A Kismet Christmas

This was the story of an author who goes back home to New Britain where we learn in a fit of rage she tore up a special family recipe as a teenager.

She is having trouble writing the next book in her series and her next door neighbor and childhood crush helps her by shutting her up in a cabin with no distractions to write and it works...only the start of their story is they were friends and she baked kismet cookies with her grandmother that are supposed to help you dream of your soulmate...she asked her grandmother for one and she told her no, but she took one anyway. She dreamt of the neighbor and when she ran over to tell him she interrupted his wedding to someone else. In a fit of rage she came home and in front of her grandmother tore up the complicated recipe. (I would have beat her silly!)

When she arrives back in town after all these years the neighbor has a daughter and is divorced?!?!

There are so many things that I didn't like about this film...I love Marilu Henner, who was her usual wonderful self and I enjoyed the idea or legend behind the kismet cookie. The rest I could do without. Not a recommendation from me. Carlo Marks Is also fabulous.

This one was a bit careless with some questionable plot points. I was hopeful and curious to see Sarah Ramos, because I remember her as Lauren Graham's daughter on Parenthood. Carlo Marks usually gives a likable performance.

Sarah is a best-selling children's author who has to return to her hometown to reward the winner of a contest promoting her new book (which she is having trouble finishing.) It turns out the little winner is the daughter of the boy next door she had a teenage crush on. After humiliating herself by bursting into to his wedding declaring her love, she has never returned. Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing.

Here's the first problem. Her beloved grandmother Mia (Marilu Henner) still lives in the house across the street. Are they telling me Sarah never went home to visit her when she is supposed to be so devoted to Granma Mia? A return to a hometown after years and years, only works if you don't abandon your family in the process.

She meets Travis and gets to know his little girl,(who hugs everyone all the time. I've never seen such a huggy little girl) and a rekindled romance ensues. But where is the wife? Is she dead? Divorced? On vacation? On a break? I was expecting her to pop up any minute. We find out after half the movie is over and a lot of flirting has gone on that they are divorced, but she travels with her band a lot.

What did that boring bear story have to do with anything?

And why did Grammy stop making the beloved Christmas cookies again? She taped up the recipe after Sarah ripped it up. When Sarah wanted to test out the magic and made 12 "Kismet" cookies, how could there have been "a line out the door" for them? Especially when 4 were already spoken for.

Also, there was a fake conflict at the end which was more fake than usual and made no sense. Why did Sarah run away when Travis suggested she stay in New Britain solve the house going out of the family problem and explore their relationship? There was no reason. Her agent points out the obvious that she already knew and crisis averted. At least it was short in duration.

7.2 stars.

I like these two leads working together, and was relieved that they have good chemistry. The first and most important requirement was met. Marks can keep a sub-standard movie afloat (not saying this movie is sub-standard) with his charm and kills, and Ramos actually holds her own. They both have great screen presence, and with the addition of chemistry, I could tell this movie was going to at least be average. Once again Hallmark rarely fails to meet basic standards.

The second requirement is entertainment value (EV), or maybe this is the first and most important requirement, I'm not sure. I suppose good chemistry and entertainment value go hand in hand. This film has decent EV, which surprised me because it starts out kinda sluggish. The first 30 minutes did not inspire me much.

As the enchantment builds, it's easy to invest more expectation that it will continue to improve and give us a magical ending.

One huge observation which is probably a source of some minor disappointment in the HM films: the parents are always dead and gone. Why do these protagonists never have parents? It's as if all these movies are made for a foster child generation (if that is a thing). Are 100% of our HM audience foster children, or adults who grew up in the system, or have single parents? It's so unrealistic, and overdone, the writers should take a break from that routine.

Ok, all that aside, I'm not buying this story. If these two were soulmates from the start, why did he marry some other woman? I'm not satisfied with the writer's half-hearted attempts to patch up this obvious disparity.

To wrap this up, the conclusion brought us back full circle to the theme: magical cookies. So it's a fairy tale of sorts, and that's fine, and the final romantic scene was tidy.

This was a disappointment throughout. Marilu Henner raises the question of the producer's judgment . Hallmark taps some former stars who become distractions due to extreme plastic surgery. Although a talented actress, like others Hallmark chooses, the close ups on the surgically altered facial structure is, at best, unpleasant but at worse, frightening. It is past time to cease and desist from this practice. Besides this, the plodding and unsustainable story line drags on. There were just too many of the cringe moments. One is enough but this seems to be on cringe steroids. A better cast, no "Frankenface" and sharper writing is needed.

Ok so from the ads I new that I'd like this one, but I'm surprised at how much.

First, I do really enjoy Carlo Marks. Something was wonky with his hair in this and it was distracting me, but he turned in a solid performance. He played a great single father without being too much and still a good romantic lead.

Here is where my surprise lies. Sarah Ramos. I whole heartedly disliked her on Parenthood. I found myself searching for reasons to dislike her in this. And to be fair, she gave me very little other than some nitpicky moments. Unfortunately the last scene was one of them, but overall I was pretty impressed. I think Hallmark may have a new actress here (hopefully not too used) but she is is nice looking without being gorgeous, can play hardworking, quirky, family oriented etc.

The daughter- typically the HM children are far too overly precocious. Did she have her moments? Definitely, but it didn't seem nearly as bad (I'm looking at you boy from bramble house). Her hugs were pretty darn bad but most of it was pretty good and didn't distract me!

I really loved the town used. The pretty staircase and 2 levels really made me feel like I was there and made for some scenes that appeared to have a higher production value that some movies. I got irked that the main house was supposed to be the grandmothers great grandparents home and it was definitely not that old- there was nothing historical or old world charm about it. It's a pretty cookie cutter house that may be a bit older but no way is this turn of the century let alone before.

Marilu Henner- obviously who doesn't love her! Also perfectly cast as Sarah Ramos's grandma. I enjoyed this casting. I needed a bit more of some background here for later scenes.

The agent is a bit much at the beginning but there always has to be that person and it calmed down and was much more realistic by the end.

I liked the grandmas friends and how their story fit in without being too much hit it also wasn't just thrown in for something.

Without spoilers there were a few things script wise that should have been changed and a few scenes that should have been reshot as the acting was much worse than the majority.

But I liked the story. I liked the acting. Overall pleasantly surprised with this one.

While it's 10/10 it's also not one I'd be eager to watch again. But I would watch it again. Give me a Carlo Marks and Bethany Joy Lenz movie now please!