Picture A Perfect Christmas premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 9th and stars Merritt Patterson (Sophie) and John Cor (David).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Sophie, a workaholic photographer living in San Francisco realizes she has some time off over the holidays. The timing is perfect because her grandmother (Mrs. Griffith) is recovering from a fractured foot and could use the help. So Sophie heads to Bainbridge Island in Washington to enjoy the holiday with family. It just so happens that David, Mrs. Griffith's neighbor, could use some help minding his nephew, Troy, over the holiday break. Sophie and Mrs. Griffith volunteer to be co-nannies to Troy to help David out. The message the viewer is left with is that genuine kindness never needs to be repaid.
Meet Cute Moment: After Sophie arrives at her grandmother's, Mrs. Griffith sees an opportunity to do a bit of matchmaking and sends Sophie over to David's to return the hat that Troy left at her house. David thinks that she's the nanny candidate he's waiting for that the agency sent over for an interview. He proceeds to interview her for the position and she starts wondering about this new neighbor but then the truth comes out about who she is and he's left feeling quite embarrassed.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Troy wears a fabulous gray knit hat with a white fairisle band and braided ties. He wears it several times during the movie.
Giant Nutcracker Alert: There are several giant Nutcracker sightings in this movie. The most untraditional is the golden gilded Nutcracker on Mrs. Griffith's porch. This is the first sighting that I can recall where the Nutcracker is not the traditional color scheme. Other more traditional sighting are in the toy store and near Santa's station at the tree lot.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: This movie feels like a Hallmark film of old to me. The story is pretty good and you learn enough about the characters that you connect with them. There is chemistry between the leads. The nephew is quite good and engaging. There are insignificant others and exes that enter into the picture and they help to push the story along and not detract from the plot. The grandmother's matchmaking and the heart-to-heart reflections and hopes that she shares with Sophie add to the the familial feeling of the movie. I love that part of the conclusion is not for anyone to throw away their career but to be encouraging of their career opportunities and to vow to figuring out how to work with them. So much more realistic than chucking it all after only a few weeks! There is a Christmas pageant in the movie and these Bainbridge Island folks are smart enough to host their's on the 23rd. The pageant includes doing a dramatized reading/play of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, which is near and dear to my heart as a New Yorker and Hudson Valley native. Finally, there is a great dog who literally steals the show!
Hallmark Movie Connection: Merritt Patterson was previously in A Royal Winter (2017) with Jack Donnelly. John Cor was previously in Love On Safari (2018) with Lacey Chabert.
I was afraid that Hallmark was substituting quantity for quality this year but this one measures up for me. Does this one make you feel all the Hallmark movie feels?
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