I’ll admit, just the title of this movie gave it one strike in my book.  “Santa’s Boots”?  Really?  Have they already reused all the good titles and are farming out the naming of these Holiday Movies to 5^th graders?  The title DOES have a slight connection to the plot but still . . . come on people . . . you can do better!  Santa’s Boots stars Megan Hilty as Holly (of course) Montell, a Wharton Smith graduate and active wear account executive from Seattle.  She’s really super-duper at her job . . . so much so that she has accrued a ton of vacation days and will lose them if not used soon.   To rectify that, her boss orders her home to spend time with her family (Why don’t you take off for Thanksgiving and don’t come back to work until after New Years?).

Holly’s family are the owners of a local department store.  Her best friend, Elle (Patricia Isaac), is the marketing director at Montell’s department store.  In the current push for diversity in these holiday films, Elle is one of the first prominent Indian characters I can recall seeing.  It’s not a huge role and, common with almost all Holiday Movie besties, involves her alerting Holly to the fact that she is in love with her co-star.  Because, just like in real life, no one would ever know they had fallen in love if not for the gentle reminders of their closest friends.

The other half of our holiday pairing is Noah Mills who plays Nick Porter, the co-owner of a tree farm.  We first see Nick hard at work at the tree farm with his Uncle Ralph.  Things seem fine until Uncle Ralph tells Nick he plans to retire after the holiday season and needs to know if Nick is going to take over the business.   Ralph - “No, you can’t have any time to think about it Nick, I need to know RIGHT EFF’N NOW!!!!”  When Nick refuses to immediately claim his position as rightful heir to the throne of Tree Land, Ralph banishes him from the lot until he decides what he wants in life.  The legalities of all this isn’t really explained, suffice it to say that Ralph and Nick’s dad were the ones who started the tree farm so it’s expected that Nick will take it over.  He kisses his girlfriend goodbye (Wait . . . he has a GIRLFRIEND?!?!) and leaves the farm.

Nick’s best friend is Rob, played by Matt Hamilton.  Rob happens to own a Santa Staffing business (his family must be sooooo proud).  I’m not sure how he pays the bills from January to October but he is busy as chit these days.  Rob laments that all his Santa’s are frail and infirm (because they are old men) and his elves are flighty and unreliable (because they are young girls).  Since Nick now has plenty of time in his hands to decide if he wants to assume the mantle of Forest King, he offers to help Rob out by working as one of the Store Santas (You’ll never guess which store he ends up at).

Holly is sitting with Elle’s office with Santa Nick and Cara the elf standing in her doorway.  Elle is OUTRAGED at the youthfulness of Nick and demands an older Santa.  Nick says that none are available but he’s really good with kids (from his vast experience at the Arbor Kingdom).  Elle relents but then realizes Cara is sick and knows the only way to solve this problem is by Holly, the boss’s daughter, assuming the role while Cara recovers.  Additionally, the elf suit is very small and Holly is the only one around who will fit . . . . seriously WHAT!?!?!?   Holly is like twice as thick as Cara and 3 cup sizes bigger.  That outfit should like a friggin’ spandex leotard if Holly tried to wear it . . . . oh . . . . no . . . wait . . . . I’m wrong.   Look, it just so happens to fit perfectly.  It must be Christmas Magic!

So now Nick and Holly are working together to help the dreams of children come true.  They are both nice and affable and quickly develop a bond.  While many of these movies pit the leads against each other with conflicting personalities at the beginning, thankfully we are spared this trope.  Later, when the two Christmas characters take a lunch break, Nick removes his Santa coat to reveal his lanky lumberjack body.  Holly is so taken with the view that she just stares awkwardly for several seconds.  I doubt she could have been more conspicuous in her gaze than if Nick had just been revealed to be a faun (half man, half goat).  So there we have it: two attractive 35 year old adults who get along great and now sex appeal . . . . wham bam thank you ma’am . . . our job is done here right?  Ohhh wait, we still have 90 minutes of movie time to kill.

Holly snoops around Elle’s desk and discovers that sales at the family store are going in the tank (Damn you internet!!!).   Luckily, Holly and Nick are a huge success and bringing in all kinds of business.  They are also bringing in some of the most attractive children and parents you will ever find in a small town.  I don’t know what’s in the water up there but it is working!!!  Elle realizes that Holly is in love because she catches Holly singing along with her (Ah ha, Holly!  Busted!!!).  While at home, Nick is visited by his girlfriend, Jenny (Andrea Brooks) who thinks it’s a good time to break up with him (well, that IS super convenient).  Apparently, they want different things in life.  Jenny has a bunch of new ideas on how to improve the Tree Farm that he’s about to take over and . . . . yeah, I don’t get it either but let’s just move on.   Now that the hot girlfriend is out of the way (and she broke up with him so he’s not even the bad guy), Nick is officially ripe for the picking for our sweet Holly elf.

