Baxter (David Blue) is a photographer struggling to both keep his car running and earn a living.  While at the mall with his brother he enters a contest and wins a new Corvette.  Not wanting to give up his unreliable car due to sentimental reasons (it was given to him by his father) he decides to take cash value instead of the new Vette.  His fiancé, Audrey (Melanie Recker), is ecstatic as they can now afford a nice honeymoon and better wedding.  They go out to dinner to celebrate.  While at dinner Audrey discusses expanding the wedding with the extra money until the waitress accidentally spills steak sauce on her new dress.  Audrey is furious and the evening ends.   Before leaving Baxter finds the waitress crying and in an act of kindness leaves her a large tip.

The next day at the Mall he overhears a grandmother bemoaning the fact that she can’t afford to pay for her grandchildren’s toys and the store won’t allow partial payments (I’m not sure I even understand what a partial payment is and how it differs from layaway.).  Feeling generous Baxter decides to pay off the remaining amount on not just her but all the toys being held by the store for people (A total of over $4,400).  When asked who they should say paid off the toys, Baxter does it under the pseudo name Lucky the Elf.  Still high on the spirit of giving he decides to take a homeless man he finds sitting outside the mall to lunch.  He finds out that he is living in a storage facility and is hiding that fact from his family.  Baxter decides to buy the man a mattress and some bedding to make his life more comfortable.  Baxter’s only request is that he takes a photo of the man holding a picture of him and his late wife.  He again goes by the name Lucky the Elf.

He goes home and tells Audrey about his interaction with the homeless man and the toys.  Audrey expresses disappointment that he is spending so much money without even discussing it with her.  As she leaves to drop off gifts at her brother’s, Baxter sees a news piece on “Lucky the Elf”.  While doing a photo shoot at the ice rink for some figure skaters, Baxter spots Westin (Jax Connolly) at the rink sitting by himself and learns that he loves hockey and has asked Santa for skates and gear because his mother can’t afford to buy it herself.  That night Baxter makes a “Lucky the Elf” visit and drops off hockey gear for Westin.  Westin’s mom, Pamela (Ashley Jones) finds the gifts and they open them in the living room with Baxter taking pictures from his car (Yeah, it does sound a bit creepy but let’s ignore that).  Suddenly, Baxter realizes his car won’t start (It’s 14 years old, it costs more to fix than a new car would cost . . . there is a fine line before sentimentality becomes stubborn idiocy and I think he’s already crossed it.) and has to be picked up by his brother (again).

The next day Baxter arranges for a tow truck to pick up his car when he notices Westin wearing his new hockey gear walking out of the house.  Baxter follows the boy and takes pictures of him on a nearby lake (Again, sounds creepier than it is) when Westin falls, hits his head and loses consciousness.  As Baxter attends to the boy and calls 911 the ice begins to crack so he pulls him to the shore.  Later Pamela arrives and thanks Baxter for saving Westin.  Baxter feels guilty that his gift led to the incident.  Later that night Pamela tucks in Westin, who has been released from the hospital and is fine, when she learns that Westin had previously seen Baxter at the skating rink (Wes calls him the 'camera guy').  While you might think she would start to put together the connection between the rink, the gifts, Baxtor just happening to be around . . . nope, instead she only wants to reach out to Baxter to thank him for saving Westin.

