Flipping for Christmas

Marcus Rosner has become a solid lead at Hallmark, and Ashley Newbrough was in a very good Hallmark movie called "Small Town Christmas" with Kristoffer Polaha which, like many Hallmark movies, including this one, involves Big City developers trying to destroy the charm of a small town. And a flattering bikini shot of in her in her last Hallmark movie, Love in Glacier National Park, was apparently the first bikini shot of a lead ever seen in a Hallmark movie. The problem with this movie isn't the acting.

The movie starts with Abigail giving a pitch to a developer planning to break ground and start pre-sales on 100 units after the holidays. Abigail is apparently a "house flipper" and gives a generic speech about how her mom "loved interior design" and how she "provides families with beautiful homes, while always staying focused on profit and ROI." But none of that matters if she's going to be working as a realtor on pre-sales before the homes are even finished. Nevertheless, she shares her dad's quote that "you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when you're done" (it's a line that's used waaay too many times). That quote gets the developer's attention.

And Abigail's willingness to work "24/7" through the holidays is what convinces the developer to hire her to be his realtor. That's actually a BIG lucrative contract. But as soon as she gets the job, she leaves the city and goes home to help her brother in law fix up an old home he inherited from Grandpa Frank. When she gets there, she finds out that half of the property was left to a contractor named Bo who thought of Frank as a surrogate father.

Abigail (who has apparently decided NOT to work 24/7 through the holidays for the developer) agrees to work with Bo to spruce up the home despite an impasse on what to do with the home. Bo wants to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast and Abigail's sister and brother in law want to sell it, split the proceeds, and use the money to renovate their home to give Abigail's father a place to live. It's set up as one of the movie's Big Conflicts, but it's really a non issue. As any competent real property lawyer could explain, a court would order the property sold. Period.

Also, Bo has quite an attitude for someone who a) doesn't have the money to buy out his co-beneficiary and b) wasn't even related to Frank. And yet he dismisses Abigail's suggestions, pulls off her action item post it notes, and insists on changes designed to facilitate a bed-and-breakfast as opposed to a sale. Also, what exactly was his business plan for the bed-and-breakfast? Was he prepared to give up his work as a contractor? Who would run it with him? And did he understand he would have to share all of the profits with his co-beneficiary in the unlikely event they agreed not to sell?

Not only is he a dick at first, Bo inexplicably rolls paint across Abigail's sleeve in what I suppose the writer thought would be a "playful" moment. That and the ensuing paint war between two people who have literally just met, is supposed to seem "fun." It struck me as bad writing. But, remarkably, the stars still find a way to create some chemistry with each other despite a story line that fails to support a realistic connection between their two characters.

There are also more than a few good scenes. For example, I thought the scenes involving the remembrance tree were quite touching. I was also moved by a surprisingly emotional and well acted scene with Marcus Rosner, when his character reveals his back story and connection to Frank. Bo tells Abigail "Frank used to have this quote to help me see things more positively: 'don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.'" It's a good quote, and though Bo attributes the line to Dr. Seuss, there is no written record of Dr. Seuss ever having said that. In 1899, German poet Ludwig Jacobowski wrote "Do not cry because they are past! Smile, because they once were!" Scholars regard that to be the earliest known version of the quote frequently misattributed to Dr. Seuss.

As much as I admired the acting, and a surprisingly creative ending, I couldn't buy into the premise that Abigail would suddenly abandon her business in the city (and her biggest client) to take on a renovation of an old home over an hour away as a favor to her sister and brother in law. And Bo's behavior towards Abigail in the beginning, and his insistence that the home be turned into a bed-and-breakfast without having the money to buy out the other beneficiary really bothered me. I was also stunned at the chutzpah of Abigail's assistant to contact the developer about a new issue without checking with Abigail first. And, assuming Bo was able to get his wish to run a bed-and-breakfast, and somehow convinced Abigail to stay in town with him, would that mean she would be giving up her entire successful business in the city? I hate when women give up successful and rewarding careers for a small town man they just met. And when did Abigail have the time to become a lawyer and look up obscure code sections? If she has the time to do that, she' should also probably review what it means for realtors to have a fiduciary duty to a client. She sure breached that duty.

Abigail is tasked by her sister to "flip" a house his husband half inherited and sell it, there she meets Bo, who inherited the other half of the property. Problem is both have different intentions about what to do with the house and Abigail somehow has to fix that.

