Les Pendules de Noël

I love movies like this, based on pure belief that there's no such thing as coincidence and everything happens as it should. Alicia Witt plays a perfectly innocent wise young woman, whose want to hold on to her father's memory by keeping his store is more about following your heart than your pocketbook. Her current (and wrong-for-her) fiancé, who is in real estate, encourages her to sell her memories (the store) and become a multi-millionaire because of the store's location. She realizes this man has no sensitivity or understanding of her feelings and who she really is. Of course, there's more to the story.....she had met another man in the most peculiar and humorous way, a way that probably really could happen. As it is said so beautifully in this movie, "Life is about Timing, and Timing is Everything in Life and Love.".

A charming, if predictable, holiday romance.

Alicia Witt, as a sweet and artsy semi-ditz happily running her family's antique store, is engaged to a polished, money-focused, big-city real-estate salesman.

Through a series of cute travel mishaps on her way to meet his family for the first time, she ends up at the wrong house a couple of days before Christmas. That warm, happy family, by a credulity-stretching coincidence, welcomes and cherishes her in their extremely - but tastefully - decorated home. Of course they have a very nice son who falls for her, and shares interests and values that aren't on her fiancé's radar.

Complications, emotional struggles, and a happy resolution ensue.

Apart from that one weak plot coincidence to get her into the family, and the general niceness of both men when the chips are down, the only thing that annoyed me was the heroine's little speech at the end, in which she declaimed about a character issue that was not well set up.

Overall, a nice way to spend 2 hours while you're writing Christmas cards.

A charming film for its high unrealism, first. And for humor, spirit of family, effort to preserve the memory/ legacy of father and for a beautiful mistake of a young, real seductive young woman discovering, step by step, the truth in many senses. A beautiful film and beautiful performances, noble message and the taste of hot cocoa in Christmas Eve evening.

Alice (Alicia Witt) met a man named Will on an online dating site. Although she runs an antique store with a modest income and Will is a high-powered salesman, she thinks she has found the right guy. The gentleman decides to propose to Alice in a restaurant, where his food choices have left her baffled. Nevertheless, she says yes. Just as they are making plans to meet his parents, Will has to miss the flight for business. But, he persuades Alice to go on solo and he will catch up. What a mistake! Alice's luggage goes missing and then her cellphone accidentally gets wet and dies. Thus, Alice doesn't know the address of Will's parents. By happy accident, Alice meets her fiancé's brother, Matt (Mark Wiebe) who has just returned home by plane, too. Initially apprehensive, Alice is welcomed warmly by Will's parents and grandfather and all is joyous. Or is it? Unbelievably, there are two families in the same town, with the same name. Alice is SUPPOSED TO BE at the other one! Once at the correct home, the poor redheaded, newly engaged lady is very much disappointed in Will's actual family. Plus, she misses Matt, whose likes and dislikes are more like her own. In addition, could Will possible working behind the scene to damage her business, which he doesn't truly like? This very merry, sweet, romantic Hallmark film is a fine choice for a snowy or sunny evening. Witt and Wiebe are attractive cast members with a great appeal and all sets, costumes, script lines, and direction talents are topnotch. Want to "get merry" ? Get this one!

Hallmark follows pretty much the same story line with some slight variations. The good guys are incredibly good, the bad guys are terribly bad and there doesn't seem to be any gray areas in either group. The movie is saved by some nice performances, especially by Alicia Witt. She seems a genuinely nice person and you root for her to be happy. Of course, you pretty much know after the first 15 minutes how this will all turn out.

Alice owns an antique store and somehow hooked up with a stuffy corporate type which stretches belief right off the bat as there is absolutely no chemistry between them and they apparently have nothing in common (in first 5 minutes he plunks a really cheesy artificial tree the middle of her quaint antique shop). Because of the ever-present "deal", she ends up traveling to meet his family for the first time all alone.

In an incredible coincidence, she ends up meeting a man who shares the same last name as her fiancé and off we go to Hallmark World where she falls in love with a perfect but unrelated family. Once she learns the truth, she's off to the sterile mansion with the stony-faced, uptight soon-to-be in-laws. If you can't figure out what happens next then you've never seen a Hallmark movie.

I found the music distracting - as a matter of fact most of the newer Hallmark movies have that issue. The music is too loud or the voices are too soft but I often miss things and have to use closed captioning. I love Christmas music but tone it down already!