Gingerbread Miracle

Instead of "save the store," in this one we have "sell the store." Don't worry, with Hallmark no store is ever allowed to be sold, they are all saved, so we'll just get that out of the way right now. The cheery Merritt Patterson is a freelance lawyer who is trying to re-establish her career in the big city after a bad breakup sent her back to her hometown. The glum and sinister-looking (but nice) Mexican baker (I thought all bakers were jolly?) and proprietor wants to retire, so he asks her, a trusted friend, for help in finding a buyer for his bakery. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? However, his nephew, a big city lawyer, visits for Christmas and wants to horn in. I found him very out of line, pouty and whiny to boot. He doesn't like being a lawyer and wants to be a baker instead, but instead of having the guts to do something positive about it, he tries to put the kibosh on the sale of the bakery. Rude.

Merritt and Alex, the nephew, have a history of mutual crushes on each other, bad timing, and communication problems as teens. As adults, the reboot of their romance goes pretty well, and they do have some chemistry. Alex is very attractive and once he got over himself and Merritt realized that she was happy in her hometown rather than re-joining the rat race, all proceeded to the usual conclusion despite the appearance of a handsome French patisserie owner.

There was also some magical gingerbread involved but it was more of a superfluous gimmick than a miraculous gamechanger. It was cute though. I also enjoyed the Mexican Christmas customs. All in all, this was perfectly pleasant, but nothing really special.

It's above average then the normal hallmark Christmas films. It's a little slow at Times and does drag on but it's overall a cute Christmas film. Tho I wish there was more to the Christmas wishes and not so much on the romance.

The story had some interesting threads although the major premise of the leads working together to sell a family business is fairly common. The acting was good. There were a couple of interesting holiday traditions that haven't been done in Hallmark Christmas movies. The dialogue was good, but not sparkling. The overall story was mostly predictable with little tension and no great highs or lows.

The chemistry between Jon-Michael Ecker and Merritt Patterson was OK, but again, not outstanding.

I'm prejudiced when it comes to Merritt Patterson and I thought she did well in this role. Maya was very upbeat and easy going.

It is great to see different celebrations and cultures, I am so happy this movie shows that. It's a heartwarming Christmas movie like all the others, but there is nothing wrong with the usual loveliness of Hallmark Christmas movies. Predictable but so enjoyable and sweet.

This movie was pleasant to watch. I might have given the movie itself, based on plot and characters, a "6". However, part of what bumped it up for me to a "7" rating was the presentation of some aspects of Hispanic culture at Christmas time of which I was unaware. (I have to trust that they were accurately portrayed.) Another engaging aspect was the role and portrayal of the family's patriarch -- a very interesting character.