Felicidade sob a Árvore de Natal

5/10 - if you're willing to suspend your disbelief like you never have before and can embrace Danica McKellar's near constant overacting, you should enjoy this fairly pleasant Christmas offering.

The storyline was good, this pair has onscreen chemistry, however, to be such a hyped-up tree specialist it would have been nice for her to find the actual problem vs just figuring out someone else was damaging the trees. It would be nice to see more onscreen chemistry if it's a "Love Story", if it's just friendship let them build on that. Not everything has to end with a kiss.

It's the time of the year for non-stop corny Christmas movies where you know the ending before the first line has been spoken, and I love it, though don't tell anyone. Even though the two leads lacked that certain something it was an okay movie set in the typical Utopian wonderland inhabited by all Hallmark actors. Not taxing on the brain cells but might put a smile on your face, unless you're a grouch.

As both leads are Hallmark regulars, I was looking forward to seeing 'You, Me & The Christmas Trees'. Moreover, Hallmark usually does a good job with selecting quality openers for their Countdown to Christmas series. However, I was disappointed with this year's kick-off. Put simply, the movie fell flat. The storyline revolves around Olivia (played by Danica McKellar), Connecticut's evergreen tree specialist. Days before the Christmas holiday, she agrees to help Jack (played by Benjamin Ayres), a fourth-generation evergreen farmer, with a mysterious illness that has befallen his trees, threatening his family's business. Olivia, who is known as the 'tree whisperer', immediately gets to work but is baffled by the illness and ends up extending her stay in the town of Avon. She and Jack begin to spend more time together, sowing the seeds of romance between the two. One element of the story that I did enjoy was the science of saving the trees, which, as others have pointed out, was a new Hallmark twist. That said, the script was rather weak, I am afraid. As other reviewers have suggested, many of the scenes and dialogue seemed forced such as Olivia's problem with her family (and whether to stay or go) and the falling out between the two towards the end of the movie. The latter, especially, felt awkward and artificial. Though I did have a few laughs, the dialogue too was at times not very convincing. The acting, I thought, was pretty good overall; McKellar and Ayres both had solid performances. Ayres had a warm and gentle vibe, which I enjoyed. At times, however, McKellar's performance felt slightly off, as there were some awkward expressions here and there (e.g., the café scene with her parents towards the end). The chemistry between the two was not bad, but given their talents in such roles, I would have expected more from both of them. To be fair, the script didn't help, which might explain some of what I am referring to here. As another reviewer observed, 'it just didn't seem to flow smoothly'. The supporting cast was rather low-key in this one. Yet, I did find Jason Hervey's performance (as Dwayne) to be a bit...how shall I put this...odd. Though given his 'villain' status in the story, maybe this was what he was going for. The movie did have a warm Christmas feel to it, which one expects from Hallmark. For example, there was the Christmas Cocktail Competition at the Cider Mill. May I have an 'evergreen cocktail' please? Overall, it is a decent, run-of-the-mill, Hallmark Christmas movie. No doubt, fans of the Christmas movie genre will enjoy it. However, given its opener (kick-off) status, it was a bit of a let-down.

Sadly, this movie was one of the most disappointing Christmas movies Hallmark has ever put together. The stars are a big draw. One always wants to see Danica McKellar. She is such lovely young woman, and such a fine actress. Her very best recent film was A Crown for Christmas, which one can watch over and over. However, her role in this film was truly a waste of her talent and lovely looks. She is probably in her forties, and deserves a role which casts her as a more mature woman. Her appearance is still that of a younger person, with flowing long hair and flawless makeup. But one can't prolong those looks forever. Her facial expressions seem to range from happy to worried, with very little in between., Benjamin Ayers is an attractive leading man, but he mentions that he got his first Christmas tree ornament when he was born 27 years ago. This was surely a big stretch on the part of the writers since both leading actors must be in their forties by now.

The plot of the film was predictable. The romance seemed to come out of nowhere, with no real development or buildup. The movie felt formulaic, like Hallmark checked off all the boxes that had to be covered in a holiday movie, but neglected to add real feelings, really mature human emotions, and a less predictable story line.

Let us hope that future holiday films reach for bit of a higher standard and more originality. Loyal Hallmark viewers deserve more and better.