While at the mall with his brother (yet again), Baxter receives a call from Pamela asking him to come to dinner to thank him for saving Westin.  Baxter agrees.  Later the homeless man accuses a guy who is pretending to be Lucky the Elf as being a fake.   That night Audrey gives him a gift which turns out to be a camera lens that Baxter has been wanting.  She then comments that everyone needs a hobby (kind of an interesting comment since photography is his primary and ONLY job).  Baxter then gives her his gift which is a replacement dress for the one she had ruined at their recent dinner.  He also gives her a photo of a bird that is just like the one they saw on their walk before he proposed to her.  He is disappointed that she doesn’t remember the bird, even though it seems like an incidental note to the more important event of that walk (Remember that walk when we saw that bird?  I think it might have been the one I proposed on, I'm not really sure.  But the Bird!!!).  Audrey seems saddened that there is nothing else for her but Baxter reminds her they decided not to exchange gifts this year.  He seems to conveniently ignore the fact that the decision was made because they were cash strapped before their wedding and it was prior to his prize winnings.  Not to mention that he’s constantly telling her about all the thousands of dollars he is dropping on complete strangers and then gets her a new, clean version of a dress she already owned and a photo that only has sentimental value to him (Plus, you are a photographer for cripes sake!!!  It’s like a pastry chef giving a pie to his wife for her birthday.).

Baxter goes to Pamela’s for dinner with her and Westin.  They talk about Westin’s love of hockey and Pamela’s jewelry making hobby.  Baxter takes some photos of Westin wearing his hockey gear.  This ends up leading Westin to discover the other photos on his camera that show Baxter is Lucky the Elf.  Westin then blackmails Baxter to teach him how to skate and play hockey or he will expose his secret (I guess it proves that you can do morally and ethically questionable things as long as you are young and cute).  After practicing with Westin the next day, he again blackmails Baxter to take him to the mall and see Santa (but he’s sooooooo cute!!!).  His trip to see Santa is to change his Christmas wish from hockey gear (which he already has) to craft materials Pamela can use to make her jewelry.  Also to let Santa know where to leave their gifts since they won’t have a tree.

When Baxter drops off Westin be brings a new Christmas tree and stays to help decorate it.  He and Westin bond over making decorations while Pam makes cookies.  When tucking in Westin, Baxter gets a hug and promises to help Westin find a gift for one of the young figure skaters at the rink.  Then talking to Pamela, he finds out that Westin’s father died 5 years prior (Okay wait, how does your girlfriend not care that you are gone all these evenings hanging out at another woman’s house with her and her kid?).  The next day, Baxter brings Westin a gift ornament to give to Kyra, the figure skater.  Westin then tells Baxter to date his mom because he makes her happy (Awww . . . the little homewrecker is soooooo cute!) but Baxter admits he can’t because he’s already engaged.

The next day Baxter drops off a special ornament for Pamela’s tree to replace one that she found broken when they were decorating a few days ago.  While putting it up she moves in for a kiss but Baxter tells her that he’s engaged.  Pamela is embarrassed (I guess the fact Baxter kept coming around her house all the time gave her the mistaken impression that he didn’t have a girlfriend, let alone a fiance. Who would have thought it?).  At the rink Westin gives Kyra the gift and she accepts it happily.  When Baxter arrives home he finds an angry Audrey who has discovered that Baxter has spent over $22,000 on his charitable gifts (Holy, crap . . . $22K???  How many people is he giving gifts to?).  Audrey says that he cares more about giving money to other people than using it for them and their new life (and she has an excellent point, bird photo Christmas gift aside.).  She gives the engagement ring back to him and storms out.  Baxter is then at a bar with his brother where he is told that Audrey and him were never a good match and sometimes money just shows people their true nature (I ain’t saying she’s a Golddigger, but she ain’t messing with no broke . . . .).  The next day at the mall the homeless man outs Baxter as Lucky the Elf (thanks homeless Joe!).  Which exposes him to Pamela and everyone else.  The next day at the rink, Pamela dresses Baxter down for making her and her son one of his charity cases.  Baxter wants to explain over dinner but Pamela will not have it (I’m sure the whole dinner date invitation sounds shady considering the last thing he told her was that he was engaged.).  Unable to have dinner with Pamela he does the next best thing . . . . a pizza dinner with homeless Joe in his storage unit.  Homeless Joe tells Baxter he needs to fight for what he loves.

