A Sugar & Spice Holiday

The movie starts out so close to the formula. The unethical boss tells Suzy and her competitor that she lied to them. Now they have a time limit to present a proposal and a promotion rides on it. But Suzy says "what about my holiday?" The answer - work at home. Oh and I'll call you every 5 minutes to ask you how you are doing and accept a vague answer. Suzy goes home and gets roped into a contest along with, you guessed it, her old high school male sidekick. She's an architect and he's a toymaker and toy seller, yet they are both expert bakers. Wow, just the setup wears me out.

From there on we get expected results but some of them happen in slightly unusual ways. There's a little twist in the contest, but it's obvious how that will turn out. I was especially surprised by Suzy and Billy's choices which made sense, but endings rarely go that way.

I've said before that you have to consider these movies similar to the fantasy genre in that you can't expect reality. So I'll make these comments, but then dismiss them from consideration even though I found them very irritating. I already mentioned the unethical boss who gives them a ridiculous deadline. Then it's bad enough Suzy gets roped into the contest. She also wastes all kinds of time on other things too. And Suzy makes three big mistakes. We don't see the first one she makes play out until after the other two, but almost anyone can see it coming as soon as Suzy makes the call. The next two are ridiculous. No experienced baker would make the first. No experienced 21st century technical professional would make the second. Another reviewer aptly commented that the consummate professional woman, Suzy, gets a littlie whiny threatening to give up on everything. Like I said, you can't expect any resemblance to reality in these movies.

Acting: Jacky Lai and Tony Giroux give good performances and have decent chemistry. Several supporting actors weren't as good. The contest facilitator reminded me of Mayor Tinsdale on Good Witch for her overacting, but then maybe like Catherine Disher she was supposed to.

This was off the charts good. Everything came together. The two leads had great chemistry and were very cute in their own right. The writing had some depth in that although there were some Asian stereotypes, each character was well developed. It had both comedy and wit. For example, the Maine father had a southern accent because he learned his English from Johnny Cash records. LOLWUT?! There were some clever and amusing extra touches and some straight up comedy thrown in for good measure. I loved that when each new character was introduced, Suzy, our heroine would picture a bakery item which matched their personality and a graphic would appear over their heads.

The bones of the plot followed a usual Hallmark template: Successful hometown girl returns to her small town and has to save something while working on a project that will make or break their career. But the writer and director switched it up and went against the usual clichés in a number of places, especially with Suzy's future career path. It had plenty of heartwarming moments, some tension, and some good life lessons. The romance was sweet and even touching. I loved it. It's is my top 3 this year and top 10 all time. Don't miss it!

The 2020 Lifetime Christmas efforts did vary and often veered between mediocre and slightly above average and were indicative at times of rushed productions. But there were enough of them that were still watchable and more (was pleasantly surprised by some) and were not amateur efforts. Actually think on reflection that the standard was of better quality than 2019's batch. 'A Sugar and Spice Holiday' sounded promising and really appreciated its inclusion of diversity.

Luckily, 'A Sugar and Spice Holiday' turned out to be better than expected. As the review summary indicates, it is not too sugary and has enough spice. It is easily one of the best 2020 Lifetime Christmas films and one of the few to be very good, when most were between mediocre and pretty good as said already. Is 'A Sugar and Spice Holiday' perfect? No, none of the 2020 Lifetime Christmas films are. But the good things are many and the best aspects are very well executed indeed.

Am going to start with the things that are not quite there. Admittedly, it is predictable and some decision making in the final third don't quite make sense and considering the job of the person in question are hard to buy.

Do agree that Suzy is a bit whiney in the final quarter and that the contest facilitator role was a little overacted.

However, a lot of good things are here and they outweigh the not so good. It looks attractive, especially the scenery, and the music has a pleasant and nostalgic quality that doesn't become overdone, over-emphasised or too syrupy. The direction was sympathetic but still gave the film momentum when necessary.

The dialogue is heartfelt, thoughtful and flows well without being self-indulgent or too flowery. The story is charming and moving, and doesn't go down the cheesy or sugary sweet route. So refreshing too in 'A Sugar and Spice Holiday' to have characters that felt like real people and ones that one gets behind in their trials and tribulations, they are also better developed than most in Lifetime Christmas films. There are stereotypes here but they are tasteful ones and are surprisingly well developed. Something not commonly found in recent years Christmas films. The characters have a very natural and sincere chemistry and the acting is very good, great in the case of the two leads.

Overall, very well done. 8/10.

A Sugar And Spice Christmas/Holiday (2020) -

"Teach someone to fish and they will stink, teach them to bake and they will always have sweet treats."

I really enjoyed this film. It was refreshing to have a story featuring an Asian family and some of the traditions of their heritage. They didn't go over the top with it and actually I appreciated that, because it can be too focussed on differences sometimes, but the nods and hints were just a nice change from the usual black or white options available.

And maybe it was because I was on a weird high/come down from forgetting to take my happy drugs, but it just seemed to have the right balance of silliness and seriousness.

Although he wouldn't be classed wholly as a leading man or deemed traditionally gorgeous, Tony Giroux, as Billy, definitely had a charm. As the film progressed, I thought that he was actually very cute and his character was really sweet with a lovely, fun personality.

The leading lady Jacky Lai, playing Suzy, was good too, but I had to wonder if she really NEEDED that promotion or not? They always say that in these films, but then they go back to the most luxurious apartments or spend a fortune flying back and forth between the city and their hometowns, so how poor are they that a promotion is all that can save them?

Suzy's Mother was an awesome character, but some of the supporting artists were a bit questionable, including and mostly those involved in the bake off.

But the Nan in this film was adorable, just like mine and God don't I miss her. We never made cookies together, but as someone that was in my life longer than most of the others, she left a gaping hole. The scenes that the Nan was in really pulled at my heartstrings.

What I really liked was the idea that Suzy might not get everything wrapped up in the end, so I was a little bit disappointed that they did what they did with it, but I would still say that this film was one of the best I've seen from the latest batch of the made for TV Christmas films.

7/10.

It was so cute!! I loved the script and the cast has such great chemistry. What a fun take and I'll admit most Christmas movies are really formulaic and obvious but this one has such a sweet message and great spirit! I'd watch it again and I'll keep my eyes on the leads and keep my fingers crossed they do a sequel!! (Just watched about 2 prior movies with the same sort of storyline but this one was unique enough and I swear the casting was superior to any other)