Hallmark Channel,
Alicia Witt, Gabriel Hogan, Wallace Shawn, T.J. McGibbon, Linda Kash, Gabrielle Miller, Jayne Eastwood, Ron Lea, Miku Graham, Marsha Regis
Nikki (Alicia Witt) is a single Mom with an 8 year old daughter, and badly in need of a job for Christmas. She heard that Cartwright’s department store was hiring some Christmas help, but things didn’t go so well in her audition, when mysteriously the elevator stops on the wrong floor and she is lead by a kind old Christmas Specialist to the store Santa’s dressing room. Everyone mistakes her for the newly hired store Santa, so she lowers her voice, puts on a brave face and sets off to face the kids.
This was really a pretty nice little new Christmas story. This is the story of the poor angel trying to help out the mortal who needs him while everything seems to go wrong. Yeah, it’s been done before; haven’t they all? But Alicia Witt is really very charming and plays this role as well as anyone else I’ve seen pull it off. You really care that she finally gets what she deserves as the more evil people get their comeuppance as well. She has a really great 8 year old daughter who helps pull off the story, and there’s a romance story too, naturally, as the big oaf doesn’t realize she’s there until it’s too late. But the real kicker in this movie is Wallace Shawn, from The Princess Bride who is “inconceivable” as the elfish angel who’s trying to make things right. He steals every scene he’s in. All in all, I thought this one of the nicest of the new films this year, and one you will probably want to catch on the Hallmark Channel if you have a soft place for romantic and comedic Christmas stories.
[Click Here for the Hallmark Channel Home Page for this film]
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
