Candy Cane Christmas

I found the story in this movie to be unremarkable. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those Hallmark/Lifetime haters on here, who constantly complain about this genre of film. For the most part, I enjoy such films, see my other reviews. But this one was, simply put, hard to stay engaged with; I had to stop myself on several occasions from using my iPad, multitasking. I had a similar experience to another reviewer in this regard, which was I found it difficult to invest in/bond with the characters. I think this is due mostly to some weak writing, as the acting was decent. Mark Ghanimé's performance (as Eric) was good; he had a soft confidence to his performance on screen, which was pleasant. I spent many hours during the late 90s watching 7th Heaven, so it was nice seeing Beverley Mitchell (as Phoebe) on screen again. Her performance was pretty good. The chemistry between the two was OK. I see some reviewers on here thought it was good, while others did not. It was not great, but it was believable. I think that is the best way to describe it. Some of the scenes between Phoebe and Eric seemed to drag on a bit too much...but again I think this is a product of some weak writing as opposed to the acting. Overall, it was an OK Christmas movie that I will not watch again.

The main female character in this movie looks like she has a permanent sneer on her face. Not a enjoyable film at all and a very blah storyline. Male lead was more palatable as was the aunt.

There is way too much awkward in this movie. Too many conversations between Eric and Phoebe go that way. Then there is the blind date dinner at Phoebe's friend's house. And the two dates with the cartoonist are epic fails.

There's not much chemistry between Mark Ghanimé and Beverley Mitchell. As I already mentioned, uncomfortable conversations seem to be the norm. And this movie falls into the trap of not giving the leads enough screen time. Also there are too many conversations with friends about whether the prospective love interest is available. It's fully 2/3rd or more of the movie before Eric and Phoebe actually have a decent time together. I think all this is supposed to be humor, but it takes too much away from the romance.

The climax is sweet but mostly predictable.

This was a bit of a snoozefest. The two leads had very little chemistry. In fact it was awkward at times, even when the romance was starting to take off!! For me, the biggest issue was the female lead. She just isn't a great actress, at least not in this movie. I recognize she has been in some roles in the past that might make her somewhat a recognizable face, but this is the only role of her's that I have seen and I am not impressed. Frankly I'd rather have a better actress that was unknown.

All in all, one of the worst Hallmark Christmas movies I have seen, and I have seen and enjoyed lots of them!

I love hallmark movies and the predictability of them. But this was so horrible. Why is the leading woman so insecure? After all the misunderstandings, she still chose overreacting rather than finding out the truth? If it wasn't for the leading man, I wouldn't have finished this movie.