Five Gold Rings

I really enjoyed this movie. I watched this with my bestie and my bestie loved loved loved the male lead. I have really enjoyed Holland Roden and enjoyed her here also. I really enjoyed both leads and felt they had an easy comfortable believable chemistry. They were two people who had known each other for about 20 years, had thought of each other as potential romantic partners, but had never done anything about it for various reasons. Until now. That kind of chemistry is way different from some sudden meet-cute. The stories of trying to locate the owners of the rings and the resolutions were sweet and touching. This was a real winner for me!

I watched this for Holland Roden, who was so good in Time to Come Home a couple years back. She has an endearing quality about her.

Here she plays Audrey, an artist of some note who returns home after her grandmother passes, only to be sent on a quest to return 5 rings her grandmother found beachcombing.

To assist her in her task she enlists the aid of Finn, a private investigator, played by Nolan Gerard Funk.

I was about 30 minutes in when it occurred to me Funk reminded me of a smart-ass, murderous kid in one of the first episodes of Castle. Checked his bio and sure enough, it was him.

He has a lot of credits for a guy who acts like Spock.

One thing that stood out to me in this movie was the almost complete lack of familiar faces among the supporting cast. I guess there's been an exodus to another channel.

Along the way snowmen are built, office supplies are turned into Christmas decorations and art is created. People are appropriately thankful when their baubles are returned.

Nothing out of the ordinary for a Hallmark movie, but still pretty forgettable.

Five.

I must confess that over the years my wife and I have watched more Hallmark movies than we can count. Most of them are Christmas movies followed by mystery movies. The storyline of this one is a bit different and overall, pretty good. The cast isn't picked from the same pool of actors as they usually are. That said the male lead actor sounded like Spock - his voice was very monotone, and he had very little facial expression. The Santa had a few too many "Ho Ho Ho's". And of course it wouldn't be a Hallmark movie without the typical, ridiculous "deal breaker" which usually happens about 15 minutes before the ending.

I have enjoyed Holland Roden since her time on the Teen Wolf series. She plays the painter Audrey Moss, who after the loss of her grandmother returns home to help her mom potentially sell her grandmother's antique shop. While at the shop, Audrey discovers a quest her grandmother left for her to find the owners of five gold rings before Christmas...which is just nine days away. To help her locate the owners of the lost rings, Audrey enlists the private detective Finn O'Sullivan (Nolan Gerard Funk).

Finn and Audrey have a past, but their future seems to be one of potential as the two get along well together.

Christmas lasagne?

I enjoyed the artwork and the quests to find the owners of the rings, I did think that they could have added a little bit more romance to the romantic storyline. Overall a great holiday addition to Hallmark's Christmas vault without being too Christmas-y.

The storyline involves yet another quest that has to be solved. An artist, Aubrey Moss, (Holland Roden)comes home for Christmas and her mother tells her that her deceased grandmother's will left Aubrey five gold rings and five mysteries that must be solved before Christmas morning. The grandmother also left instructions for Aubrey to team up with Private Investigator, Finn O'Sullivan (Nolan Gerard Funk). I like that the plot is a little bit different, but like most Hallmark movies still predictable. The movie does sort of drag in the middle, but the stories surrounding each ring are interesting. I like Holland Roden and hope she appears in more Hallmark movies. She brings an upbeat and inquisitive nature to her character. Some reviewers have complained about Noland Funk's Spock like personality, but I find him to be in the Ryan Paevey acting style, more of the unemotional types, which did fit his Private Investigator character. The two leads did have good chemistry together. Overall, its not a ground breaking movie, but it's a pleasant diversion that's watchable.