A Cozy Christmas Inn

This could be just another movie based on one of the more common tropes in Christmas movies. Junior executive, Erika, is dangled a promotion if she can close a deal that involves a former boyfriend. Andy. Meanwhile, the Andy's business isn't doing so well. But that's only all there is to it If you didn't watch the earlier movie, Christmas Under Wraps. This is a sequel of sorts. Candace Cameron Bure's Dr. Lauren Brunell, who was well on her way to having an HEA with Andy at the end of that one now appears to be out of the picture with Andy. The explanation which comes later seems to contradict the CUW story.

Andy and his father are both played by the original actors. And there is still a "family business" that does shipping which a viewer of CUW will understand, wink, wink. If you haven't seen CUW, it would be fun the watch that first.

Erika is subjected to some of the same gags and mysteries as in the earlier movie, but it is still kind of fun to watch her cope. Throw in the rekindling relationship between Andy and Erika. The main tension in this movie is the sale of the inn which is Andy's dream. Erika is obsessed with the parallel to Gift of the Magi. The story gets bound up in it and I think a little too much.

Jodie Sweetin and David O'Donnell have good chemistry. Sweetin does a nice job with this role. The dialogue is decent and so is the acting.

This story would have been great if it had not tried to use the same characters and settings as in Christmas Under Wraps. Made is seem like your love stories are destined to fail. Jodie's character was great and she portrayed it wonderfully. She didn't come off as a power hungry executive. She came off as a caring individual that genuinely cared about other people. Her character with different characters and actors , actresses and settings would have been a great movie. It was wholesome which is different for Hallmark these days, but this one missed the mark. Could have been a nine or ten star movie. Writers should be ashamed. Maybe Hallmark is just running out of material.

This was a bit of a disappointment as I have grown to really like Jodie Sweetin and respect her work. I just ignored the fact that it was a sequel to a Candace C-B romance. It's not a real good idea to give Hallmark fans the idea that Happy Endings may not survive the test of time. It's kind of a buzz-kill.

This one did not survive the initial smell test. Why in the world would an international property developer want to buy a second rate B & B 300 miles north of Anchorage. Huh? And I say second rate, because check out Jodie's hotel room. I think white collar crime federal penitentiaries have fancier rooms minus the king sized bed. The Christmas decorations were ugly and fake.

I didn't like that Andy gave up his lucrative plane taxi service to fail at being an innkeeper. Not very romantic hero-like. The townspeople, especially the café owner were very annoying. Marinating some kind of meat in eggnog? I couldn't get that out of my mind. I like the subtle fun hints that Santa was his Dad. That was well done, if kind of incredible. I also liked that Jody had integrity and didn't push him to sell the place. Although actually not encouraging him to take the money and run was kind of against his best interests. Vivica Fox, her boss, did her job, and looked fantastic.

'A Cozy Christmas Inn' (2022)

Opening thoughts: Hallmark have done a lot of above average and more films and that has definitely been obvious in their 2022 output. 2022 did see quite a number of misfires in pretty much every seasonal block, but there were also quite a few that didn't sound appealing but were better than expected. Have never been one of those people who immediately judges something negatively. Have always seen a Hallmark film knowing what to expect while not expecting too much, but many have met and even exceeded expectations.

'A Cozy Christmas Inn' is a sequel to 'Christmas Under Wraps' (which this viewer did like if not loved) yet with Jodie Swetin rather than Candace Cameron Bure. Will admit to questioning its necessity, as 'Christmas Under Wraps' didn't strike me as a film that needed a sequel and sequels generally don't have good reputations with obvious exceptions. Did still see the film as someone who likes Swetin and as someone who has been pleasantly surprised by several Hallmark sequels. 'A Cozy Christmas Inn' is one of those that didn't work and was very pointless.

Good things: Returning David O'Donnell gives the best, and actually the only good, performance, bringing subtle charisma and easy going charm to the only character to have any degree of likeability.

Did think that the scenery was quite nice.

Bad things: Sadly, the good things pretty much end there. Swetin's performance is rather half-hearted and mailed in, and her character has very little spark. Same with the chemistry between her and O'Donnell, which is very underdeveloped and bland. Meanwhile, the whole supporting cast overact and come over as annoying hammy caricatures. This is including the usually good Vivica A. Fox. The characters are mostly dreary, oboxious or both. The exception is O'Donnell, but even he had a lot more spark before.

Furthermore, the script is weak. Even weaker than that for 'Christmas Under Wraps', much more awkward sounding and the cheese and corn factors are amplified. The music and direction are both drab. The story is too much of a tired rehash, albeit with significantly less charm and heart, very pedestrian pacing and a real over-serious dreariness. The ending is indeed a slap in the face, and undoes pretty much all that happened in the predecessor.

Concluding thoughts: In summary, weak and pointless.

3/10.

Typical Hallmark movie and holiday premise. What was most refreshing was recognizing a local Huntsville, UT business standing in for the Inn. What was even better was seeing real snow (as far as the eye can see and not just in the immediate view of camera), real snow accumulation (and not phony blankets of some white material laid down on sidewalks, shrubs and stairsm etc,), real snowfall (not the Hollywood 'snow' flakes descending from above; I mean really, what does southern Cali know about real snow?) and must admit Sweetin is growing better at the adult roles she plays. 4 star movie that got and extra star for filming during winter and not in summer pretending to be winter.