Kevin McGarry has mastered the role of an easy going and likeable male lead in a slew of Hallmark movies (although here the first impression of his impatient bell ringing character Scott Briggs is awful).
Scott arrives in Idaho Falls (a real town with 68,000 people) around the same time as Ashley Durreau, played effectively by Kim Matula. She learns, at the airport, that her boyfriend poached one of her clients (she's a commercial real estate broker) and learns he is not joining her for the holidays. Thankfully, we only get exposed to the boyfriend for the minute it takes Ashley to break up with him. I've grown tired of the ex showing up unexpectedly later in the movie to make some misguided grand gesture. Not here.
I didn't know Kim Matula until I watched her in one of Hallmark's top tier movies ("Ghosts of Christmas Always" which came out in 2022). She's quite lovely and was as engaging in this movie as she was in "Ghosts." Ashley and Scott have some good "getting to know you" scenes and, refreshingly, never fight with each other. They're both at a crossroads in their respective lives/careers and it all seemed believable (although it sounds like Hallmark blew it on accurately depicting Idaho Falls). I just wish Hallmark didn't always force their stories to fit into an unrealistic compressed time frame. Hallmark couples invariably meet, hang out, fall in love, overcome a huge obstacle, and make life changing plans all within a week. Ugh.
Kevin McGarry actually starred in a rare deviation from the compressed time frame formula last year in "My Grown Up Christmas List" (with his fiancé Kayla Wallace). But that movie was a rare exception to the "jam everything into a week" rule. This movie would have been better if it covered two holiday seasons (with one of those "One Year Later" transitions).
Aside from that pet peeve, the only other glaring contrivance was the credit card incident. Most people have more than one bank card and cashiers never do two transactions at the same time. I also noted a filming error when Ashley brought her luggage to the car at the airport. No one puts her luggage in the car before closing the back hatch.
Those are all relatively minor complaints. This was a very pleasant and enjoyable movie with an appealing couple to root for. I was also intrigued by the story of 32 year old Scott Briggs going to Idaho Falls to play for a mid-level minor league team, while living in the shadow of his estranged NHL legend father. I thought the hockey part of the story was especially well written and, at times, quite heartbreaking.
This was a better than average Hallmark Christmas movie enhanced by good acting all around. And I really like Kim Matula.
