I really enjoyed 'A Sugar & Spice Holiday'. It is a sweet, warm, and engaging Christmas movie, one of Lifetime's better originals this 2020 season. It is also another first for Lifetime: a Christmas movie with (primarily) an Asian American leading cast. The movie centers around Suzy Yung (played by Jacky Lai), a rising star at an architect firm, who returns to her hometown in Maine for Christmas. However, she has to take her work with her if she wants that big promotion. While at home, she is persuaded to enter the local gingerbread bake-off with an old high school classmate named Billy Martin (played by Tony Giroux), thus stepping into her late, and beloved grandmother's shoes; baking was part and parcel of her childhood growing up with Nema (aka her grandmother, played by Cindy Piper). The story is lovely to watch on screen. The script is cute and fun. There was a nice balance of humor, romance, and family warmth, which made for a pleasing viewing experience. As another reviewer here pointed out, the writer did a good job developing the characters; there were, for example, some quirky individuals at the bakeoff. I also enjoyed the voice-overs and narrations by Suzy every time a new character was introduced in the movie, which included comparisons to and graphics of baked goods; I have added these sayings in the quote section of IMDB, they are quite nice to read. What makes all this work on screen, of course, is the acting. It was brilliant. Lai had a very good performance, quite convincing, I felt. Giroux too was great. He had a fun and confident - with a touch of warmth - vibe to his portrayal of Billy. The chemistry between the two was impressive/convincing (e.g., the scene in the kitchen, where Billy was showing Suzy his technique, was steamy). The supporting cast was also wonderful, some very good acting, I thought. I especially liked watching the performances in the bakeoff scenes (fun to watch). All in all, this is a delightful new edition to Lifetime's 2020 Christmas movie lineup. One of their best this season. Highly recommend.
