A Lot Like Christmas

Spoiler Alert.......... This movie just hits too close to home on how many small businesses have gone out of business because of GIANT retailers. I didn't like how friendly Jessica was with Clay after she knew he was there to make it successful for HGS which would mean taking customers away from her small family business. I couldn't be friendly much less get romantically involved with someone that was taking customers away from a small business I had/have that would end up closing my business. While Jessica was keeping up with her good relationship with Clay she didn't even seem to realize (until near the end of the movie) that Clay was driving them out of business, causing her to spend more of her own money to try to get her business to survive when that didn't even help. Clay did the right thing in the end leaving the business but it was too late to stop HGS from taking over Jessica's customers. I would had liked to had seen a TV interview near the end of the movie where Clay admitted he found out it was a lie what he told them about HGS starting out as a small family business. I would have had better feelings about the movie if he had. I know we are all different on what we like to watch so I understand if others don't agree with me but it's just my feelings about this movie. And yes, there are other ways for some small companies to survive and I like that was brought out and how close most of the community was with each other is why I gave it two stars. This is the only GAC movie I've seen that I really didn't like.

When watching GAC Christmas movies I expect to hear the word Christmas, but this movie went overboard with the use of holiday instead of Christmas and I can't support that. Turned it off half way through. Do better GAC. These are Christmas movies. It's Christmas, not holiday.

Christopher Russell plays against his usual type as a big city corporate big wig. He usually plays rugged back to nature types. He has come to Maggie Lawson's small town to open a big box store, which threatens to put the local Mom and Pops out of business. Most especially Maggie's Christmas Tree lot. They meet and are immediately attracted to each other without knowing whom the other is. Disaster looms. Christopher Russell is excellent in this: funny and sincere. Maggie was OK, although her character comes across as trying too hard with the hot new man in town. But really, who can blame her? He is gorgeous and nice. If not handled well however, this enthusiasm can come across as desperation. Unfortunately the story was dull with nothing on the horizon that could remotely be of interest. When she learns his true identity, she turns on him and will do anything to beat him at his own game. She commences to cut off her nose to spite her face. Christopher remains good-hearted and easygoing, which makes her antics all the more unattractive. When her little brother explains to this genius that she has bankrupted the business with all of her expenses outstripping their sales, it finally comes the inevitable sad end. Did she just blame Christopher for her own stupidity? But wait! Thanks to her sudden inspiration of turning her farm into an event venue, the farm is miraculously saved. Like the next day. When very clueless (but still lovable) Christopher learns that the corporation he works for is based on lies, he decides the small town life is more his speed, and the romance is saved as well.

He is adorable but she ruins it. I finally had to stop watching it over half way through. Casting makes a huge difference and Maggie Lawson was terrible in this part!

This is supposed to be a small town so why would the residents not know a superstore had already opened and was taking business away from them, they act so surprised? Also a reporter from a TV station with the call letters that start with "K" would be on the West Coast, yet 1 minute earlier they mentioned this small town is in New York state. So that TV station wouldn't exist there.

I am a fan of Maggie Lawson and her energy and upbeat personality. I was very pleased to see that Clay didn't march in oozing with arrogance and privilege. The character needs to be confident, almost to the point of overconfidence, but Russell didn't overdo it. Clay is actually a pretty nice guy and there is no mean and antagonistic confrontation with Jessica like so many rom/coms seem to think are necessary. Unless the story has a special sentimental draw, I want upbeat in my Christmas movies. Tension is necessary, but this movie spends a great deal of screen time showing how small businesses and small towns are being ruined by big corporate ones. It's a fact of life. It's not an unusual story angle especially in Christmas movies, but there was too much of it in this case. This movie diverts from the formula by having Clay's secret revealed around the half way point. This makes it possible to take an unusual tack through the rest of the movie, but unfortunately it was annoying. "It's not personal, it's business" immediately disqualifies Clay as any kind of romantic interest given Jessica's circumstances. Perhaps the appropriate response to him is "It's not business, it's my entire life". Clay has no clue. The ruined the rest of the movie for me and despite it was the only way to end this type of movie, I couldn't believe what happened.

Should you look for originality, you may take a negative view of this film. Big business crushing "mom and pop" enterprises, business competitors attracted to one another are themes that abound in shows. This time, though, they are developed with the appropriate tones. Love and hate situations, resentments among friends, hopes and dismays are rendered soberly, therefore credibly. Maggie Lawson and Christopher Russell are a good match and make their story appealing. Good will and kindness prevail, as expected in a Christmas movie. The result is not a home run, but a solid Holiday movie, one that it may be worth watching. GAC seems to have found the thread lost by Hallmark in many of its recent productions.