Il segreto di Babbo Natale

I didn't planned it but it's great to write this review on Christmas day!

So far i failed all my Christmas time : All along December month, i would like to decorate my home, have a advent calendar, share sweets with my friends, write greetings cards, read moving stories about this holiday and watch the best movies about it near a warm fire and sipping infusion! At the end, i usually have fun just for Christmas day. This year it's a bit the same … until checking TV programs and noticing that there are a lot of Christmas TV movies.. When i see this one had Alicia, i was just really motivated to see it ! Alicia is among the rare artist I knew as a kid (see Dune, Twin Peaks) and now she is a lovely, fun, caring young woman who plays with the best (Pacino, Bullock). In a way, you can feel that it's movie for TV as the action happens in sets : there's not a lot of outdoor sequence in lovely Chicago so we have a Christmas movie nearly without snow.. But except this, this a wonderful, family movie : Alicia is really good being a single mother and showing courage and efforts to support her family ! She is kind, polite, generous, wonderfully dressed and always smiling even if things turn bad. Sure the story can be guessed since the start but that's what I want : Christmas magic, romance, happiness and not more politics, violence, money, guns, nudity, hysteric, crazy people… Her daughter is totally sweet and as i have always like malls, this movie was really a great gift for me !

Enjoyable Hallmark movie starring Alicia Witt as an unemployed single mom who, through a series of events, gets a job as a department store Santa without anyone at the store actually knowing she's not a 'he.' Helping her along the way is angel (I think?) Wallace Shawn. Other characters include the adorable daughter struggling at school, the wealthy (but bland) love interest, and the villainous woman who causes problems for our heroine every five minutes. It's hardly a Miracle on 34th Street but it'll get the job done.

Alicia Witt is immensely likable and carries the movie on her shoulders. Wallace Shawn is fun whenever he's around. Gabrielle Miller makes for an easy-to-hate villainess. T.J. McGibbon plays the daughter and steals every scene she's in. Gabriel Hogan is the weakest part of the cast as the completely forgettable love interest. He's the usual Hallmark clichéd rich guy that every woman is apparently aspiring to marry. He's also unexciting in every possible way. I think Alicia's character can do better but I didn't write the movie. It's worth a look if you enjoy these sorts of things. It won't rock your world or anything but it's a good way to pass the time.

Despite being a lover of Christmas, that is not to say that every Hallmark Christmas film is great. A fair share of them are watchable enough but there are average and less ones about, still watch them out of curiosity and also because of them being part of a completest quest. Alicia Witt is a bit hit and miss for me, she's a regular in these films and while there are times where you can see why there are quite a number of other times where she really could have toned it down.

Something that is luckily not the case here. Witt comes off very well here, as do a number of other things. 'Christmas at Cartwright's' would not fit my definition of a great Christmas film or even a great film overall, and this is all personal opinion not an objective one. 'Christmas at Cartwright's' is though a very pleasant, inoffensive diversion and not a bad way to pass the time for a couple of hours of a bleak afternoon for instance.

As said, Witt is immensely charming and injects a lot of personality without forcing it out, nothing affected here about her performance. She does make a potentially strange character work, considering the concept that is. Wallace Shawn still has a loving twinkle in his eye and doesn't phone it in. Gabrielle Miller has fun in her role and doesn't overplay, which is great as she had a type of character where it was easy to do so. The characters are not complex in development but at least don't bore or irritate, while the central chemistry has spark and is quite sweet.

'Christmas at Cartwright's' looks good. The interiors for the store really stand out, very beautifully eye-catching and the photography doesn't cheapen that. The script doesn't come over as stilted, over-cheesy or over-saccharine and the story while far from flawless is charming, warm-hearted and emotionally investable without taking itself too seriously, enough of a lightness of touch to avoid heaviness.

However, the story does execute its concept a bit too ordinarily and brings nothing new to the table. This is standard Hallmark Christmas, with little to set it apart. So while it is pleasant to watch, the predictability gets excessive as do the silliness and coincidences (meaning that it was not always easy to take the final third completely seriously).

Another thing that felt excessive was the music, which should have been used much less, as it did get too much, and felt very over-scored and intrusive. Distracting from the atmosphere and from some of the dialogue which was sometimes swamped by it.

In conclusion, worth seeing but not a "two thumbs way up" sort of film. 6/10

People are trying to apply logic to this film, but much like Father Christmas himself it's probably not best to.

Instead enjoy a better than average Hallmark film with regular player Alicia Witt in the lead role.

It's got a lot that's good about it, and although slow in some places, is an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half.

Alicia Witt has a quirky charm, and she is excellent as the first Santa at a department store. I have to thank the wonderful film ' Bros ' for my addiction to Hallmark Films, and the goodwill that they deliver to many people. I am not sure this is one of my favourites, but it has a great premise. Women can be just as good as men portraying Santa, and Witt has the right approach in playing this role. As we all know these Christmas fantasies have a male lead as well, but sadly in this film I did not think the one chosen for this was not quite up to make the heartbeat, either for female as well as male viewers. But to return to Alicia Witt she is much less passive than some of the female actors in the Hallmark genre. I really believed she could bring magic to the children she meets, and her mentor played brilliantly by the muti-talented Wallace Shawn was a magical choice of its own. ' Real ' life should have more female Santas. Worth watching.