A Gift Wrapped Christmas

28 December 2016. It's not often that one really experiences the truly appealing, captivating, and probably too perfect to be true Christmas character, but A Gift Wrapped Christmas offers up one adorable gift in the form of Meredith Hagner as Gwen, a Meg Ryan-like super personality that shines. In the true entertaining tradition of holiday movies, this one is all about the happy female Christmas spirit charming the sad, dour, and back to business male executive with young son who often ignored.

The storyline is simple to the point of mind-less, meaning while the movie has a message, it's a singular sensation. It is a sense of enjoying life without having to overthink it and bask instead in the creative flourish, risk-taking, and colorful and tasty zest for life along with being sensitive and really aware of the human beings around you. The pass it forward philosophy and force is strong in Jedi Gwen.

The humor is light and sprinkled with good cheer but never outrageously so. The conflict, mildly depressing, but not long lasting, leading to the conclusion that facing up to the unknown and possible pain, is certainly worth the risk in the long run. Hoping your wish for the Gwen experience comes true for you too.

We have been flooded with tv Christmas movies since the beginning of October. Most I would switch off after 5-10 minutes but this one was different. The storyline was nothing out of the ordinary but Meredith Hagner's sparkling performance as the hired Christmas shopper stood out and lifted the entire movie to a higher level. She has that touch of magic possessed by the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Emily Blunt.

Writing skill, casting and chemistry between the main characters (with efforts from the supporting cast) make or break these generally formulaic Lifetime/Hallmark holiday films.

It is very interesting to me that many of these efforts, with similar small budgets, vary so widely in quality.

This recent made for TV production clearly didn't have the budget of the long ago big studio holiday films. Once upon a time, these had "A" list stars and the very best supporting actors in Hollywood. But, after all this is a made for TV production. So, direct comparisons are unfair.

My opinion is that the writers are not so much mediocre as...restrained.

However, mix some charisma and a little chemistry and reasonably witty writing together and you get a watchable story.

This one does better than average. It shows off Meredith Hagner at her best (perhaps by pushing other characters into a vanilla background).

This seems to be a "hallmark" of the Hallmark films. The female protagonist gets the lion's share of the story and the rest of the cast (with a few exceptions) fades into the scenery very quickly.

That would be the big diff between the holiday films of the past and those of the Hallmark channel. These current supporting actors are short-changed both in screen time and vibrancy of characterization.

Having said that, this is one of the better attempts.

Seen this a couple of times and still love it. The chemistry is so natural. Gives you a very warm feeling.

If you are a sucker for sappy movies as many romantics are then this film is right up your alley. The story is based upon a widower dad and business man named Charlie who is played by Travis Milne. Milne previously starred in the TV police drama series Rookie Blue. Charlie is attempting to balance his work and personal life as he runs a busy company and also raise his 7 year old son named Owen. Owen is played by Anthony Bolognese who is starring in his first film but based on his strong and adorable performance in A Gift Wrapped Christmas he will be kept busy for at least the next few years as he grows into a young man.

Now Charlie has a girlfriend named Victoria played by Anna Van Hooft who will infuriate the audience with her focus on business and lack of any empathy for the relationship between widower Charlie and his son Owen. All Owen wants for Christmas is to go tobogganing with his dad but Victoria wants to push her own agenda of lying on a sun filled beach with Charlie and just let little Owen go play in the sand to leave the adults alone to discuss her self centered business agenda and her strategy to rule the business world. As for little Owen's dream for a white Christmas and tobogganing on a snow filled hill, Victoria is playing Scrooge and buys airline tickets to the sunny south, so she really comes across as Mrs. Scrooge.

The main focus of the film is a professional personal shopper named Gwen played by Meredith Hagner, who has a special knack of picking out just the right gifts for all of her clients. What is missing from Gwen's life though is as she continues to make everyone happy around her she is not focusing on herself and as a result she is planning to be lonely this Christmas holiday.

As events would happen the stars align and Gwen sets out on a course to not only make Charlie and his cute little son Owen happy this Christmas but she also intends to try and make her own Christmas special this year. The film is very light viewing and romance abounds as Charlie and his personal shopper get to know each other better as Christmas draws near. It is a sappy film but will help put the viewer in a Christmas and romantic mood.

I give the film a 7 out of 10 rating.