The Christmas Thief

Great, fun, seasonal movie! I really enjoyed it. Wouldn't mind adding it to my collection. I would really like to read the book. Granted, it wasn't a murder mystery, it was still a mystery. A little bit predictable, too- but not the entire time.

Michelle Borth has long dreamed of being a private investigator. A year ago she quit her job at an insurance agency to solve crimes. She has succeeded in finding a lost cat -- and been paid in cookies. She interviews with Vivica Fox for her 'tec agency, and then it's off to her typical Hallmark Channel hometown, where homeowners apparently clear the snow off their frost-covered lawns, if not their bushes. She is intrigued by a series of robberies, and distracted by her old boyfriend, Leigh Foster, and Jarrid Masse, the handsome detective investigating the crimes. She develops her own theories, and wrangles with Masse.

So it soon becomes apparent this is a Christmas-themed romantic comedy wrapped inside a mystery, or perhaps the other way around. It's a pretty good mystery, with several people dressed as Santa, particularly Tom Lally; I was surprised by who the villain was. But the characters are pretty generic. Even though that's not a terrible thing in classic mysteries, in Hallmark romcoms, my impulse is to say if you've seen one, you've seen them all.

I'm guessing this movie is aimed at the whole family including children since it lacks any subtlety and the PI wannabe, Lana. Is anything but inconspicuous not to mention clumsy. Detective cliches abound like the one at the start with Lana trying to channel Sherlock Holmes with her "deductions" regardless how accurate or inaccurate she may have been. The cliché terminology in the dialogue is even worse than the stereotype roles. Then there is the sting operation. I don't know which is more stupid - that the thief would "toy" with them or using real valuables as bait.

Even though I don't like many of them, Halmark Movies and Mysteries' Signature Mysteries are a definite step up in quality from this movie. Besides quality, another big difference is that this is a one shot movie, so any romance must be accomplished in 84 minutes and that with two candidates for Lana's affections.

The acting is fair to poor unless you adjust for aiming at a younger audience. Likewise the dialogue.

I figured out the theif fairly early but based more on what I know about this kind of story. The clues do build up over time.

Admittedly this, like several Christmas mysteries on Ion, is not the usual Hallmark Christmas Saturday night. It's probably family safe. But that's not enough. For a kid safe movie I might give it 7 or 8 stars. I'm not a kid and no longer watch with any.

I thought the acting was horrible and boring. Couldn't make it all the way through this mess. It started out bad and got worse from there. Watch at your won peril.

I think this is a lovely movie that can be watched with the whole family, and is just fun to watch. I wish the chemistry between Lana and Nick was a bit more obvious and they had more scenes to connect and maybe even a bit more of Lana and her nephew but as a whole, I really enjoyed it. Michelle is one of my favourite actresses and I enjoyed seeing her in this role.