The next morning while leaving for work, Audrey stops by and says she wanted to see him and talk.  She says she was angry and upset but was thinking about all the people he had helped with those gifts and shouldn’t have reacted the way she did.  In response, Baxter says she was right and he doesn’t want to marry her anymore.  He smiles in relief and then brushes her off as he goes to work.  **Ummm . . . excuse me, writers, is Baxter supposed to be a likeable character in this movie?**  He goes to his photo shoot at the Church play where Westin is performing in.  Westin confronts him, angry that everyone knows his secret about being Lucky.  Baxter then tells Westin it wasn’t his fault and he’d like to date Pamela (Does it seem a bit inappropriate to discuss your intentions about a woman with her a 8-10 year son?  Even if he did make the original suggestion that you two date.).   Baxter sees Pamela and goes to talk to her.  She asks him what he is doing there (he told you he was shooting this show 4 days ago.  You told him you were very excited because Westin would be in it.  How is it a surprise to see him here?) and refuses to have a conversation with him.

The play begins and Westin notices that Baxter is not with his mother.  Westin decides to take things into his own hands and grabs the microphone from another girl (So this kid who was too scared to give a gift to an 8 year old figure skater now has the courage to talk in front of a crowded audience.).  This forces Baxter to address the crowd and tell everyone that he really is 'Lucky' and he didn’t mean to hurt Pamela.  He says he found happiness as Lucky in making others happy but then found happiness as Baxter with Pam and Westin.  He then hands Pam a gift of a ceramic wise man for her nativity display at home (hers was missing).  Then he tells her that he’s not engaged anymore.  Suddenly Pamela jumps up and asks, “because of me???”.  They quickly profess their love and all is well.  So, essentially, can I assume that if he had just led off with, “I broke off my engagement.” that they could have had this conversation at any time?  Even back at the skating rink?  The next scene is Westin waking up on Christmas.  Wes goes downstairs to see his mother and Baxter there with cinnamon rolls.  In the last scene of the film they are all at another gallery showing where Baxter is displaying photos of the gift recipients from 'Lucky' in his collection.  The End.

This is one of the more gritty and realistic holiday movies they make these days.  It doesn't follow the Hallmark movie formula.  The budget is lower (hell, almost every other scene was either at his house, her house, the skating rink or the mall).  David Blue does a serviceable job as Baxter but his character was written in a way to make him too unlikable.  They tried to make Audrey’s character unsympathetic, but it wasn’t enough to change the bottom line of the plot – Baxter was engaged, found someone better, built an emotional connection to another woman behind his fiancé’s back and then, after a justified overreaction on her part from his spending their savings, ditched her.   Are we supposed to believe that if Pamela hadn’t shown any romantic interest in Baxter, if it was simply platonic from her or she was already happily in another relationship, that he still would have dumped Audrey?  And this is supposed to be the film’s hero?  Ashley does was good as Pamela and Melanie Recker did a fine job playing a selfish Audrey who was still appealing enough that we could see why Baxter was attracted to her.   I feel like this film would have been so much better without all the conflicts created by the sloppy plot.  I give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Nothing feeds into the fantasy of romantic salvation than a rehash of the Cinderella storyline.  Movies that find common women marrying a prince is such an important subset for romance movies that it could probably have its own channel.  So it’s no surprise that these movies have regained new life in the Holiday movie genre.  Following in the footsteps of such classic holiday royalty films as 'A Christmas Prince', 'Crown for Christmas', 'A Prince for Christmas', 'Once Upon a Holiday', 'My Christmas Prince', 'Royal Christmas Ball', 'A Royal Winter', 'A Princess for Christmas', 'Royal Christmas', Law and Order Special Victims Unit (Okay, maybe not the last one) comes a new vision of royal romance with a unique title: 'Christmas with a Prince'.  Christmas with a Prince (not to be confused with A Christmas Prince, A Prince for Christmas or Prince’s Purple Rain) stars Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in her biggest role yet, as . . . wait, my bad . . . the movie stars Kaitlyn Leeb as Dr. Tasha Miller and Nick Hounslow as Prince Alexander.  Our story begins with hunky Prince Alex falling down a ski slope in the states and badly injuring his leg.