While working late at night, Nick invites Holly to a Santa bash at a local bar.  By the way, Cara has been back at work for almost a month now.   Why is Holly still doing the elf gig other than because she’s completely and utterly smitten with our good St. Nick?   So, of course, Holly agrees and dresses up in her hottest cocktail dress for the evening (I mean when in a bar with a bunch of old guys wearing Santa outfits you must figure out some way to stand out, right???).  Nick and Holly have some drinks, chat and kiss!!!  But just as it happens, Nick gets an emergency text, apologizes and leaves.  He rushes to the hospital where Uncle Ralph has literally worked himself into the intensive care.

When Nick doesn’t show up to work, Holly starts to panic.  Apparently, in the month of working together (during and after hours) and meeting up at the bar not ONCE have they exchanged texts, called each other or even bothered to learn each other’s last names.  Now I’m really starting to think this is more of a summer crush than true love.  Luckily BFF Elle concocts a plan to find Nick.  Nick left his work/Santa boots at the store to be repaired (see how the title ties in) and Elle devises a way to use them to locate Nick . . . by creating a big Cinderella like boot fitting for everyone in the Kingdom.  Brilliant right?  Well, brilliant might be too strong of a term . . . . so how about . . . utterly and completely idiotic?  

Cinderella was a fairy tale that would only make an ounce of sense if Cinderella either had freakishly large or tiny feet.  Let’s say Nick was a standard size 11 shoe.  How many guys would have to try on those boots before the odds were that one of them would be the same size?  5 guys? 6?  And what do they win?  A prize?  Cash?  The boots?  What is the whole point to this?  Chances are that Nick will eventually come back and get his boots anyways making this a complete waste of time.  But hey . . . the movie IS called Santa’s Boots ya know so . . . . let’s go with it!!!

I forgot to mention that a large retail chain has offered to buy Montell’s.   Holly researches the offer by talking to an executive at another store previously acquired and has discovered that being purchased by Wincoff Retail is a soul stealing and heart blackening experience for all those involved . . . but the money is good if you are an owner.  Based on this and a discussion with her father about the welfare of Montell’s employees, Holly recommends that Dad sells (WTF?!?!).   Meanwhile, at the hospital, Nick has a similar conversation with Uncle Ralph and suggests that he give the farm to Jenny (WTF!?!?).  Is Ralph just going to sign over the deed and the business over to Jenny for nothing?  Is she just going to run the business on behalf of Nick and Ralph?  Is she supposed to come up with the money necessary to buy out the Porters?  And sweet old Holly just couldn't care less about the employees of her family’s business (some of whom are her best friends)?  Wow . . . . that escalated quickly.

While leaving the hospital from an Uncle Ralph visit, Nick runs into Holly’s grandmother who demands that Nick attend the annual Christmas Eve Ball as her guest.  When Nick arrives at the ball he finds a station where complete strangers have been allowed to try on his favorite boots (sounds pretty hygienic) for the past week.  Nick then hear’s Holly’s dad announce that he is selling the company . . . errr . . . Holly will be the new store CEO (see what happens when you give someone 40 days of vacation around the holidays?  They take another job!).  Nick arrives in the ballroom and dances with Holly, they kiss and tell how they feel about each other; never once mentioning his boots which pretty much proves that, other than for the title, the secondary boot story was completely pointless and irrelevant to the film's plot.  The last scene is Nick with Holly’s family on Christmas morning.  We assume that this means they are finally ready to take the next step in their relationship . . . . exchanging phone numbers.

I didn’t expect much from this movie given its ridiculous title.  There wasn’t any great spark between the leads but they were both pleasant and appealing enough.  The behavior and direction of the main characters made it seem more like a potential crush than a burgeoning, lifetime romance.  Still, sometimes a growing fondness is more believable than a whirlwind and impassioned fling.  I would describe this movie as forgettable (except for the stupid name) but enjoyable.  I give it a 3 out of 5.

Kristopher Turner stars as Matt Blessing, an out-of-work older teen or early 20-something soon to be father.  Matt spends the beginning of the movie searching for a job.  I know this movie was made in the mid 2000s but the setting has to be earlier because there are phone booths, no one has a cell phone, he’s searching for a job from paper want ads (and people still get and read the newspaper in this universe!!!).  I’ll get that out of the way now since it’s perhaps the hardest part of the movie to relate to.  Matt has a pregnant girlfriend, Megan (Emma Taylor-Isherwood), although based on their interaction the term ‘girlfriend’ might be a bit of a stretch (Baby-mama might be more accurate).  It doesn’t seem that Megan is interested in being a mother or having a family.  She tells Matt during his visit that she is going to put the baby up for adoption.  Matt suspects this is the influence of Megan’s mother and still believes they could be a happy family.

