“You’re the Fiscally Responsible Former Director?” “But You Can Call Me Ebeneezer.”
Most of the Christmas movies I recorded last year were 2024 premiers. But there were a couple of older ones that caught my eye. One of those was Mystery on Mistletoe Lane. I mean, the title is going to catch the attention of this mystery reader, right? This one took a bit of time to grow on me, but I wound up enjoying it.
Recently divorced Heidi (Erica Wicks) has found a new home in a small town in Massachusetts. She is the new director of the historical society, but she quickly learns on the first day that the society hasn’t been doing much over the last couple of years. The old director, David (Victor Webster), is sticking around, but only to help out.
One perk of the job is an old home that Heidi can move into. Her two kids, Annie and Garrett (Juliette Hawk and Logan Pierce) start finding a series of clues leading them to little reindeer hidden around the house. Meanwhile, Heidi is trying to figure out some other mysteries around the house – mysteries that might tie to David’s family. Will anyone figure out what it all means before Christmas?
As you can see, this is not a traditional mystery. Honestly, I didn’t figure it would be, and I was perfectly fine with that. However, the beginning of the film was so awkwardly written, I almost turned it off by the twenty minute mark. But I figured I would keep watching a little bit longer to see if things got any better.
Once the story was established, things did settle in. Between the various storylines, there was plenty going on to hold my interest. Yes, I was rolling my eyes at a few things that happened still, especially the storyline with the daughter. But the movie started to pile on the charm, and I really found myself enjoying it and wondering exactly where the movie was going to go. Okay, so I had the big turns figured out early on, but I still enjoyed seeing them play out and watching how the characters dealt with that.
One thing that never worked for me was the romance. Yes, I knew to expect it, but it felt like an afterthought. There was just too much else going on for the writers to have the time they needed to fully flesh that out.
And none of this is the actors’ faults. They were doing the best they could with the material they had.
I’m glad I stuck with this one. By the time this movie ended, I was enjoying
it. So if you happen to catch a rerun of
Mystery on Mistletoe Lane, stick with it.
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