This was a Hallmark Christmas romance. Was it one of their best. No. Was it one of their worst. No. It was just okay. Nothing spectacular.
The actors did a decent job. Rochelle Aytes as Erin was quite good. She exuded life and enthusiasm and cheerfulness. You liked her from the start. Mark Taylor as Kevin was decent, too, though I think any number of other actors could have done as well. There was some chemistry between Kevin and Erin, though not as much as I would have liked. Grace Sunar as Kevin's daughter Claire was cute and adorable, as all kids in Hallmark movies must be. Given that she was an orphan kid from a home who Kevin adopted, it would be more interesting if she had a few issues, as any such kid in the real world would. But this is Hallmark, after all.
I didn't care for the script. It was a really dopey in spots. The scene where Erin and Kevin get into an argument, followed by a passionate kiss was pure cringe. I didn't buy it for a minute. Also, the whole thing about them having to get Kevin's tree, and only Kevin's tree, for their Christmas tree lighting ceremony was pretty stupid. Nobody would have cared if they had used a different tree. Also, Kevin was totally in his rights to refuse to let them chop down his tree for this. So there aren't enough trees in the mountains of Colorado that they have to chop one down from someone's front yard? And the idea that the tree could be taken by invoking eminent domain, and that this would be initiated by a low-level intern without the knowledge of the mayor, seemed pretty ludicrous. I also hated how Kevin capitulated at the end and and gave them his tree for "the good of the town". It made no sense, especially since he had a way out, through the heritage preservation law. A final stupid plot point was when Erin went out with her work colleague Neil, thinking it was a date, only to have him turn out to be gay. An honest mistake, but Neil made it sound like everyone knew he was gay, which they obviously didn't, since everyone was encouraging her to date him.
So, an average Hallmark movie. I'm sure it pushed all the feel-good buttons for the Hallmark loyalist base, and the acting was decent. But I couldn't get past the mediocre script to give it more than a weak thumbs up.
The actors did a decent job. Rochelle Aytes as Erin was quite good. She exuded life and enthusiasm and cheerfulness. You liked her from the start. Mark Taylor as Kevin was decent, too, though I think any number of other actors could have done as well. There was some chemistry between Kevin and Erin, though not as much as I would have liked. Grace Sunar as Kevin's daughter Claire was cute and adorable, as all kids in Hallmark movies must be. Given that she was an orphan kid from a home who Kevin adopted, it would be more interesting if she had a few issues, as any such kid in the real world would. But this is Hallmark, after all.
I didn't care for the script. It was a really dopey in spots. The scene where Erin and Kevin get into an argument, followed by a passionate kiss was pure cringe. I didn't buy it for a minute. Also, the whole thing about them having to get Kevin's tree, and only Kevin's tree, for their Christmas tree lighting ceremony was pretty stupid. Nobody would have cared if they had used a different tree. Also, Kevin was totally in his rights to refuse to let them chop down his tree for this. So there aren't enough trees in the mountains of Colorado that they have to chop one down from someone's front yard? And the idea that the tree could be taken by invoking eminent domain, and that this would be initiated by a low-level intern without the knowledge of the mayor, seemed pretty ludicrous. I also hated how Kevin capitulated at the end and and gave them his tree for "the good of the town". It made no sense, especially since he had a way out, through the heritage preservation law. A final stupid plot point was when Erin went out with her work colleague Neil, thinking it was a date, only to have him turn out to be gay. An honest mistake, but Neil made it sound like everyone knew he was gay, which they obviously didn't, since everyone was encouraging her to date him.
So, an average Hallmark movie. I'm sure it pushed all the feel-good buttons for the Hallmark loyalist base, and the acting was decent. But I couldn't get past the mediocre script to give it more than a weak thumbs up.