Unwrapping Christmas: Olivia's Reunion

This is the story of one of the Gift Wrapping Shop co-owners, Olivia (Cindy Busby) who delivers an order of wrapped gifts and gets snowed in by a blizzard with her ex-boyfriend, Ben (Jake Epstein).

The plot is so predictable. As expected, their views of each change from a very disliking of each other to romance and seeing talents and skills in each other that they missed the first go around. Much like the characters trapped in the bluzzard, you get cabin fever as the storyline deadlines and there's little to hold your interest unless your thing is broken radiators, food supply running out, and getting firewood to try to keep the cabin warm. To add some comedy there are a series of mishaps involving the other shop co-owners taking care of Olivia's dog while she's away. The dog is cute. And to add to an already bad plot, there's also Ben's mother, who is stuck at a ski lodge, who is very curt and annoying that keeps checking in on Ben. THIS MOVIE IS HO HUM AND A WASTE OF TIME.

I didn't expect much of this four part Christmas series as most of the Christmas stories are bland but I figured I would give it a chance. I didn't like the first one, skipped the second one, liked the actors in the third one and got to the final of the four. Much has been noted that the idea of a gift wrapping business supporting four women is a stretch but it's Hallmark. What annoyed me with this installment is that it is a weak copy of an older Hallmark movie The Christmas Cottage, a much superior story. If you get the chance and Hallmark runs the Christmas Cottage again watch it and compare and contrast to see a much better movie.

Like other reviewers, I didn't see the chemistry between the two leads. But what bothered me the most was the casting of the mother and father of an actor who is in reality 38 years old. Neither actor who played mom or dad lists their age on IMDB, but it's a stretch to imagine either the son as a 20-something, or Susan Haman and Scott Gibson as age-appropriate to portray his parents.

Scott did a great job in a kind of thankless role as the spurned boyfriend in 2016's "A Very Merry Mix-Up." To see him eight years later playing this kind of role is crazy... older brother, maybe. Not Dad. Hallmark needs to use their 40ish actors (male and female) in roles that reflect their age and experience. The real actors have spouses and kids... stop having their characters act as if they've never been in love or had real life experience. Or use real 20-something actors for these kinds of roles.

Hallmark should really be careful with the use of AI to write its scripts. This one was terrible.

No chemistry, no humor, barely any holiday mood and (even) more predictable than usual. The actor tried his best and showed some charm; the actress was a disaster virtually expressionless and a negative attitude most of the time.

Not worth watching.

Gift-wrapping shop owner Olivia (Cindy Busby) has to make a delivery an hour away. When she arrives at the customer's residence, she is surprised to see her ex-boyfriend Ben (Jake Epstein) there. Olivia and Ben, who have not seen each other in years, argue about their break-up. Olivia starts to drive back home, only to find that a sudden snowstorm has closed the road. She is forced to return to Ben's family's cabin. The two are not happy about the situation, and Olivia is further stressed because she will not be able to help run her shop or prepare for the upcoming Christmas gala. Olivia and Ben continue to bicker. However, as the storm gets worse, they remain stuck and have to work together to make it through. Meanwhile, their old feelings for each other start to resurface.

I love the snow in this one, seems like Hallmark has found a snow filter for the camera. Actual snowing, instead of just snow (foam) on the ground makes a big difference. Added to that some great set decorations and this definitely put me in the mood.

However, I did not feel an ounce of chemistry between the two leads. Even when they kissed I felt nothing. Nevertheless it was a very formulaic film that was pleasant to watch and made me think of christmas so i that way it succeeded. I gave it a 5.