L'Âme sœur de Noël

I enjoyed watching this one, even though I had read the reviews before diving in. Jessy Schram and Chandler Massey are both decent actors, have good chemistry, and I was drawn-in by the tour of Mystic, CT.

The story is lacking, to be sure, but the leads and the scenery make this one an enjoyable watch. The seal isn't the star, but does steal a scene or two. The "made-up Canadian proverb" should become a new trope of this genre.

There is a recent trend where these Christmas movies have basically no stakes. The characters start off liking each other, have very little competition for each others attention or affection, and we are left with kind of a waiting game until they finally get together. It works in this film because the real roadblock is their own awkwardness.

The "big argument" here felt like a missed opportunity to bring the characters together through some heightened emotions, and showing that conflict doesn't always have to be a scary or uncomfortable experience.

All in all, I'd recommend this one. It kept me watching, so it has something going for it.

7.5 stars.

First impression after several minutes of puns, quick witted dry humor, and pithy remarks much too clever for normal humans...this was written by a 'Gilmore Girls' writer. So now I'm looking to see if these writers or director did in fact have any association with Gilmore. And the answer is: nope. To bed with that theory. So if you've seen Gilmore, think of the banter they share back and forth and back and forth ad nauseum and then swap Rory with a shy and hesitant seal loving blond named Juniper (Schram) and trade Lorelai or Melissa McCarthy's character with Juniper's best friend Candice, and then switch one of the more interesting and loquacious men of Gilmore (not Ventimiglia's character who was way too gloomy) with our lead male Sawyer, and that's 'Mystic Christmas' in a nutshell. Come to think of it, now on this soapbox, there were no men in 'Gilmore Girls' with any notable redeeming qualities. I digress.

This will hold your attention mostly, although there are a few slow parts. The leads share a very skittish romance to say the least. They are both frightened of the concept of following through with love or commitment. Question: did the email get sent or not? You will find out, but it's a bit underplayed in my opinion. I liked 'Mystic Christmas', I hope they make a sequel, finger's crossed.

Having seen and enjoyed Jessy Schram in several other Hallmark movies, I was looking forward to this. However, I just couldn't get into this one at all. Her character wasn't particularly bad, but pretty much everyone in every scene talks so fast and frantically that virtual no interactions seemed natural. That was done by basically the whole cast which makes me think that the director told everybody to read their lines really fast. I assume that was supposed to make them all seem really quirky, but again, it just led to almost every interaction feel very unnatural.

Also, the two romantic leads in this acted particularly uncomfortable around each other to the extent it felt like both were back in 6th grade when placed together.

There was also one montage in a bookstore that was supposed to be funny and cute but was really painful to watch.

Ultimately Jessy Schram was just passable in this and everyone else was basically a drag on this film. She has done much better in previous Hallmark films.

As a guy I don't understand why some people don't like this picture.

If you are a fan of the Hallmark movies this should be right up your alley.

They all have the same story line. Guy meets girl, something happens and eventually they end up happily together. Only difference is the time of year.

This happens to be around Christmas time so it has that kind of stuff going on but it's not a Christmas movie say like Where are you Christmas or even Die Hard was lol It is in the other hand a good advertisement for Mystic CT because it showcased some of the best parts of the town and if you didn't notice it's a great little village well worth visiting.

So as far as another Hallmark movie that my wife always seems to have on tv I really enjoyed watching this one and would watch it again.

I'm not quite sure why "Mystic Christmas" isn't rated more highly.

I had no illusions going in. I expected another standard Hallmark Christmas rom-com, but I was very pleasantly surprised! This one is a little different.

The main character Juniper Jones (Jessy Schram) is an introvert. We're not talking "a little shy" like some of Hallmark's blushing maidens. We're talking full-on avoidance of human interaction whenever possible. Finally! A character I can relate to!

The writing includes some very rapid-fire, very funny dialogue. I often had to back up my recording to make sure I heard what I thought I did: "How come everyone had a better time at my wedding than I did?!?" "Because you had a terrible date." "Oooh!" "Sorry." At this point, I knew I was onto a winner!

If you have a sense of humor, give "Mystic Christmas" a shot. It had me laughing out loud in less than 5 minutes!