Christmas by Design

This is a great movie that I thoroughly enjoyed as an any-season view. It IS a Christmas movie, but there was enough substance to make it interesting outside of the Christmas/holiday theme.

The movie is a simple premise - as summarized already on this site - but the subtleties that I found enjoyable differentiate it from most Hallmark Christmas movies.

There is a fair amount of underlying tension throughout the movie, which may not bode well for a family night, but is certainly relatable to most people living in the real world. We all are facing issues or concerns, if not with our own family, perhaps with friendships. People can be self-centered, and they can also have the best intentions, but not meet the needs of those they want to please.

In this movie, the mom is the most amazing, supportive mom possible. Stepdad is a very invisible part until the last quarter of the movie. The sister plays a strong role, and this is where a lot of the tension happens. She is clearly the person who feels she has been there for her family, through thick and thin, but her younger sister fled to NYC, fulfilling her dreams.

This tension is evident from the start, as the moment they reunite at their Mom's house, it's snippy-quip-and-side-eye-galore.

I understand this tension, as I AM that younger sister, the one who left the hometown, and to this day, there is palpable tension from my older sister. I saw - in Charlotte - a little of myself. Wondering, 'what did I do that's so wrong? I tried to make the most of what our parents taught in us, but now I am the bad person because I didn't make my life in this town?" - -- the part about how, when their father was sick, Charlotte was not there -- this really hit home for me, as the same situation happened in my own life. I was desperate to be home, but did not understand that there are rules to preserve jobs if you leave (FMLA in the US) -- and so, I stayed in my new area, working while worrying about my father.

The situations aren't exactly parallel, but these painful feelings don't disappear, and it helps me tremendously to see that other families deal with them too. Yes, it's a HM movie, but these are movies that seem to be based on realistic situations. I definitely don't want to see a movie with the "worst" of life depicted, but this movie had a solid balance of positive and "reality", without it being a downer, in my opinion.

I also loved how she (Char) was not perfect at all; she made stupid comments about Spencer's profession, and even worse, ruthlessly snapped at her stepdad, who was so gentle and kind. Her mom's reaction was so healthy: she wasn't going to tolerate that sort of talk, but also had empathy for her daughter's obvious inner conflict.

I loved that Spencer was a real guy: he didn't just grovel for her to love him. He had his pride, a sense of self-dignity, which is the reality for most young men, as well it should be. It took work for her to earn his trust again, and he wasn't just waiting with roses for her to come back. This is reality for most couples.

The downsides of this movie were few, but typical: some unexplored story points (how did Elfcapades stay afloat in the end, or did it?) and the suspension of reality that only Hallmark can pull off -- but this movie is among my favorites in all of Hallmark history, simply because I could see parts of my own life, and it helped me reflect further on how I can be a better person.

I loved Viggo Hanvelt, who played her nephew - what a total delight and talent. I also loved Dee Dee's role/the actress, as she seems like the perfect backdrop to "cozy Christmas movie" (we all need a Dee Dee to be our comrade).

Highly recommend this movie for the viewer that is looking for a little more complexity and isn't put off by reminders of reality. It's not the best movie for watching with Grandma, or while decorating or making cookies, but a great movie for a couple of good friends to watch and to dissect a bit afterward.

Charlotte and Spencer's meet cute is a fender bender in her hometown, to which she is forced to return because her big city building containing both her home and her high end fashion boutique had a pipe burst and she will be without power for over a week. She has a big deadline to submit designs to a contest that could mean her line being picked up by a chain store. The fender bender results in damage to charlotte's car which, even though she makes assumptions and is quite rude to him, Spencer volunteers to fix for her.

This brings up my first real issue with the film, the rude behavior exhibited by the character Charlotte. She is terribly rude to Spencer when they meet and then she gets home to her mother's house and is rude to her family members...especially her stepfather. I'm glad they resolve all of those relationships eventually, but her behavior as an adult is unacceptable.

This does bring me to something that I liked, Susan Hamann. She plays Charlotte's mother wonderfully and I appreciated the conversation her character has with her adult daughter about her father and her stepfather.

Her high end fashion sense is at odds with the sensibilities of the brand she is competing to join. Her sister and town members all chip in with the same thing...they want to wear something comfortable around the holidays. Inspired by a local event called "Pajamboree", which was a cute idea, Charlotte designs Christmas coverall pajamas for the whole family...and they are truly terrible...but she still wins?!?!? That was actually the most unrealistic part of the whole film.

Jonathan Keltz and Rebecca Dalton make an attractive couple and they did a decent job building the romance between their two characters as Charlotte and Spencer. The town is cute and I really enjoyed the family focused activities of Elfcapades. I did appreciate that if you pulled back this is a story of a grieving widower, who is slowly deciding to open up again and a workaholic, who has been putting work before family and is finally flipping to family before work.

"So you came all this way just to ignore us for work?"-Kristina (sister to Charlotte)

Decent slow build romance that I think fans of Hallmark holiday romances will like, as long as they can get over the rude behavior by Charlotte and don't look too closely at the pajama coveralls.

Well, it's happened: we have the workaholic character heading back to their small town (from New York City to Connecticut, on this occasion) for Christmas with the family.

Throw in a subplot about fashion design. Actual real conflict - just a smidge, mind you, but it's there, and it's nice to see, for realism's sake - and all the Christmassy activities that you see in just about every Hallmark movie, and Christmas By Design seems like a run of the mill, churned-out, standard, unremarkable Christmas film.

It isn't, though, thanks to Rebecca Dalton's presence. She lights up the screen every time she's on it, and absolutely nails her banter with Johnathan Keltz, the local mechanic slash love interest for. Their chemistry is spot-on, too.

Really enjoyed this one. Alongside 'Where Are You Christmas' and 'Checkin' it Twice', Hallmark has started the festive movie season strongly.

Rebecca Dalton has been in some real rom/com bombs, but she has had a few good ones. This is a good one. One problem I have seen in the past is flat acting. She seemed totally natural in this one. She also had great chemistry with Jonathan Keltz. Their banter was great. I really enjoyed the development of their relationship.

Another theme throughout the movie is family alienation. She has some chip on her shoulder with her step dad which gets illuminated later. In fact she has friction with her entire family. There are highs and lows there.

There isn't much in the story that sets this movie apart.

Movie story was actually worth 10 stars BUT the lead male actor Jonathan Keltz was TERRIBLE and we rated him (F). He was a total MISMATCH as a lead male. Make sure you don't use him in 2024. Your Producers and Directors have to do better evaluations of male actors. I had to comment on a web site for Hallmark and Hallmark Mystery channels and we listed a few more that need to be removed in 2024. Joey Heyworth rated (F)-- Torrance Coombs rated (F)--Brendah Fehr- rated (F)-Sam Page rated (D)--Jilan Vanover rated (F)--Chad Murray- rated (C)-Jesse Metcalfe- rated (D)--- Dillion Casey rated (C)--Neal Bledsue rated (C)---