Operation Nutcracker

The best part of this Hallmark Holiday Romance built around a charity nutcracker theme is the two leads, Ashley Newbrough and Christopher Russell. Lottie and Tristan meet accidentally in an airport and end up on the same flight...one that Tristan wasn't supposed to be on. There ends up being a three-way mix up of luggage that has Tristan loosing a priceless nutcracker set to be auctioned off at a Children's Hospital Charity that Lottie wins the right to plan for Tristan's mother. In true conspiratorial fashion, these two pair up to try and find the missing suitcase via information left in the suitcase in their possession. It does introduce us to the quirkiest character (and the one most likely to get fired) in the guise of the airport lost luggage department. Tristan and Lottie run around the city...not finding the nutcracker...but don't worry everything eventually works out.

The leads are the real treason to watch this one. Their smiles and silliness around fate and the nutcracker are somewhat heartwarming. While not the most romantic, it is filled with holiday color and cheer...and it was nice to see a nutcracker theme. I highly approve.

It's quite tedious to have to hear this over and over again. And when that mantra isn't repeated, it's the ever-present nutcracker that causes quite the stir, but not necessarily in an interesting way .

The beginning of the film is a bit strange, the plot does not flow gracefully and several of the actors lack that little something extra.

Good thing that it is only a TV movie and not the big screen.

Lottie (Ashley Newbrough) is an asset to the movie. The character she plays is however not that interesting, even if Lottie seem to have a bit of unsorted business in her own personal life. Christopher Russell is as usual enjoyable to watch, but is a bit outshined by Ashley's part, which might be intentional.

For some reason I'd love a little more of Rhonda (Cassie Cao). A nice feature in the movie, even if it was for only a few seconds in total.

All together, the TV movie is not bad, not superb, but watchable.

Operation Nutcracker (2024) -

Right from the start I liked the two leads together. Christopher Russell has always been a winner for me anyway and his character of Tristan was another one of his really nice guys. I don't need him to be a hard nose who needs to realise the error of his ways or something similar, I've got 'A Christmas Carol' for that, so this charmer with a heart worked perfectly for me.

I would have to say that the wardrobe department made some odd choices with his shirts though.

Ashley Newbrough was nice as Lottie too. She's definitely one of the better leading ladies in these films, although Lottie was a bit negative about things at times which clashed with her otherwise cheerful personality. And who doesn't know what "Pass The Parcel" is?

She took on the job of event planning for Tristan's families fundraiser with hopes to auction a rare and valuable "Nutcracker" (If that thing was an antique, so is the crumpet I ate this morning) to raise money for a children's hospital ward.

Along the way luggage got mixed up and whilst trying to find the case with the nutcracker in it another subplot unfolded which actually tied in to took Lottie on a journey to find all the right things to make the party the best. Although I was actually quite disappointed with how lacklustre it was when they did finally get there. I've created better events than that. However, the path they took was very Christmassy and with the side story following Dave (Darryl Hinds) and his family's time as well it was at least a tad different to so many others of this film genre.

I must admit that I would like to see more stories revolving around everyday people that don't live in big houses and have lots of money, but I do like these ones that have fancy people in mansions too, they're aspirational in some ways. I may not have much, but I can strive to live a richer life and wanting to do well financially is not something to be ashamed of as long as I can still be happy when my paycheque comes in each week in the mean time. I'd hope to leave a legacy and have benefits all year around too.

I did find it hard to believe that Dave's Daughter Joey (Mia SwamiNathan) was going to be Clara in the stage performance of The Nutcracker that they went to see and I felt that she recovered a overly quickly from her hospital trip too.

And I didn't think that they would be taste testing the day before the event, because the caterer would have been prepping it all by then.

And the Mother, Erica (Jennifer Dale) totally overreacted, even for one of these stories.

I felt that the suggestion of the two leads parents also getting together was a weird way to go too.

And it wouldn't have hurt to use more of Tchaikovsky's nutcracker music.

Based on the huge number of these films that I've seen the rights are probably in the public domain, because I'm always hearing it in one film or another. This one was the perfect opportunity to utilise those wonderful pieces as the two leads searched for the lost "Valuable antique".

Overall though I did like this one. It wasn't the best of any of those involved, but I would like to see Chris and Ashley reunited for other films as their chemistry was enjoyable to watch. It had charm and appeal and other than the few criticisms listed above it did really work. A bit of finesse on the part of the screenwriters to maybe shift the timeline around a bit and a properties manager determined to find only the best items to really wow and it could have been very good.

It won't be at the top of my rewatch list, but it certainly won't be one that I will avoid like the plague as so many of them have been lately.

6.68/10.

I found this movie delightful even though it followed similar lines to other movies where the protagonists are trying to find something throughout the story only to have many near misses. The viewer sees these misses but since it's Hallmark, we know the pieces will all fall in place eventually. I don't think it is a spoiler to say that almost too many things fall into place in happy ways.

Against the backdrop of the search we also have the very common trope of the two romantic leads thrown together to plan a big Christmas event. There is also the secret that the viewer knows will come out a bit too soon and hurt the protagonists. In many ways, this movie might have been a rehash of all the same old stuff, but it wasn't. Or maybe I should say it was so much more. It is fun to watch the near misses and start to imagine how the writers will bring it all together. I think that most viewers will start to come close to figuring it out even if only slightly before it happens.

Ashley Newbrough and Christopher Russell have chemistry and watching them together is part of the fun. The acting is all good and the dialogue has some good moments.

This is one to watch again.

While this Hallmark Christmas story is not overly complicated, it is somewhat original. Fortunately, the two leads look like they could be paired in real life and the scripting allowed for the chemistry to be evident early on, without the usual Hallmark stand-off-ness until the magical last 5 minutes. Therefore, the final kiss was seamless and not just injected into the final minute as so often happens. The usual required conflict was minor and not overdone. I think this was my first cringe-less Hallmark movie.....Christopher Russell was not scripted to act bumbling, stupid or unmanly the entire movie. This is the first time I've watched the female lead....she is very attractive and an engaging actress. She resembled Denise Richards in quite a few scenes. I enjoyed this one from start to finish.