Sotto il cielo del Natale

Andy Holliday, the character, was introduced in 2014 in Christmas Under Wraps, a Candace Cameron Bure vehicle. In that movie, she came to the town of Garland as a doctor, fell in love with Andy, and decided to stay.

Here a reference is made to that movie, as Andy tells his old/new love interest he had a romance with a doctor who was offered a grant and decided to leave. Jodie Sweetin as Erika is supposed to be a girlfriend he had BEFORE that when living in Seattle. Now she's in town to buy his struggling inn for her boss, and he's struggling with the decision to give up on all the work he put into it even though he's broke and in debt.

I wondered if they decided to "stick it to" Bure since she left Hallmark for a contract with GAF. LOL

The movie was enjoyable enough, but the out-of-town developer going after the local inn (or other business) is a very tired trope by now, and some of the scenes here seemed a bit over the top. Worth a watch but not a rewatch to my taste.

If you're gonna do a sequel to a romance (Christmas Under Wraps), then don't throw away the previous romance like a broken toaster! Apparently, Lauren quickly forgot her own story arc, and took a fellowship at a hospital in the big city. And the guy sold his plane -- a crucial means of transportation between the remote town and the outside world -- to become the innkeeper in a town that's rarely visited.

If Hallmark really wanted to return to Garland, they should have gone the Evergreen route by introducing new characters to have a romance. Instead, David O'Donnell just trades in one Full House sister for another.

As a stand alone movie, this was really good. Jodie Sweetin was great in this, the supporting characters were fun, and it was well written too.

As a sequel to Hallmark's top rated movie of all time (Christmas Under Wraps), this was insulting to network viewers. The movie was filmed in a different location. They should have just brought in a new love interest or not had it be a sequel at all. Instead, Hallmark new leadership chose to destroy the integrity of the first movie by negating the happy ending and destroying the love story that we all watched in that film. I don't think I can ever watch Christmas Under Wraps again. What is it with this new leadership not knowing how to tell uplifting love stories? This has been an ongoing pattern for well over a year now. They don't understand their audience.

This was a bit of a disappointment as I have grown to really like Jodie Sweetin and respect her work. I just ignored the fact that it was a sequel to a Candace C-B romance. It's not a real good idea to give Hallmark fans the idea that Happy Endings may not survive the test of time. It's kind of a buzz-kill.

This one did not survive the initial smell test. Why in the world would an international property developer want to buy a second rate B & B 300 miles north of Anchorage. Huh? And I say second rate, because check out Jodie's hotel room. I think white collar crime federal penitentiaries have fancier rooms minus the king sized bed. The Christmas decorations were ugly and fake.

I didn't like that Andy gave up his lucrative plane taxi service to fail at being an innkeeper. Not very romantic hero-like. The townspeople, especially the café owner were very annoying. Marinating some kind of meat in eggnog? I couldn't get that out of my mind. I like the subtle fun hints that Santa was his Dad. That was well done, if kind of incredible. I also liked that Jody had integrity and didn't push him to sell the place. Although actually not encouraging him to take the money and run was kind of against his best interests. Vivica Fox, her boss, did her job, and looked fantastic.

A Hallmark not exactly different by many others, nice for Garland atmosphere, for inn and for Hattie s eccentric recipes, for the astronomic observatory and for supporting actors. David O Donell proposes , unfortunatelly, just a goofy. Andrew, his inability for manage the inn being in pure conflict against the attachment for a business bad managed and the connection with father is spooky.

But, sure, the reference to Santa works well and the presence of Vivica. A. Fox is a good idea.

The story itself is so familiar from previews Hallmark Christmas films than it can not surprise or impress. And Jodie Sweetin ties to give some credibibility to her character against not the most impressive dialogue.

So, That s Garland for you. And it is enough.