Meanwhile in the Hall of Justice . . . . I mean . . . . in the Pediatric Wing of some secluded hospital Dr. Miller (heretofore called Tasha) is struggling to find funds for her pediatric care unit from the Evil Hospital Administrator Dr. Gonzales (Lanette Ware).  Tasha’s brother, who just HAPPENS to be a nurse in the same wing of the same hospital (nepotism???), lets Dr. Gonzales know that all is well because they are going to have a special royal patient arrive who is going to give the hospital a big donation to cover the expenses.  It just so happens that Tasha’s brother, Nurse Jeff (Josh Dean), is BFFs with Prince Alex.  He, Tasha and Alex all went to boarding school together (making nurse Jeff, BY FAR, the least successful and accomplished of the trio).  All the Prince needs is a little TLC and privacy and the hospital will soon be flush with donation money.

We quickly learn through Tasha’s discussion with . . . well . . . just about everyone she talks to . . . that she bears a grudge against the spoiled royal prince from their time at private school.  And while I say grudge, it’s actually more of a searing, deep resentment towards the Prince (whom she has secretly longed for since school and whom causes her to drool all over herself when she thinks about him at night) over his rejection of her in their youth.  As you can imagine, this is all setting up really well for a redemption romance.  The only other characters of note are Charles Shaughnessy, as one of the most stereotypical caricatures of a monarch ever seen on screen, playing King Edward and Melinda Shankar as the cute but completely out of place, unbelievable and incompetent head of the Prince's security detail, Bella.

It turns out that the Prince is a really spiffy guy with rock hard abs who loves children (which is a good thing since he is recovering in a children’s ward) and is attracted to Tasha.  Tasha and Alex bond over their long strolls through the hospital, their arguments with the King and Dr. Gonzalez over security concerns and when playing with all the sick children (who seem really spry despite the fact they must be in the hospital because they are sick right?).  There’s a scene where she is forced to confront the embarrassing, accidental, butt dialed voicemail she left on Alex’s phone where she describes how devastatingly handsome and charming the Prince is (My, how convenient and . . . what realistic sound quality for an inadvertent call.).  We see nurse Jeff hit on Security Chief Bella following an incident where she physically immobilizes him because he’s wearing a Santa Suit (Oh no, another hitman posing as Santa.  Get him!!!).  Prince Alex also bonds with a lonely little boy who has a big surgery upcoming.

Tasha gets into an argument with Dr. Gonzalez regarding security issues (And then lashes out as Prince Alex as the cause of it – ooooh, tension!!!!) and only intervention by the Royal family saves her job.  Alex brings the sick boy’s mother in so she can be there for the boy’s surgery and arranges for the boy’s favorite pop singer to visit and perform for the children.  At a Christmas gift giving for the sick children, Alex gives Tasha the gift of going to his family’s Royal Christmas Charity Dinner and dance up against the Prince’s chiseled body and rock hard abs (Oh and by the way, sorry for dissing you all those years back when you were jailbait.).  The Dinner is normally held in locations around the world and this year it will be held in locally because of production budget issues . . . . the Prince’s broken leg.  Tasha handles this offer by going all gaga and kissing the prince.  Things then take a sudden turn when she meets Miranda (Anastasia Marinina), who introduces herself as Alex’s fiancé (Uhhh . . . . ohhhh).  Furious, she storms off before Alex manages to fake a leg injury and explains that Miranda is just some crazy, delusional ex-fiance of his brother (recently deceased).