First things first, I'm now finding out Ashley characters is names Abigail. Secondly I still don't understand if she is a realtor or an interior designer and why has her sister asked this of her. The only thing we see her doing is painting the house, which I believe, as an interior designer, you have someone else do.

So, the plot is not the best. Some things at the beginning are simply dumb. (And some at the end too, they fixed the problem of the house because they "fell in love"?) However, as the movie moves along, some things do make sense. Personally, I really liked the leads conversation about grieving someone and how it affects us, going through that myself. Things start to make sense then, it's like they bonded over that.

I thought they had great chemistry. At least, there was good banter. The actors made this kind of salvageable.

Remember when Marcus Rosner used to play the main character's ambitious ex boyfriend who would show up to propose only after she moved on? I'm so happy he gets to shine as a leading man.

Anyway, I had big hopes for this one and was disappointed.

I like both Ashley Newbrough (from Privileged fame) and Marcus Rosner. They look really great together and for the romantics is some flirty banter in this flipping Hallmark holiday romance...but I think the overall story might suffer from bad editing? Either that or there were issues with the writing.

I am going to attempt to summarize the story... Abagail's sister Claire and her husband inherit a house and talk her in to fixing it and flipping it (which is her profession). What they don't tell her is that they are only part owners and the other owner doesn't want to sell...he wants to fix it up into a bed and breakfast AND they want Abagail to convince Bo to sell?!?! (I still don't understand why that would be her job or even something they would ask her to do.) Bo is a pillar of the community, which is part of why he wants to turn the house into a B&B...to honor the previous owner. Meanwhile, Abagail has some big time developer that she is working with who gets wind of an available parcel of land that he purchases for development from the mayor...which will change the whole town? Then Abagail realizes that she messed up and figures out a way to prevent it...and keep the house as a B&B...which will bring in some money for her sister's family and help get her sister's house expanded by Bo doing some of the work so her mom doesn't have to live in the garage.

This story was choppy and a bit convoluted...with some things that didn't make sense. As previously mentioned, there was some fun flirty banter...they did look cute together and I can see them eventually having a great small town relationship (I don't know what Abagail will do for a living in their town? Maybe run the B&B with Bo?), but there are definitely better romances and better stories out there.

Did I mention that I love the house? I am so glad it is not being modernized. They do not make houses like that anymore and it would have been a shame to destroy it.

So after watching this movie twice I have to say I still don't get it. There's no reason for the leads to like each other. There's no reason for the lead to even be there. The premise of the movie is missing. The sound track didn't always go with the dialog. Why does the female lead fall in love or even like her romantic interest? He is never nice to her. The story needed more. Why does a complete outsider have so much invested in a place she has nothing in the game? This review is all over the place because the movie is all over the place. I can't say it was time well spent to watch it twice so maybe this is a movie you can miss.

I want to say worst premise ever, but I'm sure there are worse. But why is the professional designer assigned the task of convincing the co-owner to sell? And Abby, whose job depends on pleasing customers does practically everything possible to annoy Bo. Bo isn't much better, maybe worse. At first he is totally rude for no reason to Abby, the stranger. Later he basically assaults her with paint based on no previous relationship to justify it as a fun prank. As the movie goes on, it is incredible how poorly she treats clients and potential clients. Does anyone listen to what others are saying ... to them?

The dialogue is either sparkling and funny, or terrible. Actually there are a lot of good moments with it. I lean towards the latter, but I'm sure it will appeal to many.

Apparently this is grade school because Abby and Bo first have a spontaneous paint fight and then a couple scenes later a spontaneous snowball fight. This seems to be how they build the romantic relationship. Abby giggles as her clothes get spattered. These two are complete opposites and their natural reactions to each other's opinions doesn't bode well for a long term future, but maybe when they have the next conflict they will have a food fight and giggle. Their animosity disappears quickly, but their differences do not go away that easily even though the story will make you think both of them changed personalities.

This is Hallmark, so we have to have an evil developer who wants to "gentrify" a small town and make a lot of money. So the plot theme becomes largely about "saving" the small town.

Clearly the architects of this movie intended it to be light, upbeat and funny. It's too bad they led with rudeness. That is the vibe I picked up in the beginning, so I missed a lot of what was meant to be fun.