Campfire Christmas

Aspiring writer Peyton (Tori Anderson) works at a publishing company as an assistant. Her boss says that she has no personal connections to her writing. Her parents are retiring and giving up their summer camp. They would like Peyton to take over, but she is desperate to be a writer. The camp is throwing one last Christmas in July for the alumni. Peyton is surprised to see her former flame Thomas (Corbin Bleu) attending. She decides to write about the camp.

It's another Hallmark Christmas in July. Tori Anderson is fine as the leading lady with issues. I don't know what happened to Corbin Bleu. He seems to have lost his mojo after cutting his hair. None of the other side characters really popped. The story is bland. The camp itself is a little too clean. It's well-manicured family cottages. A rustic camp is much more charming cinematically and visually. This is Hallmark at its most average.

A summer camp with a week of Christmas in July is clever and it worked. There were some interesting twists on traditional Christmas things and a couple that were closer to the traditional done in July. But that was just setting.

The story boils down to some of the usual suspects. A PA is trying to impress her boss that she is actually a writer and gets an assignment. Mom and Dad are ready to retire the family camp business with one last hurrah. Peyton and Thomas had a bad breakup but the week at camp throws them back together. And there is a big misunderstanding that threatens the rekindled romance. So predictable from there on out.

There is a secondary romance story between two men. A third story is a longtime married couple working through some issues.

Tori Anderson and Corbin Blue have chemistry. The transition from Peyton avoiding Thomas to them being perfectly comfortable was invisible. There was no transition. One minute avoidance, the next it was like no problem. But then they spent some good time together.

For me the clever take on Christmas in July at summer camp was enough to hold me despite the story that was otherwise a repeat of many other Christmas movies.

I actually wasn't that interested in this one from the previews, but wound up watching it since i liked the cast and was really surprised. The acting came together well, the storyline was not a cheesy as I thought, and I genuinely laughed throughout. It was fun while not coming across as too much.

Listen, I know Hallmark movies (especially Christmas movies) are utterly predictable... BUT...

There is no big city business boyfriend nor uptight exec trying to buy the camp, Peyton's job doesn't leave her too stressed to enjoy the week, and the side characters actually have decent storylines. As an added bonus, the younger actors in the flashbacks do a great job at mirroring their older counterparts.

Hallmark movies are typically my background noise while I clean and I hardly ever sit down to rewatch ones I've seen before, but this is one that has made the rewatch list.

• It was actually a bit funny, especially parts of the first half. Unlike other reviewers, I actually liked the premise (however well trodden as it may be). But it fell into the Hallmark trap of leaning too much on sentimentality.

• Speaking of which, in order to feel sentimental you have to feel something towards the characters. This didn't work in this movie for two reasons: 1) not enough time getting to know and care about them and 2) there was little chemistry between them. The two leads were miscast.

• I couldn't figure out why the female lead would be so torn up over the male lead. And it isn't just because of looks; his personality was pretty wooden too.

-Other reviewers have commented on the overacting, but I honestly could have used more theatrics from the cast.