Natale al Plaza

Notwithstanding the oft-mentioned thrown in reference to Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece "North By Northwest" (1959), the movie's nod is clearly to such pieces as "Grand Hotel" (1932) and "Week-end at the Waldorf" (1945) in which the buildings almost take on the form of real characters. Although in unassuming Hallmark territory, that aspect gives this entry a refreshing change of pace, aided by the casting of a newcomer to these proceedings (Elizabeth Henstridge, in a sweetly unaffected performance) paired with a solid and likeable regular (Ryan Paevey). A good one to re-watch.

This is a lovely story. I like the historical interest tied in with Christmas as well as the blossoming romance. I'm not sure that she was totally fair to her boyfriend or that she was the most likeable person either, but he. . . He was beautiful, a deep voice and a gorgeous smile and face, probably with a body that rocks too.

Also, Bruce Davison is slowly becoming very popular with me. He works his arse off to be in all these films and I did like his characters arc in this one.

It's a charming story, with history and with traditional family values at Christmas, what's not to like?

I like this holiday movie. Instead of the two main characters bickering and fighting at the beginning of the movie, they are connected immediately. I found the chemistry between the two actors very real. I love the background story with the missing tree topper and the story behind it.

Elizabeth Henstridge seems to have no life at all in this movie, making me wonder that she is only saved in Agents of Shield by the presence of so many other actors.

The film isn't helped by having the same tired "girl left on her own by clueless boyfriend" cliche.

Was this movie conceived only to get The Plaza to write a big check as a placement sponsor? Seems like it. The writers sure didn't seem to be able to get past that.

I watch A LOT of cheesy Christmas movies, and this one was just SO boring. The male lead was believable enough, but the female lead sounded as if she was just. so. depressed. with. every. single. word. she. said. Annoyed the cr*p out of me. Everything she said and did was without any sort of enthusiasm AT ALL. She didn't even feel like finishing her job, just because she didn't get the help she'd expected. And the uncaring boyfriend trope is a little overused in Hallmark movies. And the ex-girlfriend swooping in and not really causing any problems, what the duck was that? Also, why do they add music before cutting the scenes? It's usually a problem with these kinds of low budget movies, but this was a really bad case. There was this one scene, in which they made the music fade out, but they didn't cut until we'd heard a split second of the next music fade in. Did they let the intern produce it? (My apologies to the intern, if this was their first try.) Nah, don't waste your time on this.