Later Matt gets a knock on the door.  It turns out that he has a call . . . from the payphone . . . in the hallway . . . on the wall directly across from his apartment door (That’s where the community phone for the entire floor is?  I bet that never gets old.  Especially when it rings in the middle of the night.)  It is about Megan, who is in the hospital in labor.  He rushes to her bedside.  She delivers while Matt waits outside in the waiting area.  Later Megan’s mom tells Matt that adoption is for the best.  Megan’s mom is adamant that she knows what is best.  Megan is young and should be starting college and having the best times of her life (Sounds a bit like an former sorority girl waxing poetic about her crazy college years).  Matt strongly disagrees and states that she and Megan are in love and can make a family despite their lack of resources or Matt’s family background (Hmmm, sounds ominous.).  Matt is overjoyed when he finds out he has a son and goes to the nursery to be with him.

Matt tries to call his mother to let her know but her number is not in service.  He goes to her work and finds out she has left to work at the casinos down by the shore.  He leaves his contact information with his mom’s former employer.  At the hospital, Megan is meeting with the adoptive parents and assures them there is no problem with the father.  Matt arrives and talks to Megan but cannot change her mind. She doesn’t want to be a mom, she just wants to have fun (Cindi Lauper would approve).  Megan tells Matt that he doesn’t have to be involved in the adoption because they are not married so he has no rights (I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works).  Then again, she lied about who the adoptive parents were when he asked about them in his room too . . . sooooo . . . she’s probably not getting a “mother of the year” nomination anytime soon.

When Matt gets back to his apartment, he finds his estranged mother.  They have a short conversation before she has to catch her train.  Based on the discussion, she wasn’t up for too many “mother of the year” awards either and Matt went on his own at a young age.  Matt runs into the couple from earlier and shoves the man before going to see Megan and the baby.  Megan is resolute, the baby is going to be adopted.  Luke offers to take the baby back to the baby after its feeding.  On the way he sees the couple he accosted talking to a security guard.  Worried he might be identified (I mean he did shove the guy against the wall screaming “You’re not taking my baby!!!  So they may have a clue as to who is is.) Matt decides he has only one recourse . . . to kidnap the baby (WTF???).  He walks out with the newborn tucked into his jacket (Yeah, that’s not suspicious, not at all).  I know security is pretty tight in maternity wards these days but apparently at the time of this movie it was as easy to get yourself a infant in New Jersey as to walk into the nearest hospital and swing by delivery wing (Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy).

With the baby in tow, Matt knows he has to go somewhere the authorities will never find him . . . his apartment (huh???).  A friend (or maybe just some random guy, he wasn’t in the movie before) brings him some baby items.  With (I mean, I assume since he just kidnapped a baby) the authorities hot on his heels he takes the babe on a bus ride to Bracebridge.  Matt has no real knowledge of how to care for an infant which explains why he would steal a newborn without any actual baby supplies and then expose him to freezing winter conditions while on the run.  He finds his estranged grandmother, Glennie (Louise Fletcher), who owns a local Inn.  He tells his grandmother that his son is named Luke just like his grandfather (I don’t know if this is what was on the birth certificate and a lucky coincidence or he renamed the baby Luke after he stole him). Glennie allows him to stay and he finds some short term work with the neighboring owner, Jim, of a tree farm.  In the douchebag Jim’s kitchen, Matt notices in the newspaper (that’s right . . . newspapers!) a story about a baby kidnapped from the hospital.  It must not be a real kidnapping case though because earlier Matt called Megan and her mother to tell them the baby was fine and no one seemed to care.

The local sheriff comes to the Inn, Glennie talks to them while Matt hides the baby out back.  Glennie tells the officer that Matt and the baby are both her grandsons and they are safe.  So . . . . wait a minute, aren’t the cops following up on all of Matt’s family to find him?  They are looking for her grandson and infant great grandson but, hey, there’s only her grandson and his infant BROTHER at the grandmother’s house.  The kid is obviously not here.  WTH?  Are these Jedi mind tricks?  So, am I supposed to believe that they didn’t go to Glennie’s place because of her relation to Matt and that, instead, they have deputy Barney Fife simply knocking on every single door in the tri-state area asking, “Did you see a guy and a kidnapped baby around here?”.  When the hospital notified the police about the missing baby, did it get assigned to the ‘Parking Enforcement’ division? 

