Sur la route du père Noël

Here we have two girls on a road trip who keep running into ..... Santa Claus? Well, Kris Kringle, anyway.

He continues to detour the two girls in a way that might have been creepy if you didn't have the comfort of knowing you're in a Hallmark movie.

The two girls keep running into and traveling with the same two guys, one of whom, Cory Sevier, was in one of our favorites from last year, Noel Next Door. He was great in that movie, but was given much less to work with here.

Separately, each of the parts of this movie are charming and friendly. Placed end to end, they don't make a compelling story.

The characters took us on an arduous trip to a few Christmas towns where the ultimate payoff was for Cindy Busby to place her dead grandmother's ornament on the town Christmas tree - and the tree looked like it was decorated with toilet paper. Because who doesn't want to take a beloved ornament and leave it behind in a town you'll never see again. Santa did the usual annoying habit of inserting ho-ho-ho's into every sentence he spoke. The friend's new boyfriend sometimes appeared as though he could not hide his disdain that he was actually trapped in this movie and physically he was too small to fit the friend's stature. There were too many demands of the viewer to use willing suspension of disbelief to get through most of the scenes. None of the characters were charming or engaging or delightful enough to keep the viewer interested. Feel free to skip this one - you won't miss anything.

Everything Christmas was a real mixed bag for me. I thought it started out quite well with the over the top Christmas loving Busby and her level-headed friend played by Katherine Barrell on a buddy road trip to the town of Yuletide Springs. They break down and shortly after are helped by a man who resembles Santa in body and spirit. From there are a series of coincidences and almost magical experiences that lead them to believe that he might be the real thing. Oh, and of course there is romance for the both of them.

Unfortunately, after a good start with some legitimate laughs provided mostly by Barrell, it starts becoming more and more bland and predictable. I've pretty much liked Busby but here she comes across almost like a child going on and on about "believing," etc. Etc.

I thought Barrell pretty much stole the show, and George Masswohl provided solid support as the continually appearing Kris. The biggest disappointment was Corey Sevier who was the major love interest but didn't say or do much of anything. He was always just staring googly-eyed at Busby and was basically just a bubble-brain. The other male love interest wasn't a whole lot better.

Kind of a head scratcher and somewhat of a lost opportunity.

The basic virtue - it is a fairy tale. The significant error - the try to define the identity of Santa.

A film with serious virtues , from portraits of small comunities to the miracles , accidents, gifts and their meaning, the purpose of travel of young woman and pills of lessons about life. All- more than seductive and it is just a good point the try of Hallmark to propose something different - in some measure than you expect.

Sure, unrealism and large spoons of magic. But each of them works more than well in this mix and, not ignoring the virtues of performances, the story suggest a nice air of nostalgia, like each fairy tale, and this is the best thing, in fact.

Is it really magic or is it illusion? The two ladies, Tori and LJ keep running into Kris Kringle and he seems to be directing their paths through some mysterious process. He performs tricks that seem to surpass mere illusion, but the movie leaves you to wonder.

In the beginning, LJ quits her job after her boss cancels her long scheduled vacation which for LJ is something special. These plot devices always make me angry because you just can't do that. But LJ seems happy to be free of that job. She cons Tori into going with her. She intends to visit "magical" stops along the way to hanging her grandmother's ornament at their final stop. Along the way, the two women pick up two guys who join them, sort of.

The acting is decent. The dialogue is OK with some good moments. The story is about as simple as I described it. There are no great highs or lows. I would say there are no real surprises, but Kris does keep them all on their toes.

I'm not a Cindy Busby fan, and she pretty much does her usual. Katherine Barrell makes a good sidekick as her character Tori tries to break her habit of being a rule follower.