La Rose de Noël

This whole mess can be summed up with one observation. If you're going to title your movie "Christmas in Vermont" do your best to NOT have all the cars driving around with New York plates. There are plenty of movies that are set in one place but filmed in another but there's usually someone whose job it is to make sure the coffee cup is put back in the right spot, the pen is in the correct pocket and that the license plates are correct! I'm not just mad about this one detail. The license plate thing is indicative of the film as a whole. Lazy. Take the easy way, don't pay attention to details, just get in, make your money and get out. I'm guessing the producers figured this was bound for a Hallmark audience... and audience where...

1. Nobody will notice the license plates (or care) 2. Nobody will notice the rehashed story-line (or care) 3. Nobody will notice the cookie-cutter formula (like sugar cookies but someone forgot the sugar and instead dumped in buckets of the cheesiest-cheese).

I would warn you about spoilers but, there AREN'T any. There are absolutely no spoilers. Yes, if you think it's going to happen it's going to happen. Maybe that's why they did it this way? This movie is as vapid as all the classic Christmas song remakes out there with tinkle bells and fake emotion. I actually had to take a shower after watching this movie. I just felt gross. Chevy Chase? Dr. Johnny Fever? Don't let the cast trick you into thinking this is a top notch production. Even they appeared sad to have to be in this. The big reveal-now-we're-in-a-fight moment at the end to stir up some drama? Giant pile of forced nonsensical crap! PLEASE, PLEASE for the love of all that is good in this world, please come up with something new or at least put on a warning at the beginning of the film: "WARNING: What you are about to see you've already seen... and WAY, WAY better."

3 stars because the first 1/3 of the movie was okay. Must be the writers quit writing part-way through so the producers, in order to finish the movie decided to assign some intern to watch the Hallmark channel for a week and write down everything they saw in an abridged version.

Is the real spirit of Christmas saving jobs? Christmas in Vermont is the latest addition to "Close the Business Down by Christmas" genera of holiday movies. Following the formula, the cold and clueless mega corporation executive (played by Chevy Chase) sends corporate climbing stooge Riley Thomas (played by Abigail Hawk) to a rural Vermont town to fire everyone in a flailing outerwear business. Riley then stumbles across the company's founder (played by Howard Hesseman) who shows her the true spirit of Christmas. Following the formula, Riley is overcome by small town and business charm and decides to use her big city corporate knowledge to turn the company around instead of closing it. Along the way, she finds her obligatory romance with the company's CEO Wyatt Davis (played by David O'Donnell). If you have watched this movie genera before, you can probably guess where this movie's ending is heading.

Despite the formula story line, there are some quirky things to look for to keep your interest. Fuzzed out signs will leave you scratching your head and promotions for other 2016 Christmas movies can be seen in the downtown business windows. Morgan Fairchild has a minor role in the movie but does not appear anywhere in the credits. Perhaps that is because she no longer looks like herself. The performances are solid and Howard Hesseman proves once again that he is THE formula Christmas movie actor of choice.

Worth watching if you have nothing else to do or watch for an evening.

Like many bad Christmas movies, you are left perplexed as to how the main characters fall in love. Inexplicably Chevy Chase is in this movie. That, along with the script, leaves you many times wondering, what's going on right now? The interactions are awkward, and are attempting to get a point across, but often times you have no idea what that is. Overall, really great if you're looking for a movie to confuse you. Women supporting women in business was a redeeming quality. That, and Vermont is just great.

The movie itself wasn't bad. I'm a sucker for a cheesy romance movie but if you don't like those, you will not like this movie. The ending was a bit odd to me as well.

However as a Vermonter this movie annoyed me. This movie is supposed to take place in Vermont in December yet there was no snow. Has anyone that worked on this movie ever been to Vermont? This movie should have been placed in a generic place not Vermont because that certainly wasn't Vermont.

This movie is cheesy, but I have been in the mood for cheesy Christmas movies this year. Howard Hesseman I've always liked, he's the reason I give A Christmas in Vermont the stars it gets.

This isn't a realistic look at Vermont. First, it is filmed in Buffalo, NY, which isn't Vermont. They could have filmed it in Stowe and provided a much more realistic setting. I laughed when I saw the supposed Vermont license plates. That's a NY plate with "Vermont" photoshopped over NY. That's simply lazy. As was putting one photoshopped plate in while all other plates on cars parked on the streets were NY plates.

I've seen feedback about snow. It's almost Christmas and there's no snow on the ground. It was 50 this weekend. Snow at Christmas isn't a guarantee in Vermont. That said, cold weather usually is and any Vermonter stood out in the cold for that long would have a coat zipped up all the way and a hat or scarf covering the ears.

I've lived in Vermont for more than 40 years and I have not heard anyone say "Howdy." I don't know why authors and scriptwriters continue to think that Vermonter's talk like that. Again, circle back to Hesseman, who is as Vermonter-like as I've seen. He often reminded me of my dad, right down to the speech and mannerisms.

Acting is weak for the most part. The plot is same-old, same-old, but I expected the same Christmas romance redone, so I could handle that. The downfall to me came from making "Vermont" about as un-Vermont as possible.