When walking down the road with Luke (Again, taking a newborn out in freezing conditions for a long period of time.  Does no one know enough to tell Matt that babies should not be exposed to extreme conditions?) he is approached by a truck driven by Pam (Lindsey Ames), the local hot, single college age girl (but of course) who asks if Matt needs a ride.  Matt is evasive and declines and after several attempts Pam drives away.  Matt is taking care of Luke and reading a baby book (hopefully there is a chapter in there on the inability of infants to regulate their body temperature) trying to learn more caregiver skills when Glennie says she will watch him and he can go into town for a break.  He drives to town where he meets . . . PAM!!!  Pam works at her family meat shop and is extremely straightforward and aggressive when she meets boys she likes.  After spilling out her life story to a complete stranger she and Luke go to dinner together (working at the family business must mean you can pretty much come and go as you please.) where I guess she can tell Matt even MORE about herself.  Pam is leaving town because she doesn’t want to end up stuck in Bracebridge working at the family business.  After leaving dinner she asks him that since she is leaving town soon if he would like to go with her.  Matt asks if they can bring Luke, his baby ‘brother’.  Now, I’m not sure which of these two comments is more  disturbing – “Hey, I just met you would like to run away with me?” or “Sure, can we bring my baby brother???” – so I am going to call this a draw.  And everyone knows that two inappropriate comments cancel out to zero, so all is good.

That night, back at the Inn, Matt sees the neighboring douchebag, Jim, set the shed on fire.  He runs inside to warn Glennie, grab the baby and call the Fire Department.  He then runs out back to spray the shed with a water hose until he realizes all the cans and barrels of fuel sitting around.  Noticing the extreme danger he does what any parent with a brand new baby depending on him would do – he moves all the fuel barrels and fuel cans away.  It turns out to be a waste of time because the fire burns down on its own and even the trees that were literally on fire, next to the shed moments ago, when it was at its peak have put themselves out.  The Fire Department arrives and extinguishes the remaining fire.  The next morning neighbor douchebag Jim arrives and Matt states he knows who set the fire.  But Jim knows Luke is the kidnapped baby so they both better keep their secrets (Of course, this hillbilly figures it all out but no one else can?  It must be because he still still reads the paper!).

Glennie sits down with Matt and says that he needs to get custody.  Apparently, he hasn’t really thought this through (understatement of the year).  I mean think about it, the baby is going to need doctor visits (in fact it’s a miracle the baby isn’t sick from all the times you take it out in the freezing cold) and is Matt supposed to be on the run forever?  No birth certificate, is the kid just going to be homeschooled in secret, etc.  Luckily, Glennie’s friend, Bert (Jack Shepherd), just happens to be an attorney (Praise Be!!!) and will help Matt.  Matt and Glennie go into town and he runs into Pam and asks to see her again.  Later she comes to Glennie’s Inn and Matt admits that Luke is his son (Matt likes to keep his dates memorable).  Pam convinces Matt to tell the authorities, so Matt calls the cops, makes a statement about Jim burning down the shed and admits he kidnapped Luke from his mother and the hospital.   Apparently, kidnapping is just a misdemeanor around here because not only don’t they immediately arrest Matt but they let him keep Luke until social services decides what to do (the crew from Ocean’s Eleven couldn’t get away with this much).

Matt and Glennie discuss Matt’s father leaving when he was seven and the issues between Glennie and Matt’s mother.  It becomes obvious that parenting isn’t really this family’s forte so Luke better hope that’s not a genetic trait.  Matt takes Luke on a walk through the snow-covered woods to say goodbye before handing him over to Social Services (if taking infants out for long walks in the cold was a pre-requisite for Father of the Year this guy is a shoo-in).  Later Pam is at the bus stop with Matt about leave town.  They say their goodbyes and share a farewell kiss.  Glennie and Matt have another argument about his mother.  Matt calls his mother to update her on everything and ask her to come visit for Christmas.  He then sees Jim Douchebag’s son at the local diner where he compliments his muffins (no, there’s no flirting involved, it’s just Matt trying to make nice with the son of the guy he put in jail for Christmas) as if this will patch things up (what . . . was . . . the point of . . . this scene???).

Next comes the court hearing where Megan admits she wants custody to give the baby up for adoption.  She admits she didn’t sign over Luke’s custody (not sure what that even means) and didn’t press charges right away (Ohhh, is that why the police never came looking for the baby but instead put up an add on Craigslist?  “Baby Missing, please return if found.  $50 Reward!!!).  Of course, she said “right away” suggesting that she did press some kind of charges (it isn’t explained and Matt is never actually charged with anything).  Megan then tells the court she can’t look after Luke because she’s going to college and wants to get on with her life and if Matt has Luke she won’t be free (You know, if mom had bothered to retain even a slightly competent counsel for this hearing you might not have shot yourself in the foot like that in the courtroom.  Hell, you practically blew your foot clean off.).  Matt takes the stand and gives a speech on the meaning of being a father and how his lack of a family made him want to give that to his son.  The judge decides Matt will retain custody.

