Hybrid,
Mayim Bialik, Ryan McPartlin, Reginald VelJohnson, Jo Marie Payton, Brian Doyle-Murray, Trilby Glover, Roxana Ortega, Candice Azzara, Rob Mathes, Sean
Carol Mack, Gib Gerard
Stephanie Michelle Hunt (Mayim Bialik) is all set for Christmas. Mom and Dad want her to come home for the holidays but Stephanie is ready to move in with her boyfriend and take the next step in their relationship. She has already turned in the keys for her apartment when he suddenly breaks up with her. She’s devastated and decides at the last minute to go home after all. She runs into a guy, Michael Nolan (Ryan McParlin), who she instantly judges as rich and arrogant and extremely annoying. While she drags herself back to Coach, Michael settles in to First Class. But when an elderly man, Noel Nichels (Brian Doyle-Murray) is having a hard time, Michael gives up his seat only to find himself sitting next to Stephanie. The two manage to annoy each other until the pilot announces that they are headed into a violent storm and must land immediately in Montana. They end up stuck in Montana and sleeping in the airport. When the same kindly gentleman give Stephanie a secret spot that he knows that would have a room, but tells her the story about how Michael gave up his seat for him, she decides to invite Michael with her. But they arrive in the small town that is obsessed with Christmas in a lodge that comes off a Christmas card, the learn that there is only one room left in the hotel and the will have to share. Michael is anxious to head home where he’s planning to propose to his girlfriend, but his endless enthusiasm for love clashes strongly with Stephanie’s disgust at being dumped.
This is perhaps the first Christmas movie I have seen with Mayim Bialik. I wasn’t sure how she’d handle this kind of role, but I guess he experience with Sheldon Cooper on How I Met Your Mother gave her the needed training. She was really excellent in this role. The trouble she has accepting her first impression of Michael was very hard to get over. Later on she has to deal with the fact that he’s in love with someone else and her reluctance to butt in is very well played. Michael, on the other hand, plays his innocence in love and his astute business sense very well too. The owners of the hotel are fantastic characters, and Brian Doyle-Murray certainly is hiding some secrets he’s not letting us into to. All in all the scenery is absolutely stunning as is this heavenly place on Earth. This is a really nice story, very well told and certainly one I have enjoyed more than most of the new Christmas stories. This one is really heartwarming and is an adventure all the way through. I highly recommend this movie as one of the best of the season.
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