Noël, l'Amour et le Hasard

Bickerimg Kate and Kevin each receive keys on their doorsteps along with cryptic poems. They must decipher the poetry to see where the keys lead.

I had hoped for of a mystery story. You know, they find a hidden stairway in Kate's new house starting a treasure hunt through town to . . . Well, that's for the writers to decide. But along the way they learn to depend on each other. Not a mystery full of blood and corpses, but with quaint old secrets that need to be aired in time for Christmas.

Personally, I'm sick and tired of the "dark side" in movies and TV and novels. Whenever anything is described as dark I avoid it.

On the other hand, I don't care for sweet and cuddly and innocuous. I had high hopes for a sort of Nancy Drew for adults.

I like a good mystery-romance between equal boy/girl sides who learn to trust and depend on each other, but this isn't so much a mystery as two independent people learning to open themselves to helping others and inviting others into their worlds. And each other, of course. "Giving back" as the modern phrase goes, coined by people who think that sort of behavior never occurred to anyone in human history before they happened along. Well, this thing is based on a novella by a woman who writes that sort of book. Look her up, if you like this. She's churned out dozens.

But don't expect a mystery in any conventional sense.

Fortunately, the giggly girls (one a doctor; I don't think I'd want to go to a giggly doctor) are very pretty. It's nice, but not enough in itself. Other viewers describe the guy as cute (whatever happened to the word "handsome?") But I'm no judge of that. He leaves me as cold as an icicle.

Christmas related quests are the latest thing. That's pretty much it for story except for where the quest comes from - many or even most viewers probably figured that out early. There are no great highs or lows and zero tension except for "greener grass". The conflict is manufactured and a bit clumsy based on the usual misunderstandings. I will give points for the ending being a slight role reversal in terms of grand gestures.

The leads, Kate (Taylor Cole) and Kevin (Steve Lund) are lead through a few Christmas activities leaning towards doing good for others. Many reviewers thought they had great chemistry but it seemed average at best to me.

This movie is OK and will appeal more to viewers who haven't watched dozens of similar ones already this year.

I usually like Taylor Cole and orSteve Lund movies but this felt rushed with zero chemistry between the stars. A shame asi expected more. It's not unwatchable but it isn't redeeming in anyway.

If that's what passes for flirty banter these days I'll be surprised if anyone ever gets together.

I couldn't tell by Steve Lund's face that he was going for flirtation. It looked weirdly hostile and aggressive. If I ran across this at a coffee shop and doctor's office, that would be the last time that I spoke to him.

Come on, writers! Haven't you ever flirted with a stranger that you found attractive? No? Can you ask someone who has?

Taylor Cole and Steve Lund do a great job with what they are given, but the writers have really let them down on this one, The leads have good chemistry together but the story is weak, there aren't any interesting subplots, which makes the makes the pace seem slow, and the script doesn't really allow for any romantic connection to grow. You can see the possibility for romance in many scenes, and you're thinking any second now, but due to the writing, it just never happens. Lund's character remains aloof for nearly the entire movie. Luckily Cole and Lund are entertaining and fun to watch, so it's worth watching just to see these two work.