Matt brings Luke home for Christmas (this court is open right before Christmas to hold the hearing?) where Matt, Bert, Glennie and Pam are celebrating.  Matt’s mother shows up and she reconciles with Glennie.  He decides to stay to help Glennie get the lodge open again.  The movie ends with all of them sitting down to Christmas dinner.  Let me say that I don’t really feel this is a Christmas movie.  I think it is a movie that happens around Christmas so a network grabbed it, rebranded it and now it is shown at Christmas.  The characters are not bad despite some implausibility regarding the court system and law enforcement (as if a baby being kidnapped would not be a huge story ANYWHERE as opposed to being treated as a back-page story, posted adjacent that evening’s TV listings).  Turner and Ames were fine as the romantic leads, especially within what they were given to work with, and Fletcher gave Glennie a believable feel as the gruff but caring grandmother.  It’s a shame that Pam didn’t have a bigger role in the film since Ames was a bright spot in the film despite her limited time.  Unfortunately, because of all the “What?  Are you f’in kidding me?” moments I had to deal with during the film I only give it a 2.5 out of 5.

This movie stars Tia Mowry-Hardrict as Jen Taylor, a workaholic Ad Executive living in San Francisco.  Jen is desperately competing for a creative director position with another coworker.  She’s recently been avoiding calls from the attorney handling her great aunt’s estate.  She goes to meet her friend at a bar after previously rescheduling 4 times (Yeah, she sounds like a great friend right?) where we learn that she is single due to her obsession with work and obtaining a new promotion.  You might recognize Tia from the mid-90s teen comedy ‘Sister, Sister’ where she starred with her real life twin sister, Tamara.  I know what you are thinking, most child stars never continue their success as they get older because when they lose their 'cuteness' it turns out they can’t act well enough to purse the career as adults.  And while there are some exceptions to this rule who turn out to be truly gifted at acting, based on this movie, Tia isn’t one of them.

Jen finds out that she has inherited her Great Aunt’s Inn in Chestnut Hill, Alaska.  At the airport she meets attorney Brian Anderson, played by Rob Mayes, who looks like a younger version of Jerry O’Connell.  Brian is rude and condescending to Jen the entire drive from the airport (So I guess they based his character’s personality on real life Jerry O’Connell!) because she might sell the Inn which is an important piece of the town or maybe it's because she never returned his calls . . . who really cares.  The point is that Brian is pretty much a dick.  He’s also a part time attorney and part time sleigh builder (Hey, you gotta diversify these days.  The economy in Alaska is NOT what it used to be.).

After dropping Jen off at the Inn, Brian goes to his mom’s nearby Café where they get a call that the Inn is on fire (Because for goodness sake, whenever there is an fire emergency make sure you call the local restaurant so they will know to make more coffee.).  Brian rushes back to the Inn where he finds out that Jen had tried to use the fireplace without opening the chimney flume causing smoke to fill the building.   While Brian is again being a dick towards Jen because she didn’t know how to use the fireplace properly, she accuses him of being at fault for not warning her the place had been winterized.  To be honest, she kind of has a point.  I’m not sure why Brian wouldn’t pass along this information other than to be a jerk (Classic Brian!!!).  He tells her to go to the local Café to warm up while he takes care of the place.  Come to think of it . . . there never were any fire trucks that arrived . . . . so apparently, when there IS a fire in town they don’t actually call emergency services, they just call the Café and order take out (Smores anyone?).  Either that or the Fire Department only operates in the summer.  Or maybe they are waiting on Brian to deliver some of his hand carved sleighs as transportation and the shipment has been delayed because of all these damned estate issues.

Jen goes to the Cafe and unwittingly complains about Brian to Brian's mother, Molly (Erin Gray).  Since he never mentions that his family actually owns the Café (Again, classic Brian) it's not something she can be blamed for.  Later, back at the Inn, Jen finds some old photos of great aunt Helen and finds her journal.  The next day at Molly’s Café, Jen gets volunteered to participate in the Chestnut Hill Annual Christmas Festival (All small towns have these, it’s Christmas Law!!!).  Jen admits she doesn’t celebrate Christmas nor know how to decorate (What?  How hard is it to hang a wreath or some lights?) and is assigned to run the Gingerbread booth (no decorating required I hope).  She then goes to Brian’s Law Office and Sleigh Emporium where Brian admits there isn’t much money in the sleigh construction business (no kidding).  The paperwork is completed and the Inn is officially signed over to Jen.  She gets a call from her friend who suggests that decorating the Inn might help it sell faster (Sure, if you are trying to sell it to Santa Clause) and Jen agrees.

The next morning some guests show up at her door to stay at the Inn, not realizing that Helen has passed.  Jerry O’Connell Jr shows up, throws some of his usual insults at Jen so she decides to let the couple stay.  Then Jen goes to the Christmas festival where we discover pastry decorating is included in her overall lack of decorating skills (yet she is a sketch artist and Ad executive . . . hmmm).  I can’t recall all the specific details but now Jen and Brian start admiring one another (because of course, since he’s a complete and total A-hole and she looks like she’s 8 months pregnant . . .  why wouldn’t romance ultimately bloom?).  I’ll be honest, at this point in the movie I became so bored that I found myself playing a game on a tablet.  I can unequivocally state that this is not a good sign. 

