Inn for Christmas

Yes, the story line is the same as all the boy meets girl Christmas movies but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Jesse Hutch is one of my favourites. I didn't know Jonna Walsh before this but I will watch for her now. Old favourites Jayne Eastwood and Art Hinkle are an added bonus. Filmed in Hamilton, ON is pretty cool too. Close to home.

The leads, Jesse Hutch and Jonna Walsh, playing Lucas and Mandy respectively, are really very engaging in their roles. They have very good chemistry and great banter. Most of the supporting cast, from the best friend to the grandmother and the inn owner, fit very well into the movie and are quite likable. If the movie had sort of kept to this initial script, then I think it would have come off as a better movie overall even if it's something we'd seen before.

But they throw in a few ill-advised twists and diversions that really affect what was seeming to be a good watch. The closest thing this movie has to a villain is poorly conceived along with poorly written in the storyline. The character was too remote and unincorporated into the movie to have the influence they ended up having in throwing a wrench into the storyline. There's a "secret" revealed at an inopportune moment that didn't appear to be an actual state secret given that the female lead openly divulged this info to 3 characters in the movie before the reveal, didn't tell them to keep that info to themselves. This was more strange that bad, and it made you think less of the female lead that she was openly deceiving someone who trusted her after initially appearing to be upfront. And lastly, a truly jarring twist that though you might see coming as I did, makes it no better when it occurs. It's a strange twist for what they appeared to be trying to accomplish through most of the movie and it's like they suddenly inserted a game cheat code and fast-tracked everything to get to the finish line.

There really are some very likable and engaging parts of this movie. The former high school rivals getting to know one another again years later and liking what they see is a tried and true storyline that works and does so again here. Actually, the movie was good (I'd have probably rated it an 8 on a Hallmark/Lifetime TV movie ranking scale) through the first hour and 40 minutes or so. It's a shame the writing became rough and disjointed at the end and prevented this from having an ending that was more reflective of the movie as a whole.

So happy to see something different on the seasonal movie front. Quite frankly I happened across it by chance and didn't intend to watch the entire movie. The cast kept me with it. Jesse Hutch (Lucas) and Jonna Walsh as Mandy are very good together but what really hooked me? Veteran Canadian actors Jayne Eastwood and Art Hindle. Yes--a simple story line but who cares? The actors (one and all) are excellent and make it work. Highly recommended!!

This movie was ok, but very slow and boring. I don't recommend it

The Christmas Listing - but that movie was far worse and slightly different in that the leads didn't know each other from high school and they had to live at the inn they wanted to buy. There's also a resemblance to Once Upon a Main Street. After you get past why the two leads are thrown together, it's the same old stuff. The two keep working together on things and guess what - surprise - they rekindle their relationship. Don't have to wonder how this is going to end. The conflict was a slight twist as to how it was engineered and the lead's response to it was not quite the usual either. So it wasn't totally the usual. The last part was a little over the top unreal, but only slightly more than average in these movies.

Some things were confusing. Why did Lucas basically help Mandy and sabotage himself? That starts pretty early. Also I didn't think it was clear that Mandy not staying in town to run the place was a secret. Lucas knew it.

There was some chemistry between Jonna Walsh and Jesse Hatch. They could have had a little more screen time together. They avoided the usual animosity at the start and started almost immediately with upbeat banter and teasing.

While there were no great big highs or lows, I think there was the one slight surprise.

I wondered about Mariah Campos as Ginny Zee. There was a nice song performance. She sings a song I never heard and assume it was original although IMDb gives no specific credit as of this writing.