Tasha dresses up for the charity event after her shift at work.  She looks amazing (of course) and meets up with Alex in the lobby who is either wearing a royal uniform or something he stole from an early 20th Century Canadian Mountie.  Miranda takes over the film's role of evil adversary from Dr. Gonzalez (who is pretty much out of the story by this point).  Tasha uses her incredible bionic hearing to overhear two women thirty feet away, in a loud and crowded dance hall, discuss how Prince Alex will dump the loser American doctor because she’s not of royal blood.  Miranda walks up and tells her the same thing.  Tasha, who has constantly been switching personalities between assertive, confidant doctor to pathetic, insecure, rejected schoolgirl switches to the latter and attempts to leave.  Elsewhere, King Edward meets with Alex and tells his son that he’s been a huge, irresponsible, disappointment up until recently.  However, now that he’s been made aware of how good Alex is around sick children, Edward finds him to be a fit and worth heir to the crown and a remarkable young man (Sure, why not?).  King Edward also finds Tasha before she leaves (mainly because he told security to detain her) and gives her an inspirational speech to tough it out with Alex because she loves him and she’s the reason he has become the man he has (So much for that earlier talk praising Alex on the strides he’s made.  Turns out it was all Tasha.).  The King then excuses himself because he needs to hurry over to Wendy’s to try their new Classic Smokey Applewood Bacon Burger while he’s in town – it’s a limited time offer you know!!!

With her newfound sense of self confidence she goes back into the ball, tells Miranda off and that she looks and sounds like Natasha from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show (well she should have because it’s absolutely true.  It is uncanny.).  She AGAIN tells Alex she loves him (Nobody disputes that anymore, it’s like the 9th time you have mentioned as much in this film).  They dance, they kiss and he tells her she will be in charge of his new Children’s charity (Whoopee!!!).  Nurse Jeff even has a music-less dance with Bella back at the hospital.  Whether either of these relationships will last more than a week in the real world is up to your i-m-a-g-i-n-a-t-i-o-n!!!!

Both leads were attractive enough but there less spark between them than you'd find setting off fireworks during a hurricane.  The story was bland and forced.  The characters were shallow and unappealing.  If I had to say anything nice about the film it would be that it ended on time and didn’t run over it’s 120 minute program window.  I give it a 1 out of 5.

Many Holiday movies seem to rehash the same plots over and over with a few tweaks here and there.  Christmas Catch shows us there is still some creative twists left out there to be explored in a holiday romance.  This movie presents an interesting premise that seems like a great concept . . . at least on paper.  The movie stars Emily Alatalo as Mackenzie Bennet, a local police detective.  We first meet Mackenzie undercover as a Santa's Helper staking out a counterfeiter while her partner Reid (Andrew Bushell) backs her up from a police van.  This scene sets up a few details about Mackenzie such as; she loves Christmas, has a great working relationship and friendship with her partner and is completely inept when it comes to flirting or dealing with the opposite sex.  Mackenzie later tackles the bad guy in an alley after a long chase, breaking his arm.

Because of Mackenzie's disastrous personal life, her friends set her up at a social mingle.  She attends but has to leave after just a short time due to a work call.  Leaving the gathering she notices a Christmas tree display with its star tilting to one side.  While attempting to fix the star, she slips and falls into the arms of Carson, played by Franco Lo Presti, who also happens to be on his way to the singles social.  The two hit it off and engage in casual conversation before Mackenzie is again pulled away by calls from work.  The biggest problem with this scene for me is that Carson looks like your stereotypical Syrian or Libyan terrorist and the entire time I was expecting him to tip his hand (drop his AK-47 or bomb detonator) and be arrested by Mackenzie.  An important plot point here is that Carson mentions the word serendipity in their conversation (although I would have expected him to say 'Death to America') which is an idea Mackenzie has associated with finding true love.

The next day, she spends the morning talking to herself about her dreamy first encounter with the love child of Grace Jones and Dolph Lundgren, Carson.  At work, Mackenzie and Reid are called into Mackenzie's mom's . . . . errrr . . . I mean their Captain's office to meet with FBI agent Robinson (Genelle Williams) who needs the local police to stakeout a suspected diamond thief.  The FBI needs to determine if their suspect is going to sell the stolen merchandise or if he and his crew are planning another heist.  Mackenzie soon realizes that Carson is the suspect they will be keeping under observation (which makes sense because he already looks like a mob enforcer).  While setting up their surveillance Mackenzie receives a call from 'Eastern European Henchmen #4' . . . I mean . . . Carson, who obtained her cell phone number from people at the coffee shop during the singles event (because that's not creepy at all).  Carson then asks her out on a date and she hangs up in a panic.

