This first GAC Family Christmas movie has a lot riding on it. Bill Abbott left Hallmark (he was CEO of Crown Media) and went to GAC Family to recreate it (but, presumably, the 'old' Hallmark, before they cared about, you know, diversity).
So anywho, how was it? I'd say this movie out-Hallmaked Hallmark--which isn't necessarily all a good thing. Every scene was *Christmas done to the 9s*. Visually, they couldn't have crammed in one more nutcracker or ornament, and the production was high-end, glitzy, and perfect. So they nailed that. The female lead (Susie Abromeit) was very appealing. The male lead (Torrance Coombs) less so, but decent. I'd rank him in about the middle-to-low-end of current Hallmark male stars. The romance plot was fine. Nothing groundbreaking, and not as well-written as the 5 new Hallmark Christmas movies to debut so far this season, which have had above-par scripts for Hallmark (all except You, Me and the Christmas Trees, which was meh). But I liked the "billionaire/prince in reverse" angle because this time it was the girl who ws the secret heiress. (shocking, I know) And she was sweet.
There were some major annoyances. The story takes place in some mythical European (I think) town. Which apparently required all the American actors to use terrible British accents. I mean, BAD. And then the female lead's accent was 100% American despite her mother and everyone else n this city trying to sound British. So go figure that one, A few Christmas-y bits were way, way overdone in a bad way. I'm looking at you, Christmas karaoke scene. But the visuals were a feast of Christmas cheer and the romance had some sweet moments. The ending was as happy and glamorous as you could hope for.
So. Not a Hallmark-killer, at least not this movie. But worth watching once. And I'm all for even more choice in holiday fare.
