A Cookie Cutter Christmas

Erin Krakow is an actress that I never herd of until this year. I saw her on another Christmas Hallmark Film and I thought she was very good. The film I first saw her in was "Finding Father Christmas" and that was a nice little film. So when I put on this film " A cookie Cutter Christmas" I pleasantly surprised to see her again.

What I love about this actress is that she plays a nice "Girl Next Door" and you would want to be friends with her. In this film she plays a teacher that you wish you had growing up.

In this film Erin plays Christie Reynolds. Christie has been competing with fellow school teacher Penny in just about everything and have since they were young kids. One thing leads to another for them and before they know it they end up competing against each other once again on a cookie making contest!

At the same time, both teachers are showing interest in a student's single father. their competitive spirit rises to a higher and more desperate level.

This film is pleasant to watch. It has a nice warmth to it. I will watch it again someday. I recommend this film to all people who love a little romance around the holidays!

The friendship of two young girls develops into a deep-seated rivalry that festers over twenty years. They become elementary teachers who are always trying to one-up each other.

The action revolves around a school-sponsored baking contest that, somehow, drags over three days. As they keep their eyes on the winning cash prize, they become interested in an attractive, unattached man who moves into town with his daughter.

I found the early going in this Hallmark holiday romance to be tame and plodding. And the story offers no surprises. You might call it "cookie cutter."

The acting is actually okay, though the central character, Christie, is played by Erin Krakow as perhaps too subdued. Christie is a gentle spirit and likable, but this script could have used more energy. However, the final act of the film is satisfying, even touching. And Krakow shines in those concluding scenes.

There is one scene in this movie that makes it worth watching despite its problems. Or better yet, when it comes up again on TV, fast forward to around the last 45 minutes.

Two elementary school teachers have been engaged in a rivalry since childhood when one horned in on the other's song solo. Whatever one does, the other one has to better it. Each cannot stand the other to be in the spotlight. It's fairly harmless until a handsome widower with a daughter comes to town. The story is mostly told through Erin Krakow's character, so we know that she is the one we are supposed to root for with the actresses trademark sweet, gentle, sincere demeanor. Despite her questionable behavior throughout, we know she is a good person at heart. Her rival is effectively played by Miranda Frigon best known for playing the grumpy police chief in the Aurora Teagarden mysteries.

Skipping to the scene in question. Miranda has invited all of the festival (there's a festival) volunteers to a party at her home and is forced to invite Erin ("Your invitation will be *shoved* in your In-box") Miranda is very proud of her singing ability and announces that she is going to favor the group with her solo rendition of Silent Night, snagging the handsome widower to accompany her on the piano. She has no shame, but as soon as she starts singing Erin starts sneaking up to her side as if she is under the Confundus charm and joins in. I'm like, "Oh no she is not going to...." But she did! Silent Night gets louder and louder as the two try to drown each other out, to the total befuddlement of all the guests, and the horror of Erin's mother. When they get to the last line "When Chri-ist was born", "Christ" comes out so loudly and aggressively as each of them vie for supremacy, that it's almost sacrilegious. Then Miranda ends with a pose like she is the Madonna cradling Baby Jesus in her arms. It is the most irreverent and intentionally funniest performance I have ever scene in a Hallmark movie.

It provides the turning point in Erin's journey. She walks out of the party with her deer-in-the-headlights look thoroughly shocked at her own behavior. She has finally gone too far. After some skullduggery on Miranda's part to get through, the two former friends make up, and Erin gets her man.

I love me some Hallmark holiday moves. I can't tolerate this one. Two catty, unlikable women competing over the new dad in town. I assume you're supposed to like the lead actress because she's the "nicer" of the two? But she's just as pathetic as the nastier one, meeting the new dad once and immediately setting her desperate sights on him. That is literally the whole plot of this movie. No charming romanticism that develops over two hours. Nope. Just that a single hot guy shows up, and the ladies pull out their claws. Oh, and the hot dad's "job" is running a nonprofit goodwill type ramshackle empty storefront for needy people. Ugh.

I am assuming this was written by someone who has never actually advanced beyond 8th grade or assumes no one in the audience has. In fact, if you made the leads 14 years old, it still isn't believable. There is little chemistry and two women who have no idea how to read any situation. If I were left alone with either of the two female leads, I would be hard pressed not to resort to violence to escape. The idea that people leave their children in their charge is laughable. I love most of the Hallmark Christmas movies but this one is just awful