The surveillance team meets with Agent Robinson and Captain Mom where Mackenzie finally admits she knows the suspect from their encounter outside the coffee shop.  Agent Robinson believes this to be the perfect opportunity for them to get more information and orders Mackenzie on a date with the suspect.  Mackenzie arranges the date and then her and Reid set up wiretaps and cameras in Carson's residence.  The abundance of Christmas decorations in Carson's home make both Detective Mackenzie and Captain mom (also a huge fan of Christmas) just giddy with delight.  At the dinner date, Mackenzie attempts to glean information from him about his wife (a suspected associate for the robbery) while the meeting is recorded from the police van.  Despite Carson's charm and sweet demeanor during dinner I still half expected him to lose control and pistol whip the waiter for bringing him a plate of cold spaghetti.  I mean, seriously, the guy looks like every Italian organized crime member ever shown on Law and Order.  It's hard to be drawn into a growing romantic connection when you are compelled to scream at the female protagonist to "Run . . . JUST RUN!!!".

The team goes over what they have learned but Agent Robinson doesn't feel it to be enough, so she orders Mackenzie on another date.  They arrange to meet again at the coffee shop.  During this meeting an old associate of Carson, David (played by Eric Hicks), arrives and is quickly identified as a notorious safe-cracker.  Things get tense between the two men but David eventually leaves, after which Carson dips out to return to work.  However, since Carson is under surveillance, they know he went home instead and called into work as being sick.  More importantly this chance meeting proves that every single bad guy in this movie has a beard and since Carson also has a beard, he must be guilty right?  Mackenzie, Reid and Captain Mom meet at the stakeout location and teleconference with FBI Agent Robinson because nothing is more clandestine during a stakeout then people in police uniforms walking into a rented house right across the street from the suspect who has already been established as being home at the time.  Sounds like some top notch policework there.

That night Carson calls Mackenzie and they set up another date, this time at his house for dinner.  While at dinner they do some Christmas tree decorating (Of course, check off that box for a Christmas romance.) where Carson shows Mackenzie his prized ornament that he and his mom made when he was a child.  While eating, Carson receives a call that can't be picked up by the surveillance . . . (why not?).  Carson returns and tells Mackenzie that he knows she's a cop.  She initially denies it but then comes clean.  Okay, is this it?  This will explain his nefarious appearance as he pulls out a pistol and tries to put two bullets into Mackenzie's forehead right???   Nope!  Instead he simply tells her to leave because he doesn't want to see her anymore (and she's blown her opportunity for that private tour of the Holiday themed jihadi bomb-making room in his basement).

The stakeout is now exposed, Mackenzie and Reid pack up.  The police also pack up their surveillance equipment from Carson's house (For which he signs paperwork for in a scene?  What the hell?).  Mackenzie is put on administrative leave but after talking to her friends decides to go back to the stakeout location and watch Carson's house (If you are already suspended, this would seem like a good way to get completely fired).  Looking out the window she spots safe-cracking David going into Carson's house and decides to investigate.  Upon entering, she finds Carson prone on the floor.  David walks in and tells her that Carson really likes her (I think we can agree that's what every criminal would say at that particular moment.).  Special Agent Robinson walks in and we find out that she is actually Bethany, Carson's diamond thieving ex-wife.  She remarks that David is an excellent forger and Captain Mom is the worst police captain ever when it comes to verifying FBI task force authorizations.

