Meet Me at Christmas

AND yet another failed attempt by Hallmark to do flashbacks - with young actors who don't even remotely resemble the current day couple. You know Hallmark - if "This is Us" can do it - you can too.

It was not the best, but it was ok. Gave it 7 stars just because it was a safe movie for my family to watch.

Good witch star, Catherine Bell, meets GCB star, Mark Deklin, as a teen at a Christmas resort. In classic Love Affair/Affair To Remember style they agree to meet at the tree for the tree lighting ceremony and one of them doesn't show up...fast forward to meeting again at her son's wedding to his niece. The two must pull together and put together the wedding of his nieces dreams when the wedding coordinator quits for a celebrity elopement and her parents flight is delayed...and all of this takes place at the original site of their first meeting. Nice slow build love story with beautiful Christmas backdrop(kudos to the prop workers and set designers!). Also Catherine Bell and Mark Deklin were really very sweet together...another feel good Hallmark classic!

My initial impression was the similarity with Maggie's Christmas Miracle. This movie uses flashbacks several times to fill in backstory of Joan's history especially related to Beau. It's not a common premise and despite the similarity there are definite differences to the afore mentioned movie. We wait to almost the end of the movie for the revelation of the mystery that has been hanging over the whole movie. It is not something predictable. The ending is touching.

Catherine Bell and Mark Bellemy had chemistry but Joan kept damping it with a combination of ghosts and wanting to preserve Liam's memories. Then all of a sudden, without enough transition, Joan lets herself fall into the spirit of the relationship.

There are things that are blown out of proportion for the purpose of advancing the story. It doesn't flow naturally, or to put it differently, too much of it is contrived. Love at first sight is the holy grail of this kind of movie. That theme is treated in an interesting way in this movie. It is definitely unusual and in that sense sets this movie apart. However it didn't sit right with me.

If you expect realism in this kind of movie, you're watching the wrong kind of movie, but the crisis that threatens the ceremony and its solution stretch the envelope too much for my taste.

As I've mentioned more than once, there are some interesting and unusual things in this movie. I think the acting and production are done well. The fact that I didn't care for how the story developed doesn't mean that others will feel the same.

I like Catherine Bell, but I don't think that Mark Deklin is right for her in this film, she was a much better pairing with Eric Close in "Christmas In The Air".

The general concept of finding a childhood love again, that the story is based on, has been explored many times in films of this genre and it's not a bad try here.

I like the wedding prep build up, but it does kind of take over the Christmas side of things, which is what I really tune in for.

I'm starting to think that Hallmark are reaching a bit with their stories and having seen so many of them, I can definitely say that they are getting very repetitive. It's time to change the format a bit, mix up the story and maybe not everyone has to be happy in the end? Only some of them are currently being done well. I think this one is a good example, but I'm afraid Mark isn't quite the hotty I have become accustomed to.