utgard14 Enjoyable Hallmark Christmas movie starring the always lovely and likable Alicia Witt as a struggling shop owner who becomes engaged to a jerk real estate agent. She takes a trip to meet his family but, through a series of events, she winds up spending the holidays with the wrong family and falling in love with the guy she thought was her fiancé's brother. It's all very contrived and maybe a little While You Were Sleeping-ish, but it's hard to dislike anything with Alicia Witt in it. Her character here is a bit of a ditz at times and we're never shown what in the world she saw in the jerk fiancé to begin with. How he even got a second date with her boggles the mind. But this is Hallmark and, if we've learned anything from Hallmark over the years, it's that the quickest way to meet your soul mate is to become engaged to a terrible person.As I said, this is as contrived a setup as you'll likely ever see in a movie. All the pieces have to fit together just right and in the right order at all times for this to work. Of course they do and it's fine. I don't watch Hallmark movies for great plots anyway. The characters are nice and the romance between Alicia's character and Mark Wiebe's character is handled well. One thing stood out to me and it's something I've seen before in other Hallmark movies. Wiebe's character builds furniture for a living but the movie makes sure to tell us he has a degree in economics. Why is it that in Hallmark romcoms the men always have to be either rich or "capable of being rich but choosing not to be?" It does seem strange, at least to me. Is there a big cry for pragmatism in romance stories nowadays?

bookandcandle Every year I look forward to the new Hallmark Christmas movies, as they are uplifting and fun. I even look forward to the repeats from years prior and wish Hallmark would bring back the older Christmas classics.I watched this movie for half an hour and then I turned it off. The music is so annoying and louder than the dialogue. It is not the softer kind of music. I call it the "bing-bong" music that is very distracting with sharp, striking notes that rise and fall. You have to try and listen to both the louder music and softer speaking. I wish the producer would call me and I'd play loud music in the background and see if this was not distracting to him. Every word should be able to be heard clearly. This is not a concert.I am not the only one who has complained to Hallmark about this sharp, irritating type of music in the background. Music should only be heard when there is a climatic scene or when people are not speaking. The older Hallmark movies were not like this. You did not have to strain your ears to listen to the dialogue. I just turn the movie off if it is like this. The music ruined the entire movie so it gets a 1 rating. Get on complaintsboard.com or reviewstalk.com and see all the complaints about Hallmark's loud annoying music. This is the majority speaking, not the few on here who like it.

adoptshelterpetstoday This is another Hallmark Christmas movie that I did not find appealing the first time I saw it. It started off interesting...and was good up until a certain point. But eventually, "Alice" increasingly behaved too immature for a grown woman, especially one that was about to be married...and to a high-power, wealthy exec at that....Wearing her little light blue hoodie and her "little girl" hairstyle...and the way she consumed her milk and cookies...made her look like a 14 year old, with the eating habits of a 4 year old. Then "Matt" attempted to wipe off her little mouth........."Matt" was continuously over-bearing...always explaining the "Mitchum's" traditions as soon as they entered the house about mom's decor...to grandpa this and that ("Right, grandpa?"..."Right, grandpa?")...to grandma "was a real fox." (<--very odd!) The entire family was over-bearing........Be that as it may, repeats made it seem better than a lot of other Hallmark's Christmas movies. It's more tolerable.

boblipton There's no orange-colored sky, but Alicia Witt is a cute, giggly carrot-top in this one. Her meet cute with Mark Wiebe is they get into a traffic accident. She's been sent on alone by his brother, her fiancé, to meet her family and spend Christmas with his family; Alicia and Mark meet at the airport and he gives her a lift to their house... but it's the wrong family. Her fiancé has the same name.It's a cute set-up and very charming, although the contrast between the two families, played for comic effect, is handled like a sledge hammer. In addition, her fiancé is intent on making a lot of money by having her sell her beloved antique shop on 23rd Street -- although it fronts in Soho, several miles and four neighborhoods away -- to a real estate developer for a lot of money.Well, no one ever claimed that the scripts for Hallmark seasonal romantic comedies were subtle. There are a couple of laughs along the way. If it's not great, it's all handled competently.