Christmas at Cartwright's

Enjoyable Hallmark movie starring Alicia Witt as an unemployed single mom who, through a series of events, gets a job as a department store Santa without anyone at the store actually knowing she's not a 'he.' Helping her along the way is angel (I think?) Wallace Shawn. Other characters include the adorable daughter struggling at school, the wealthy (but bland) love interest, and the villainous woman who causes problems for our heroine every five minutes. It's hardly a Miracle on 34th Street but it'll get the job done.

Alicia Witt is immensely likable and carries the movie on her shoulders. Wallace Shawn is fun whenever he's around. Gabrielle Miller makes for an easy-to-hate villainess. T.J. McGibbon plays the daughter and steals every scene she's in. Gabriel Hogan is the weakest part of the cast as the completely forgettable love interest. He's the usual Hallmark clichéd rich guy that every woman is apparently aspiring to marry. He's also unexciting in every possible way. I think Alicia's character can do better but I didn't write the movie. It's worth a look if you enjoy these sorts of things. It won't rock your world or anything but it's a good way to pass the time.

The bads: First of, Alicia Witt acts horribly, she is not the best actress but in here she goes over the top so much that it is kind of annoying.

Same problem as with Alicia, is fiona, just trying to hard to look mean and evil, they both feel cartoonish.

The plot is dumb, there is no way in heck that anyone would not notice her being a woman, and the "angel" angle does not make it more believable, it just tries too hard to be progressive it makes it so not believable

Now the goods.

Harry is a great actor, he makes it so easy to like him, and adds that umpf to the movie.

The whole plot would've been awesome if it was actually known that she was a woman, and Bill believes in her but Fiona hates her, and take that drama from the romance, and the only reason she gets the job is because of Harry, instead of the whole charade thing, or maybe Nicky lying about something to Bill, something like that

The whole rest of the movie, the teacher helping, the little girl seeing how wrong she was acting, Becky not knowing, the romance triangle, it all feels good and the whole "Down on her luck mom that cares for her daughter and did it all for her" just... it is heartwarming.

Then the whole Harry leaving could be used as the driver for Fiona firing Nicky. Voila, plot made a bit better(not much to work with but could've been a bit better)

Alicia Witt has a quirky charm, and she is excellent as the first Santa at a department store. I have to thank the wonderful film ' Bros ' for my addiction to Hallmark Films, and the goodwill that they deliver to many people. I am not sure this is one of my favourites, but it has a great premise. Women can be just as good as men portraying Santa, and Witt has the right approach in playing this role. As we all know these Christmas fantasies have a male lead as well, but sadly in this film I did not think the one chosen for this was not quite up to make the heartbeat, either for female as well as male viewers. But to return to Alicia Witt she is much less passive than some of the female actors in the Hallmark genre. I really believed she could bring magic to the children she meets, and her mentor played brilliantly by the muti-talented Wallace Shawn was a magical choice of its own. ' Real ' life should have more female Santas. Worth watching.

Despite being a lover of Christmas, that is not to say that every Hallmark Christmas film is great. A fair share of them are watchable enough but there are average and less ones about, still watch them out of curiosity and also because of them being part of a completest quest. Alicia Witt is a bit hit and miss for me, she's a regular in these films and while there are times where you can see why there are quite a number of other times where she really could have toned it down.

Something that is luckily not the case here. Witt comes off very well here, as do a number of other things. 'Christmas at Cartwright's' would not fit my definition of a great Christmas film or even a great film overall, and this is all personal opinion not an objective one. 'Christmas at Cartwright's' is though a very pleasant, inoffensive diversion and not a bad way to pass the time for a couple of hours of a bleak afternoon for instance.

As said, Witt is immensely charming and injects a lot of personality without forcing it out, nothing affected here about her performance. She does make a potentially strange character work, considering the concept that is. Wallace Shawn still has a loving twinkle in his eye and doesn't phone it in. Gabrielle Miller has fun in her role and doesn't overplay, which is great as she had a type of character where it was easy to do so. The characters are not complex in development but at least don't bore or irritate, while the central chemistry has spark and is quite sweet.

'Christmas at Cartwright's' looks good. The interiors for the store really stand out, very beautifully eye-catching and the photography doesn't cheapen that. The script doesn't come over as stilted, over-cheesy or over-saccharine and the story while far from flawless is charming, warm-hearted and emotionally investable without taking itself too seriously, enough of a lightness of touch to avoid heaviness.

However, the story does execute its concept a bit too ordinarily and brings nothing new to the table. This is standard Hallmark Christmas, with little to set it apart. So while it is pleasant to watch, the predictability gets excessive as do the silliness and coincidences (meaning that it was not always easy to take the final third completely seriously).

Another thing that felt excessive was the music, which should have been used much less, as it did get too much, and felt very over-scored and intrusive. Distracting from the atmosphere and from some of the dialogue which was sometimes swamped by it.

In conclusion, worth seeing but not a "two thumbs way up" sort of film. 6/10

Alicia Witt does a lot of these Christmas movies, and she's one of my wife's favorites in them. There's a good reason. Her films are generally a cut above the average cliched Christmas plot. It's not necessarily that her plots are more original, but her slightly confused and sometimes disgruntled acting style gives her roles a lot of separation from the overly perky performances turned in by many other actresses who float through these films with plastic performances.

In this movie, Alicia is a down-on-her-luck single mom (of course!) who, with an assist and a push by an angel, gets the job as a department store Santa. Overlooking the fact that there is no way she could be mistaken for a male Santa, the movie moves along with a funny story concerning her employment coinciding with a predictable but satisfying story concerning a romance with store exec.

Nothing about this story is new or inventive, but it is a fun watch.