A Magical Christmas Village

Allison Sweeney and Luke Macfarlane are better than this forced and fairly empty mess. Too easy to solve issues, too sappy and sugary and disgustingly sweet. Hallmark took an outline and filled it in with fluff and nonsense, but no heart. Why does the network feel it necessary to churn out mediocre junk in great numbers rather than make fewer but much better movies? The magic Christmas village was a wasted element that was tossed into the story to provide Christmas Magic? It didn't. I found Marlo Thomas's dated hippy philosophy and preachy tendencies distracting and annoying. (As was her plastic surgery face, especially as I am old enough to remember That Girl). I couldn't wait for the movie to end. It won't be on many Do Not Miss lists next year.

Summer is an architect and a single mother who is busy busy busy. She is all about fixing things, control, rules and organization. She doesn't have time for a serious relationship, and plus she just hasn't felt that "spark" yet. She is kind of forced to take her hippy dippy mother in, (Marlo Thomas) when her lover leaves town and sells the house she has been living in.

Her mother, Vivian, is the exact opposite of Summer. She believes in living in the moment and letting "the universe" guide her life. Plans Schmlans. Because of her lifelong irresponsibility, she is in a financial mess, without enough money to live on. Luckily Summer and her other daughter, April, provide a safety net. But to my irritation, that does not stop her from nagging Summer about her overly planned out life which has stopped her from living freely, finding love, and stopping to smell the roses. All while living in Summer's home, on her dime, one step away from homelessness.

The irony is that Summer is the way she is because of Vivian's unstable parenting. It is revealed that *16 year-old* Summer had to go to the bank and set up a payment plan after 6 months of living without electricity because Vivian just couldn't be bothered to pay the bills after her husband died. Throughout most of the movie, Vivian thinks she is some kind of wise shaman with all of the answers, which is far far from reality. I was not a fan.

The main story is about how the two women learn from each other and learn to find a happy medium. The charming Luke Macfarlane provides the Love interest and he has great chemistry with Allison Sweeny, which, TBH, I was kind of surprised about.

Their happy ending, and to a lesser extent, the rapprochement between Summer and Vivian is guided by the Magical Christmas Village that Vivian sets up at Summer's house. Summer's daughter starts to move the figurines around and soon figures out that she is also guiding the footsteps of people in real life as she does so. It was a cute concept if you ignore the horror movie aspects to it. This was pretty good, despite the fact that I hated Vivian's guts through most of it.

As staples of Hallmark movie casts, Sweeney and Macfarlane deliver solid acting and are the draw for the movie. It's great to see Marlo Thomas in a supporting role that is actually more developed than Luke Macfarlane's (which is unfortunate). Yes the plastic surgery is a distraction at first, but she's looking pretty darned good for 85! I really want to rate the movie higher because of these actors, however it just feels there's something missing in all the other characters' development.

There are plenty of choices each year for new Christmas movies. A Magical Christmas Village is entertaining enough to be worthy of 90 minutes of your attention and should make the cut.

We always watch Alison Sweeney movies because she is such a real, natural actress. We figured the icing on the cake would be to see Marlo Thomas act again after not seeing her since a St. Jude commercial a couple of years back.

Well, Marlo's opening scene in the beginning of the movie was sort of shocking. She obviously saw the Jackson Family cosmetologist for her nose and Goldie Hawn's botox physician - to the point that her appearance distracted big time from what was going on. To Hallmark's credit, though, they gave Marlo a lot to do in this movie.

This wasn't just a couple of scenes for namesake value - she plays a fully developed character with many interactions with the rest of the cast. And, once you get used to her appearance, you realize that Marlo is really quite good. Let's face it and give her credit, this month she turns 85 and she can still give an honest, natural, and interesting performance, which ultimately becomes rather endearing.

As a matter of fact, she has a "show down" scene with Sweeney that is quite excellent and her second meeting with Macfarlane at a market is moving and sweet. Throughout, her scenes with Maesa Nicholson, playing her granddaughter are very well done and, at times, nicely humorous. Nicholson is an impressive young actress.

As far as the story goes, it really kept our interest - an elderly person going broke is not all that uncommon nowadays and the relationship between Sweeney and Macfarlane's characters is nicely developed. As usual, they give really fine performances, particularly Sweeney whose character she seems to be relaxed and comfortable with - so much so that her performance is more multi-faceted and complex than in other Hallmark roles she has been given.

It's not the best new Hallmark this season, but it's still enjoyable and worth a watch.

This was not one of Hallmark's better efforts. One issue is the complete lack of chemistry between Alison Sweeney and Luke Macfarlane. First time I have seen Macfarlane not connect with his leading lady. As someone who has always admired Marlo Thomas and enjoyed her performances over the year, I was disappointed that her role was so quirky and off center. I do not know what is happening over at Hallmark, but the quality of the Countdown to Christmas movies this year have been a disappointment. This film was so slowly paced and at no time did I feel the main characters were a match. I just kept hoping the story would develop, but it never did.