Crown Media Productions,
Benjamin Arcé, Arpad Balogh, Robyn Bradley, Jordan Bridges, Dave Collette
Sophie (Allison Sweeny) inherited the mountain lodge from her parents. It is nestled in a great deal of land surrounded by beautiful snowy mountains, and the poeple who come to spend Christmas every year are like family when they arrive year after year for a really special Christmas. World traveler and real estate developer Evan (Jordan Bridges) arrives to see how easily they can take over the property and turn it into a luxury resort. Sophie is behind in the mortgage and she’s working herself to the bone to try to keep the doors open, but the options are getting slimmer and slimmer, and Evan knows what she needs.
This 2017 premier of Hallmark’s Christmas at Holly Lodge is almost a direct remake of the movie “Let it Snow” starring Candace Cameron Bure and Alan Thicke. The story is amazingly similar. They changed the roles so that it’s a man who arrives to fall in love with Christmas at this festive place, but it’s almost identical. A lot of Christmas films have similar story lines, but that’s not the only problem here. Probably the most damning problem is the rushed ending. It truly looks like whomever was editing this film looked at the clock and said, “Holy crap, we’ve only got 5 minutes left, and we gotta end this!” The rushed tacked on ending is surprising, mostly because of how awfully it was put together. Not cool at all. I never felt decent chemistry between the leads, and all in all it didn’t really seem believable. It is kind of like if Ebeneezer Scrooge had experienced his great redemption at the moment he saw the door knocker with Marley’s face. A little too abrupt, a little too soon, and basically no drama or suspense. It just was a bit too hurried and not a very good story, and though it’s festive enough, this is one that I would skip if it were up to me.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