It turns out that the missing diamond reindeer has been hidden in Carson's beloved handmade ornament the whole time (But wait, wouldn't Carson have noticed that there was a large diamond pendant loose rattling around inside the ornament when they placed it on the tree?).  Despite having ample opportunity to draw her weapon (which she started to draw before Bethany walked in) and arrest the two of them Mackenzie is too enthralled in the story to remember the task at hand (arrest the criminals).  Then Bethany draws her weapon (See Mackenzie?  See how it's done?) and explains her plan to kill all three of them (Why kill David again?  And why tell him when he is behind you?) but all this is thwarted when Captain Mom shows up with several other officers and at least 3 snipers with laser sights targeting Bethany through the window . . . so let’s just say she shows up with the entire police force.

While lying injured on the floor, Carson insists on giving Mackenzie a present (saving himself a frustrating trip to the post office) which turns out to be a Christmas ornament.  Mackenzie rushes out to the ambulance where Carson had been taken where they are both invited to Captain Mom's annual Christmas dinner and finally kiss.  I'm assuming that Captain Mom will have plenty of time to prepare dinner since she has to be sacked for operating a police stakeout on behalf of a known criminal, right?  Luckily, all the embarrassing romantic banter recorded between Mackenzie and Carson will not be public since it was obtained illegally.  I mean there can't be a valid FBI warrant if there are no real FBI agents, correct?  And what in God's name was Bethany's plan?  Why bring the police in to watch your ex-husband, identify your partner (David) and make them aware of the entire situation when you knew where the diamond was the whole time?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to break in around Christmas and steal the ornament or force Carson to turn it over to you?  Seriously, what was the freakin’ point Bethany???

I'm going to slam the casting in this movie.  The look the production staff gave to Franco Lo Presti was awful.  Did I mention he looked like your stereotypical thug, serial killer or monster villain for the entire movie?  His casting made as much sense as choosing Kermit the Frog to play President Obama in both appearance AND performance. Emily Alatalo was serviceable as Mackenzie and at time cute and engaging but I actually think if you had switched out the roles of Genelle Williams and Emily Alatalo it would have been a better fit.  And Andrew Bushell was excellent as the partner, Reid.  Cast Genelle as Mackenzie, Reid as Carson and let Emily and Franco play the FBI agent and police partner respectively and this is probably a 4 or 5 star film.  In its current form though, disappointing . . . I give it a 1.5 out of 5.

Nothing spells holiday romance and the spirit of Christmas as much as a desperate marriage of convenience.  Yep, that’s the gist of this little Holiday tale staring Jes Macallan as Carrie Tate.  Carrie is the top executive for a family owned food distribution company (sounds exciting so far right!?!?!).  Everything is going smooth until Carrie’s sister Kate (played by April Bowlby) comes to Thanksgiving and announces that she’s engaged.  It’s on this occasion that the parents feel it is the right time to let everyone know that Grandma, the founder of the family business, was an ultra-conservative traditionalist who believed that women should only be barefoot and pregnant and not working outside the home.  So to that end, she placed a clause in her will that her daughter would not inherit her company.  Instead, it would go to the husband of her first granddaughter to get married (hahaha . . . . . . no what?  Seriously?).  So, I guess Mom must have worked when she was younger and Grandma felt that Carrie and Kate’s father was a complete piece of chit and unworthy to own the company himself (but not such a loser that he couldn’t run the day to day operations of the company with granddaughter Carrie).

Mom and Dad have talked with various attorneys but it seems the will is incontestable.  Maybe Grandma was just a very sweet, insightful and misogynistic woman with stunningly archaic beliefs regarding gender roles.  Either way, Carrie does not take this information, nor the fact her parents withheld it from her all these years, very well.  I mean you can’t really blame her, she spent her life working for and growing a family business which will eventually be turned over to someone NOT in the family.  To top it off, Ethan (played by Adam Senn), Kate’s fiancé is somewhat of a self-righteous, organic food obsessed, hippie douche.  When Ethan expresses interest in owning the company, Carrie makes a mental note to separate Ethan from the group and stab him in the heart with a potato peeler (well, it’s never mentioned in the movie but how could she NOT be thinking that?).