They make a bet in a local candy cane ring-tossing contest that the loser has to either help decorate the Inn or help build a sleigh respectively.  Amazingly, they tie so they both have to help each other (Even though in the truest sense, a tie would mean no winner and no loser but this method moves the plot along better.).  At this point I just gave up.  I was almost halfway through but couldn’t do it.  The acting wasn’t terrible (It wasn’t good either) but I cared so little about the leads that it didn’t matter to me what happened the rest of the way.  It’s true that this type of movie has a tried and true formula.  When executed properly it works.  When saddled with bad casting decisions and a weak plot it can fail miserably (Case in Point – My Christmas Inn).

This movie even had Erin Gray and I loved Erin Gray ever since 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'.  While she is fine, it’s a side role and mainly inconsequential.  This movie is just bland and uninteresting.  Anyone who is watching this movie because they are a big Tia Mowry fan needs to find something else she’s done or go back and watch some 'Sister, Sister' reruns.  Don’t waste your time.  I give it a 1 out of 5.

Claire Coffee plays Holly Maddux, your typical, every day, lonely, single, hot, blonde, workaholic Ad Executive living in the city.  She may not realize how attractive she really is because everyone at her Ad Agency is equally as stunning to include her best friend Deena, played by Gabrielle Dennis and her assistant Meg, played by Annie Quinn.  And the men aren’t too shabby either as staff photographer Milo, played by Jeff Ward will confirm.  Claire and Milo are both assigned to a big new client who needs a rush campaign by Christmas (which is fast approaching).  As the boss states, they are two of his best employees and both are complete losers with no families or social lives to interfere with them working near the holiday (although Milo does meekly offer up that he has a dog).

So these two single, lonely, attractive coworkers are paired up on the project and we can only fathom to guess where this might lead.  Holly is the typical advertising executive who believes in selling fantasy while Milo believes that fantasy is painfully unattainable and wants to sell a more flawed campaign to the masses.  Deena tells Holly to come to a club that evening where she and her model boyfriend Marcos (Aletza Lopez) will be along with all of the other beautiful people.  Holly invites Milo to go as her plus one but he declines since it’s not really his scene.  Milo is more of the Seattle grunge era dressing, anguished artist, simplistic type of guy (with a dog).  Claire arrives at the club where she meets Deena and then watches Deena’s philandering boyfriend Marcos flirt with other girls behind Deena’s back (I take that back because Deena actually knows about and allows it???).

Feeling along and out of place at the club who should show up but . . . MILO!  Dressed as if he stopped off on his way to Starbucks after a Pearl Jam concert.   This club is the hottest in town but either there is no dress code or the bouncers have a wide latitude on enforcement.  Additionally, he didn’t arrive with Claire but was allowed in anyways.  She tells him to take a selfie to prove he was at the super exclusive Ouvre nightclub but Milo, the professional photographer, can’t accomplish this and ends up with a picture of their hands holding as his phone falls to the floor.  Milo and Claire spend the rest of the night together and he walks her home.  The next day he calls her as she is coming to work because of a great new idea he has she promptly says no (though she hasn’t heard it yet) and he says he’ll wait and tell her when he arrives.  She then promptly slips and falls on the concrete sidewalk in front of a mannequin display of a department store. 

When she comes to, she is immediately greeted by Bo, played by Captain Awesome himself (for those of you who watched the TV series Chuck) Ryan McPartlin.  Claire immediately falls deep into Bo’s dreamy eyes and blindingly white smile.  They flirt and she returns to work where she is all giggling and gushing over Bo to Deena like a smitten schoolgirl.  She gets a call from Bo and he immediately asks her out on date.  One thing I haven’t mentioned so far is that the pair of mannequins in front of where Claire fell is missing the male figure.  These same mannequins have been a focus in many shots and even were admired by Claire and Deena during a prior shopping trip where she wished she could have the perfect man (hint, hint).  I’m not normally at all interested in movies where wax figures come to life but I figured I would give it a chance.

Claire and Bo spend quite a bit of time together (to the detriment of the new ad campaign) leaving Milo to carry much of the workload himself.  Milo is not at all happy with the situation and even expresses it to Deena who by now has caught Marco cheating on her (did she finally put in her contacts and was half blind up until now?) and is close to being single herself.  At this point I can’t help but notice that everyone at this agency is very groomed and well-dressed except for Milo, who would have to upgrade his wardrobe to look as fashionable as the pizza delivery guy (Maybe that’s one reason Claire doesn’t see you as dateable?).  Claire goes to Bo’s large city loft/apartment for dinner (how does a mannequin get an apartment . . . or come up with the money to pay rent?) where for the first time we see things are not perfect when she spills a glass of wine at dinner and he reacts oddly.  Still she seems to be completely enamored and under his ‘perfect’ spell.

