General Movie Details: The Board of Directors of the Merry & Bright Candy Cane Company have concerns for the future of the company and their new CEO (Cate) so they employ a corporate consultant (Gabe) to review and make recommendations for the future of the small candy maker. Initially, Gabe doesn't want to be there and Cate doesn't want him there either. However, over the course of working together (2 weeks... saving personal commentary for below) they realize they might not be as different as they thought and they can work together to make Merry & Bright successful again. The general theme is to hold on to who you are and your legacy but be willing to take a chance.
Meet Cute Moment: When Gabe recognizes Cate at the hotel and tries to introduce himself after arriving in town, she instantly assumes that he is the blind date her mom set her up on. She, of course, explains to him that she isn't going on a date with him only to realize who he really is and to be completely embarrassed.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So I loved the homage to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice when Cate overhears Gabe on the phone putting down the town, the company, the situation and Cate. I also loved that Gabe commented that with 2 weeks to Christmas that a candy cane company would be winding down. Yes, Gabe, in the real world you are absolutely correct but this serves as a reminder that time works differently in a Hallmark movie. Issue number one is with the makeup artist on the film because Jodie Sweetin's (and the actress playing her assistant to a lesser degree) fake eyelashes are just too long. I have no problem with enhancing the actresses natural lashes but this is just plain distracting. There are a few shots with her in partial profile and it looks unnatural and unnecessary to be done up to that degree. Moving on... I find it problematic that we are supposed to believe that the Merry & Bright Board of Directors is concerned enough about the future of the company to hire a consultant but then these characters are not in the film and are never referenced again. The Board does not even need to be briefed about a possible new product line or taking on another large investor. Something seems not right for an apparently engaged and concerned BOD to be completely absent from the the presentation of the findings and in the decision making process. To balance out this rant, I have to applaud the writers for their appropriate use of the flash forward in time (one year) so that we can see the happily ever after moment craved in the genre and it isn't completely unbelievable or worse creepy. Honestly, I am ok without the neat bow in the last seconds of the movie but I know that I am probably in the minority on this account. If you have to wrap it up with a bow, a well done flash forward is my personal preference. In case you are looking for a Christmas Eve event, Britewell, Ohio also has a Christmas Eve Jubilee for the town. Yep, everyone's doing it. I guess I should just embrace it already.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Jodie Sweetin also appeared in Entertaining Christmas (2018) with Brendan Fehr. Andrew Walker is a Hallmark fixture who also appeared in Debbie Macomber's Dashing Through The Snow (2015) with Meghan Ory. Did you know that apparently Andrew Walker has been two timing Hallmark with Lifetime the past few years around this season? I had no idea until I was checking out his IMDB page. Keep your eyes peeled because it appears he is not the only Hallmark stalwart who is involved with more than one network these days.
Hallmark, I'm Looking At You: It's nice when you can learn something completely useless from a movie. December 26th is National Candy Cane Day. Share this random fun and true fact with someone you love. When you are either shopping for deals or trying to return the failed Christmas gifts be sure to have one handy to celebrate and just get through the day.
Let me know your thoughts about fake eyelashes, flash forward endings and flavored candy canes.
No comments:
Post a Comment