I bet most of us have a separate rating scale for the Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas romance genre. They are low budget, quantity over quality films, so best to enter with a generous mindset.
For me, the number one strength or dealbreaker is the 2 leads. If they can both act, neither is annoying and there's some chemistry-boom, that makes it a rare bird. I DVR and delete at least half these movies after watching 10-15 minutes because I know I can't take 90 minutes of one of the leads.
Jill Wagner and Wes Brown are as good as it gets, and their 'introduction' scene conveyed some real sparks of friction. Their getting-to-know-you meet-ups were convincing, fun and served the plot. The supporting cast was also good, with extra points for a real sense of family in the scenes with Jake's relatives, especially his cute niece.
My number two criteria is sense of place, given these movies are short on plotting and long on setting. Some of them have little or no real in-town scenes and no feel of a distinct place, even as the dialogue constantly refers to how special ________town is.
In Cookie Jar, (yes, Cookie Jar) the cafe anchors the town, the tobogganing scenes practically smelled like pine and mountain air and the sets for Christmas events were lovely and realistic. Again, better than the vast majority of these films.
I would've rated this higher except for two major weak points. First, the resolution felt very slapdash and unbelievable. Like a cringe-y afterthought. Second, the business-related details rang so false they were distracting. Who travels to a small town on behalf of a 'conglomerate' without a rental car? With no public transport to rely on. Who would go out, solo, to close a deal with a biz owner after zero communications between the two? With no legal representation and no authority to revise the deal? We didn't need much detail about the business end-we just needed some logic there.