At work it is all Milo and Claire, though she is still ignoring most of his ideas, but after it is Claire and Bo to include a surprise visit from Bo and his Parents to her apartment.  Bo’s parents are perfectly delightful to the extreme and the only thing weird about them is when asked what they did for a living and they start making mannequin poses in the dining room (Run Claire . . . just run).  Romantically, Milo is the odd man out although he does give Claire a very heartwarming and sentimental gift of all her project Ads in a 3D Viewmaster.   When Claire and Milo head to their photo shoot for the new Jewelry campaign they find the studio empty and dark as the shoot has been cancelled by Bo.  Claire if furious, she finds and confronts Bo who tells her that he arranged for a world-famous photographer to do the shoot (instead of Milo) but he would only do it at Bo’s place, the photographer’s former studio.  Claire relents and the shoot goes on that evening at Bo’s . . . at least until Bo’s ex (mannequin) girlfriend arrives and trashes the place.  It was a matter of time as there were more shots of the lone, remaining female mannequin in the store window as there were shots of the overall city.

Milo is angry and hurt that Claire used a different photographer.  She apologizes and he tries to salvage what he can from the shoot.  He comes up with the perfect shot for the Ad and sends it to Claire just before the company Christmas Party.  Claire goes with Bo, who has been planning their future life together for a while now including a New Years Trip he springs tonight, while Deena and Milo go alone.  Bo’s crazy, ex-mannequin ex-girlfriend shows up with Deena’s philandering ex-boyfriend Marcos.  Deena convinces Milo go throw caution to the win and go kiss Claire, however Bo steals the moment and delivers a kiss instead.  Milo leaves the party while Claire breaks up with Bo.  She chases him out into the street where she calls to him and then falls in the road on her head again.

Claire wakes up in a hospital room with Milo at her side.  It seems that she had been unconscious for two days and everything that had happened since her original fall was simply a dream (rendering 70% of the movie now completely moot).  Milo had pretended to be her husband so he could stay with her the entire time (I hope he has roommates to take care of the dog).  The doctor tells Claire that she only has a minor concussion but will need to stay 1 more night for observation (Are you f**kin kidding me Doc?  She LOST CONSCIOUSNESS for TWO WHOLE DAYS!!!  That’s a severe concussion by just about any reasonable definition!  Did you get your medical degree from a box of ‘Cocoa Krispies’?).

As you can imagine, Claire is now ‘super’ into Milo and, to no one’s surprise, Milo doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest (or even wonder why).  When Claire finds out that the shoot has already been completed, she is beside herself, she now wants the flawed campaign that Milo advocated.  She gathers the team in her hospital room where she searches for a new image for the Ad.  In doing so she sets Meg up with the Agency Tech guy she has secretly been crushing on and invited a guy from the 5^th floor (who Deena had hit it off with at the fantasy Christmas Party) to bring a flower to Deena.  Of course, this is despite in the real world where Deena and Marcos haven’t broken up (Girl, it was an unconscious DREAM, not a vision of the future shown to you by Christmas ghosts.).  Claire insists they need a new image so they spend hours searching through every image on Milo’s laptop until everyone goes home except Milo.  Even he falls asleep next to Claire on her hospital bed (how romantic) before Claire finds the perfect picture . . . the one of them holding hands at Ouvre.  This becomes the new campaign and our last scene is of them walking down the street, arm in arm and kissing while carolers walk buy (because . . . of course . . . in New York City Christmas Carolers constantly wander around neighborhoods at night like some juvenile street gang marking their territory.)

This movie has two things I hate.  1) Mannequins coming to life (creepy right?) and 2) finding out much of what occurred in the movie is rendered pointless by some time travel or dream sequence.  However, I loved the leads, I bought into their chemistry and who could hate Ryan ‘Captain Awesome’ McPartlin.  I give this a 4 out of 5.

We are quickly introduced to Poppy, played by Nicky Whelan, the owner of a struggling floral shop (I know, a florist named Poppy?  How prescient of her mother.). Through a chance collision she meets Garrett, played by Miles Fisher, the number two employee at Covington Designs.  Covington is the pre-eminent flower shop in all of greater Santa Mesa and Poppy’s chief business competition.  The attraction between the two is obvious even as they go their separate ways (foreshadowing????).  It turns out that Poppy inherited her shop from her grandmother who actually named the shop, Poppy’s Petals, after her granddaughter.  Unfortunately, the shop is underperforming and Poppy giving away free flowers to the elderly (awwwww) isn't helping their bottom line.  They need clients and need them quickly!

Meanwhile at Covington Designs, Garrett is telling his boss and business owner Blaire (Daphne Zuniga) that he expects to be given some stake in the company or he’s leaving.  Eventually Garrett convinces Blaire to let him run the Covington entry into this year’s world famous Santa Mesa Holiday Floral Show.  If he wins, he becomes a partner and if he loses, he does whatever Blaire wants for the next 5 years.  Because of her financial woes, Poppy also enters the competition hoping to earn the incredible grand prize award of $5000 to keep Poppy’s Petals afloat ($5K???  What is that, a few months rent?  Hell, her delivery van breaks down 9 times in this movie.  I’m not seeing it).

