When newsreader Lori Loughlin says on air that she doesn't like Christmas, she and her producer, ex-lover Colin Ferguson are shipped to Christmas-centric Hollyvale so she can "find her Christmas spirit". Can she do that when the town seems to be losing its own?
I sat down to watch this Hallmark TV Christmas movie, expecting it to be pretty much predictable, standard fare, but soon found it something entirely different. The script started in one direction and quickly veered into a mystery about the town and then into yet another one, eventually revealing itself as a meditation on what Christmas means to people in a secular age.
Although the stand-out role in these movies is usually some old-time performer in a support role, intended to please old geezers like me ("These young whippersnappers don't know how to hold your attention!"), here the laurels belong to Mr. Ferguson with his rubber-faced reaction shots. Well done all around!
I sat down to watch this Hallmark TV Christmas movie, expecting it to be pretty much predictable, standard fare, but soon found it something entirely different. The script started in one direction and quickly veered into a mystery about the town and then into yet another one, eventually revealing itself as a meditation on what Christmas means to people in a secular age.
Although the stand-out role in these movies is usually some old-time performer in a support role, intended to please old geezers like me ("These young whippersnappers don't know how to hold your attention!"), here the laurels belong to Mr. Ferguson with his rubber-faced reaction shots. Well done all around!