Il regalo più bello

Hello, Hallmark, it's the 21st Century. And guess what? Copying films of the '40s and '50s is a little passe.

My Christmas Dream stars Danica McKellar who, at age 40, is still playing ingenues. And as far as I'm concerned, she's getting away with it.

It also stars handsome David Haydn-Jones and Diedre Hall who must have a hideous portrait in her closet.

McKellar is Christina, the manager of a department star, McDougal's, owned by Victoria (Hall). Christina is doing a terrific job and loves what she does.

Victoria arrives at the store and makes an announcement: The store is growing internationally, and they are opening a new store in Paris. They need someone to run it. Christina is perfect for it, having studied in Paris for a year and always feeling as if it was home.

However, in order to get the job, she is going to have to dazzle Victoria with the annual Christmas display, a part of the window always kept hidden until December 23.

In the meantime, she has met Kurt (Haydn-Jones) and his son Cooper. It's obvious that Kurt wants a commitment from her, but Christina shies away from it. Meanwhile she's having him help with the display and hoping it impresses Victoria.

We all know what's going to happen. It is possible to have a wonderful career and be fulfilled. It isn't one or the other nowadays. The previous film with Candace Cameron had the same theme. We see these women giving up these fabulous jobs (although Christina's is a good compromise) to stay with a man. Of course, he's going nowhere, why should he.

These Hallmark films can be boring or lovely, depending on your mood. My mood is particularly in need of mind-numbing since the election, so I would up watching this one and part of another. I understand showing romance. But this is the kind of movie my mother would have written because her generation was interested in one thing and one thing only: marriage and a family. And if you didn't have that, as far as she was concerned, you didn't have much of a life.

It's not a good fantasy for young women, whom I assume watch these things.

Otherwise, it's pleasant and Christmasy.

Yes, it's a little by the book in terms of the Hallmark formula, but I really liked this film, and it's always great to see Danica Mckellar.

With a nice storyline and some sweet moments, this was enjoyable and romantic enough to pass a cold night.

Lovely.

Danica McKellar, a go-getter store manager for a big store needs the help of a single father handyman (David Haydn-Jones) who is currently struggling to make ends meet in order to help her realise a dream - a Christmas Dream, you might say - of managing the store's first international location.

Much better than Christmas at Grand Valley for Danica McKellar, though that isn't saying a whole lot.

Danica is a good actress and she has good chemistry with Haydn-Jones, who I previously enjoyed in 'A Cookie Cutter Christmas' with Erin Krakow. Danica and David work together. The script was pretty good, and although the Hallmark formula is followed to the T here, My Christmas Dream is still a good one.

Christina, the manager of McDougal's flagship department store, is determined to land the manager position for their new Paris location. She sets out to impress Victoria, the store's owner, by creating the best holiday display in McDougal's history. However on the day she is to meet Victoria the imperatively dressed Christina gets paint spilled on her by a worker in the department store that she manages. He gets abruptly fired. However later on their paths cross again and Victoria ends up needing this man she just fired to help her with a Christmas window display. If this display rocks upper management she then will get to live her dream a manage a store in Paris.

Now this film is good. My major complaint is that the film shows that women are forced between "Career and Family". Many successful women in the past 50 years have managed to do both. This film however makes it look like that "If you don't have a family you are never happy". For once I would like to see a Christmas movie where the woman does choose a career but it also happy with that choice. Trust me that would make a great Christmas film!

Danica McKeller is one of our favorite actresses in these movies, based on first seeing her in the delighful and interesting Crown for Christmas.

Sadly, may of her other vehicles had not been so compelling. In this movie, her character is already the manager of a major department store, and her big ambition is to become the manager of a major department store in a different city, even if that city is Paris.

Then she's neglected her job of preparing for one the store's biggest events of the year, and has to get an unemployed and reluctant artist to save her bacon at the last minute. Just not that believable.

We've watched this three times over the years, but tonight was the last time.