A Magical Christmas Village

Agree with the other reviewer. Marlo Thomas's freakish looks were distracting and I found it hard to watch her. She has had more than one too many face lifts. Also agree her character was rude and disrespectful and the whole " just believe was " was very annoying. I found myself wanting to yell at the tv every time Marlo was on screen. Also I have always found her voice annoying.

She was in no way a sympathetic or likeable character. It was impossible to find any redeeming qualities in her character as a mother. Alison Sweeney as always did a marvellous job. It was easy to feel sympathy for her character.

Allison Sweeney and Luke Macfarlane are better than this forced and fairly empty mess. Too easy to solve issues, too sappy and sugary and disgustingly sweet. Hallmark took an outline and filled it in with fluff and nonsense, but no heart. Why does the network feel it necessary to churn out mediocre junk in great numbers rather than make fewer but much better movies? The magic Christmas village was a wasted element that was tossed into the story to provide Christmas Magic? It didn't. I found Marlo Thomas's dated hippy philosophy and preachy tendencies distracting and annoying. (As was her plastic surgery face, especially as I am old enough to remember That Girl). I couldn't wait for the movie to end. It won't be on many Do Not Miss lists next year.

We always watch Alison Sweeney movies because she is such a real, natural actress. We figured the icing on the cake would be to see Marlo Thomas act again after not seeing her since a St. Jude commercial a couple of years back.

Well, Marlo's opening scene in the beginning of the movie was sort of shocking. She obviously saw the Jackson Family cosmetologist for her nose and Goldie Hawn's botox physician - to the point that her appearance distracted big time from what was going on. To Hallmark's credit, though, they gave Marlo a lot to do in this movie.

This wasn't just a couple of scenes for namesake value - she plays a fully developed character with many interactions with the rest of the cast. And, once you get used to her appearance, you realize that Marlo is really quite good. Let's face it and give her credit, this month she turns 85 and she can still give an honest, natural, and interesting performance, which ultimately becomes rather endearing.

As a matter of fact, she has a "show down" scene with Sweeney that is quite excellent and her second meeting with Macfarlane at a market is moving and sweet. Throughout, her scenes with Maesa Nicholson, playing her granddaughter are very well done and, at times, nicely humorous. Nicholson is an impressive young actress.

As far as the story goes, it really kept our interest - an elderly person going broke is not all that uncommon nowadays and the relationship between Sweeney and Macfarlane's characters is nicely developed. As usual, they give really fine performances, particularly Sweeney whose character she seems to be relaxed and comfortable with - so much so that her performance is more multi-faceted and complex than in other Hallmark roles she has been given.

It's not the best new Hallmark this season, but it's still enjoyable and worth a watch.

This was not one of Hallmark's better efforts. One issue is the complete lack of chemistry between Alison Sweeney and Luke Macfarlane. First time I have seen Macfarlane not connect with his leading lady. As someone who has always admired Marlo Thomas and enjoyed her performances over the year, I was disappointed that her role was so quirky and off center. I do not know what is happening over at Hallmark, but the quality of the Countdown to Christmas movies this year have been a disappointment. This film was so slowly paced and at no time did I feel the main characters were a match. I just kept hoping the story would develop, but it never did.

When I saw Marlo Thomas attached to this movie, I was eager to see it. I'm an original Marlo Thomas fan since That Girl back in the 60s. However, her role in this movie didn't work for me, and I believe that was a failure by the writers.

They went for kind of a zany hippy but wise character who was irresponsible but several times promoted the idea that "the universe will make things right". The dialogue simply sounded contrived and delusional.

I also found it painful to watch her. Marlo has done a lot of great things, including continuing to support and promote her father's effort with St. Jude's hospital, but she's also now a cautionary tale for any older woman considering plastic surgery. It doesn't look good on her ... at all. But with the face lift and died hair, they had her playing a role probably 25 years younger than her actual age, and that didn't work well, either.

More on just the movie. Despite us liking the actors in the romantic lead roles, I wasn't sold there. Again, just writers going through the motions rather than selling the characters and the relationships with something deeper than a magical fake pond causing him to suggest ice skating or some very thin dialogue about architecture.

This movie won't be on our rewatch list.