“Is That Your Go to Opener – Throw a Snowball at Someone?”
While I haven’t watched many Hallmark Christmas movies, I’ve read enough about them to know pretty much what to expect. And even though A Merry Christmas Wish is only my second Christmas movie on Great American Family, I can tell that they are copying the formula. And, based on this movie, they are doing it quite successfully.
This particular movie focuses on Janie (Jill Wagner), an advertising executive in New York City. She’s looking forward to spending the upcoming Christmas holiday with her boyfriend out in Los Angeles, but first, she needs to head upstate to Woodland Falls. Her great uncle recently passed away, and she is the executor of his estate.
However, Janie is shocked to learn that she has also inherited his farm. Now, she has to figure out what to do with it. First, however, she decides to honor his wish to hold one last Winter Wonderland Festival on the premises. Fortunately, Dylan (Cameron Mathison), someone she knew from time spent on the farm as a kid, is familiar with it and can help her pull it together. But does she really want to sell the farm?
Yeah, I knew exactly where this movie was going when I sat down to watch it. Oh, there were a few things along the way I wasn’t expecting, but for the most part, it was a familiar journey.
But here’s the thing – I really don’t care. I was having a lot of fun watching this movie. It helped that I loved the characters. You could tell that they genuinely care for each other, and that goes a long way toward selling this movie for me.
Speaking of Hallmark, Jill Wagner and Cameron Mathison both starred in some of the Hallmark mystery movies I’ve watched, although not the same franchises. It was fun to see them as the leads in this movie. The cast is all good, and I enjoyed watching them on screen.
Yes, this is a low budget movie, so it has some of the low budget cheese to go with it. But as long as you know to expect it, you’ll be fine. The script was descent, giving the actors good dialogue most of the time to work with.
For me, the biggest disappointment was Janie’s boyfriend, Charles. He was a bit of a jerk. Not a complete one, but enough of one that it makes us wonder what Janie ever saw in him. Oh, I know he was never going to wind up with Janie, but still, couldn’t they have tried to make him a bit more likable? And this isn’t a slam against Morgan David Jones, who played the character. This is definitely how he was written.
The film evokes the season, even if you are watching it at a different time of year like I did. The soundtrack and decorations are enough to give you the Christmas spirit.
If you are looking for a mindless Christmas romance, you can do much worse than A Merry Christmas Wish. It light and fun.
Christmas in July, what fun. I've been concentrating on Paris in July, a reading challenge that has me armchair traveling to France and other cities theres.
ReplyDeleteYou had me at Cameron Mathison. :-) I haven't seen this one, so thanks for putting it on my radar. I just set the DVR to record it. One thing I like about these romcoms is that they are predictable. Sometimes it's nice to know we're guaranteed a happy ending. :-)
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