Thus begins our adventure.  Guess who just happen to bump into to each other (literally) at the Flower Competition?  No, it’s not Woody and Buzz Lightyear . . . Poppy and Garrett.  Of course, the sparks start right back up from their previous encounter.  Poppy then makes the embarrassing mistake of talking about Blaire Covington TO Blaire Covington (Despite the best efforts of Poppy’s cute and loyal assistant Natalie – played by Julie McNiven).  She also comes to find out that the handsome stranger she talks about to Natalie and herself (i.e. the viewers) is the floral arranger for the Covington Design entry.  We are also introduced to another one of the competition entrants.  It’s a good rule of thumb that if the script bothers to introduce any competitors it’s for a reason.  Sure enough, after the initial judging Poppy, Garrett and the Flower shop owners we met advance to the next round.

At the competition, Garrett finds out about Poppy’s financial troubles and asks his best friend to throw some work her way.  Poppy and Natalie are thrilled about landing a big job from Garrett’s friend.  At the next level of the competition Garrett mentions the referral came from him.  It was subtle and modest and didn’t come across as, “Hey, I just wanted to get my due credit for sending you that work.”  but the end result was pretty much “I just wanted you to know it was I who sent you that work.”   Poppy is touched and appreciative for Garrett’s assistance so . . . who says you can’t buy love anymore?  Garrett convinces Poppy to go out to dinner with him to celebrate making the finals should they both win.  They do, so on to dinner they go.

Garrett arrives at Poppy’s house and is interrogated by Poppy’s father while he waits (Ummm, quick mental note Garrett: your girlfriend still lives at home and she’s probably . . . 30ish?).  He handles the questioning pretty well and exudes just the right amount of charm.  They talk at the house giving us more background on Poppy and her family and then head to dinner.  As prophesied by the Christmas Movie Gods, the dinner is super romantic.  The two leads have very good chemistry and they end the night as all legendary floral couples do, making a flower arrangement (How . . . quaint???).  We also find out Garrett’s background and how his degree is actually in Architecture (are there even degrees in floral design?) and he has been Blaire right hand man for a dozen years.

So, things are going great right?  Not so fast!!!  All this smiling and prancing around the office by Garrett has drawn the attention of Evil Queen Blaire who admonishes Garrett for his lack of attention on the true goal . . . winning the Flower Competition.  I will now interject that I don’t think ANY flower show outside of the one held at Disney World is a big deal.  And take the alcohol away from the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival and you might as well replace it with the North American Barn Painting Championships because no one is showing up.  So, after Blaire lays down her concerns to Garrett he responds essentially with, “Don’t sweat it Mom, it’s all good!!!”.   As you expect, this does not allay Blaire’s concerns.

Two things I learned from this movie is that Flower Show judges aren’t that hard to read.  If they are smiling and nodding at you and each other when they look at your display, you are good to go!  If they are scowling, looking at each other shaking their head . . . all the future flower competition dates you reserved on your personal calendar have just freed up.  The other thing I learned is no matter how confident you are (pay attention Garrett) if your boss is anal and somewhat sour in temperament, being dismissive is simply pulling a pin on a hand grenade – Something bad is bound to happen.  Blaire responds by convincing Poppy that Garrett is secretly in love with and destined to end up with his long-time friend who is her new big client.  Poppy hears this at the client’s event and, to make matters worse, the Grandmother who is the center of the event is allergic to one of the plants she used in her place settings.  Poppy then lashes out at Garrett for not warning her about the allergy.

Poppy refocuses on winning the competition (remember, we’re talking 5 THOUSAND big ones here).    Car trouble causes her to be late and nearly disqualified at the Flower Finals.  Garrett goes to look for her, despite risking his own disqualification, and runs into her (AGAIN) as she enters the setup area.  Garrett professes his innocence, Poppy believes him, he helps her carry in her supplies and they both just reach the contest in time.   During the display creation, Garrett suffers a malfunction that can’t be fixed because all of Covington’s craft materials have been packed up and returned to their vehicles (just go with it).  Despite being his direct competition, Poppy runs over with the required item in just the nick of time for Garrett to complete his arrangement.  This display of good sportsmanship greatly impresses Blaire and her small heart grew 3 sizes that day.

The winners are announced: Poppy wins (SURPRISE!), Blaire fires Garrett (more on that later) and our two leads finally kiss.  The new, kindler, gentler Blaire actually fired Garrett to release him from their agreement (allowing him to go out on his own).  A final scene shows Garrett and Poppy celebrating Christmas together with Poppy’s new bestie, Blaire, stopping by to share the holiday with them.

The story was fine, both leads were charming and had good chemistry.  It was a simple, yet effective story.  I give this a 4.5 out of 5.