Great visuals, story delivers no surprises
Good concept, poorly executed.
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
View MoreI enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
View MoreMost films begin with loads of titles, stock footage etc, all of which make you want to change channel. Unusually and to its credit, this film hooked me from the beginning with some interesting facts about snowflakes and an introduction into the leading man Tom's work. His job is to research and find the perfect present for the partner of his (clueless) client.Not only is this film entertaining, but there is food for thought in terms of a serious theme. When buying a present for your other half, do you really know enough about them to get them exactly what they want? There are only four principal players in this movie - Jenny, her unreliable boyfriend Paul, Tom and socialite Victoria. Tara Holt is excellent as leading lady Jenny, demonstrating a wide range of emotions, facial expressions and matching body language. When she inevitably kisses Tom (this is Hallmark), it really looks like her heart is racing. When she is upset with Tom, she looks upset. I also liked her boyfriend Paul (Sam Guinan-Nyhart), who ropes his faternity buddy Tom into the job of finding a present for Jenny. Leading man Tom (played by Sam Page) is trying not to get involved with Sarah for professional reasons, which means his chemistry with her is not quite as good as it could be. Victoria (played by Emily Peterson) is comfortable as an attractive socialite who would like to sink her claws into Tom. My favourite scene comes at about 24 minutes when Victoria is telling Jenny and Tom about the history of her old house. This is a piece of unexpected, nicely written script. In the end, Tom does find the perfect present for Jenny, but not something material like a car or jewellry, but is instead something personal to her. The only negative I have is that I found the final scene to be cheesy and over-acted. Overall, one of the better Hallmark Christmas films and will watch again next year.
View MoreThis is a male version of 'A Gift Wrapped Christmas'. Like most of the Christmas films, this is also a romance-drama. A man who earned the nickname Mr. Christmas for his ability to pick the ideal Christmas gifts for people is now not set to find one for his friend's girlfriend. But when they are introduced to each other, the things changes around. They two seems started to have feelings. Then there's always a truth that's ready to strike to make the issue even complicated. How this love triangle tale ends were told in the remaining part.The story was just okay. But the actors were good. Typical Hallmark Christmas film. Always guessable and a romance drama that takes place in the snow falling region/city. Mainly instantly falling in love kind of theme. Knowing the storyline, I knew it was not my cup of tea. Despite I did not enjoy it very much, it was not that bad. I did not feel boring, or annoyance. Using old contents and giving a decent film is not an easy task, but they have done a better job. Its for the home audience, the women would enjoy it. So I respect and give it an average. Neither loved nor disliked, like 50/50.5/10
View MoreThis one was really good. The two leads were very likable and I liked their gradual falling in love. The fact that the hero made a living picking out the perfect gift for his clients to give their loved ones was very problematic in many ways, but I just suspended my disbelief for that aspect. This story revolves around a former fraternity brother hiring our hero to pick out a gift for his girlfriend that will "smooth over" some rockiness in their relationship. He was clueless to the max and kind of scary and creepy in his pursuit of his girlfriend. On the one hand, he was worried that she is drifting away from him, but he continues to neglect her, while badgering our hero to hurry up with the perfect gift. Just didn't make much sense. Of course she finds out that all of our hero's interest in her was only research, so her hurt and anger are totally understandable. He did fall in love with her and his interest was sincere, so all is resolved at the end with the presentation of his perfect Christmas Gift. That part was really good, and the last few scenes were amusing as we wrapped up the loose ends with our main couple's former love interests.
View MoreFirst Christmas movie of the season for me! Wow. What a start. This movie is absolutely beautiful. I wasn't expecting much of it and it actually surprised me. Hallmark's movies and mysteries are different. They have always a story behind, which I love. Don't get me wrong, even though this movie has the typical hallmark -pun intended- it is not as predictable as other movies tend to be. Maybe they have a different "structure". Of every Sam Page movie I've seen this is, for me, his best. His character was amazing: he made me smile and feel things. He is the main here, not the woman, which is nice for someone who has several Hallmark movies. The chemistry between Sam and Tara is good, nothing extraordinary tho. Not a messy plot either so points for that. It actually had me feeling bad for the boyfriend. Maybe Paul wasn't the best but he deserved better.I want to visit Chicago so bad. The images that were shown were beautiful. The Windy city must be magical during Christmas. To sum up: the movie is not magical, but I personally believe that Sam Page made it feel that way.
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