lovely movie with many touching scenes and a sweet story of two people, both grieving, but finding each other. I appreciated the portrayal of grief done is a way that we can all relate to, especially at Christmas when we feel it more deeply. I love Kimberly and would watch any movie she is in. I particularly enjoyed her movies with Paul Campbell. I have not seen Mark in much but he was very good in this role. The beautiful scenery in and around Oak Bay (part of Victoria) adds to the story. I I chuckled at "Sally's" as I have been to that cafe. I don't remember the Christmas burgers but it does have great food and beautiful views. The ending had me in tears, as we see these two people find their way back to love and each other. Very well done. Definitely worth a watch.