At first when it started, I thought, "Oh NO, this is terrible". The acting was so stilted I was shocked.
But as I kept watching while doing other Christmas things like wrapping presents, I started to really enjoy it. Yes, it seemed the acting was flat, but it grew on me. The characters were not over the top, they seemed like true, nice people. (Except for the two women named Janice I think - they were a stink bomb - no one behaves like that, or if they do, I certainly wouldn't want to meet them).
Yesterday I decided to watch several Christmas Romantic movies: Christmas Inheritance, A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch. This well out weighed them in the genuineness of love. There was none of that stupid shlock about "making this the season" to suddenly be nice to others (shouldn't people behave that way always?). There were no stupid jokes or people falling all over the place, or being dunderheads.
What I experienced was a nice love story, subdued in its way, but warm and very intentional. I really enjoyed Scott Cavalheiro in his role as the "famous" chef Shane. He was always so kind even when those dips the Janice's crowded into his space at a coffee shop. He could have been rude, but he wasn't. I don't believe Scott was actually acting...I am bound to think this is his true persona and that makes me want to see other movies he has been in.
Kaitlyn Leeb, as Clara, was also very understated in her acting. I thought initially she was a terrible actress, but again, I found her sincere and not over the top character like Hollywood likes to make people.
Some people complained that Clara's mother was black and they made Kaitlyn look white. I prefer to think that the movie showed incredible diversity. I gather that Clara's father was white; and I appreciated the fact that Clara's brother was married to a woman who was white or possibly Asian. Because in the end, we are all people, and we should all be able to sit down at the same table no matter how we look and appreciate one another.
Patrick Duffy and his wife Jess Walton (Frank and Jackie) added a nice treat of comfort and the feeling of being with just darn nice people. They do exist and these two made me wish to be married the length of time they had been and so in love and appreciative of each other. A great model for us all.
The evil bad guy was also realistic. He wasn't some stupid monster, he was working like most true nefarious people do. We all knew there was something skeptical about him, and it came out, but not so overblown obvious, again, like Hollywood likes to make evil characters. Because in real life, we don't always see them, they act like the rest of us, only they lie.
But, to top it all, I loved the location shots. I have tried to find out where this was filmed but to no avail. I grew up in a mountain ski town so it really hit home as far as the beauty of the snow and the mountains.