The next day at work, Carrie and her father (who never seems to take slight at the fact that he was never considered to take over the company in favor of a complete and utter stranger) meet with attorney Dylan (played by Coby McLaughlin) who represents a business that ‘Grandma foods’ wants to acquire.  The meeting does not go well as Paul wants guarantees that there won’t be layoffs and believes the offer is low.  Carrie responds by being rude and condescending to Paul (Not exactly top negotiating tactics but hey, she’s under a lot of stress.) and the meeting ends.  While there is tension at home, Carrie decides to ignore everything related to the will when dealing with her family and focus on making Kate’s engagement and wedding everything it should be.  At the same time, though, she tries to reconnect with an old flame from her youth Paul (played by Ryan Caltagirone).

This sounds like a solid strategy until an engagement party reveals that Ethan’s best man is in fact . . . . (wait for it) . . . . Dylan, the handsome attorney Carrie had been so ill-tempered with a few days prior.  Carrie introduces everyone to her charming date and old flame Paul and processes her new predicament.  Later, Dylan shows up at the company Christmas party (where Carrie is dressed as an Elf delivering candy canes to children) to discuss Kate’s bachelorette party.  Carrie then realizes that she is responsible for throwing it (actually Carrie, it seems you are the ONLY person in the bridal party which makes you responsible for everything).  As luck would have it, Ethan (aka hippie fiancé) wants to have his Bachelor party at a family cabin and would like to combine the two parties as one.  After some awkward interaction where Dylan is charming and Carrie is terse and short (a little TOO much so) they agree that Ethan’s idea, to have what has to be the LAMEST sounding Bachelor and Bachelorette parties in the history of mankind, to be the perfect plan!

At the cabin Carrie is her typical mean self to Dylan while he remains sweet and charismatic.  Despite Paul showing up, Carrie and Dylan do manage to spend a few moments together where not even Carrie’s omnipresent, pre-adolescent, social behavior can hide her obvious interest in Dylan.  A gown fitting causes a strained confrontation between Carrie and Kate over the family business which convinces Carrie to solicit Paul into a marriage of convenience (how romantic), so she can retain control over the company.  She plans an engagement dinner and subsequent flight to Vegas but things go awry when Paul admits he is gay and will only marry for love.  Carrie later counters that statement by telling him that gay men should never use sports cliches (cause you know . . . gays can’t play sports???).  After proving to the audience that she can be a mean drunk, she shows us she can also go full on crazy drunk which leads to her calling . . . you guessed it . . . Dylan.  Dylan, the guy so selfless, sweet and charming you’d think he was ALSO gay, shows up and takes Carrie home.

The next day Dylan arrives at Carries work to give her back her phone.  Carrie accuses Dylan of inappropriate behavior (#METOO) for being in her home when she changed into her pajamas and her not remembering anything of the evening.  This leaves Dylan a bit miffed since Carrie only seems nice and complimentary when she’s drunk outta her mind (but then she won’t remember!  Catch 22).  At the rehearsal dinner she reconciles with her sister, let’s everyone know she is not with Paul (everyone seemed to know he was gay anyways) and shows a softer side to Dylan.  Prior to the wedding she resigns from the company.  At the reception, she dances with Dylan where we find out she has accepted a job to run the company he had earlier represented in their attempted take over.  Dylan admits his feelings toward her (Are you sure about this Dylan?  She seems a bit emotionally immature and extremely high maintenance.  And just ask Gay Paul how she reacts to bad news.).   Carrie admits she feels the same and they kiss.  The End.

I felt Jes played her character well as the angry, conflicted Carrie but she never gave us the emotional payoff and gave Carrie any vulnerability at the end.  Coby made Dylan sweet and likeable but also made him sort of a pushover in how he reacted (or didn’t react at all) to Carrie’s constant mood swings.  The actors were okay, the story was okay, so I guess overall it was . . . . okay?  I give it 2.5 out of 5.