One of my wife's favorite things to do leading up to and during Christmas is to watch Hallmark Christmas movies. So we've watched a lot. I've come to expect the normal formula for this type of movie: setup a situation with someone who has some sort of anti-Christmas issue, then they somehow overcome it (and most likely an antagonist) and all is well by the end of the movie, with the added bonus that most of the time someone falls in love as well. The plots differ, but there is a basic formula. This movie takes a slightly different approach but it falls into the general category. You also have to expect that the movie will be somewhat unrealistic when compared to real life, but that is what makes it fun watching, especially at Christmas. I think everyone, deep down, wants a "happily ever after" ending and Hallmark movies always deliver. Well until now and if you watch this movie. I will not go into the details (you can read the other reviews with spoilers, which I recommend before investing the time to watch this movie) but the way they ended this movie just made me shake my head. I was frustrated enough with the plot development and final conflict resolution that I created an account on IMDb to vent, I looked for a way on Hallmark's site but did not see a user review section.

I was actually surprised the overall rating was so high, considering how much of a downer the ending was. I almost gave it a 1 to do something about it, but ended up giving it a 2 because of the two lead characters. Their acting was good and their chemistry was engaging. They did their part, its just too bad that the writer, producer or director did not.

If you want the typical feel good ending so that you can feel better about humanity during the Christmas season, one that Hallmark usually provides, then DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE, find another!

Well, that was a first. A Hallmark movie that ends with Al Borland from Home Improvement extorting $1.3 Million from an obviously confused, emotionally unstable woman who had recently and unwillingly inherited a Christmas tree farm. In the Hallmark universe, Al (Mason in the movie) is supposed to realize he is a greedy scrooge for wiping out the life savings of multiple rural poor working class people (these people miraculously have $450K cash stashed away in coffee cans in unlocked cupboards that my three year old could easily find). Anyway, Evil Al does NOT find the meaning of Christmas and instead takes the box containing the $450K of cash. He is promised the rest of the $1.3M the next day. The poor woman who inherited the tree farm now has to pay back $1.3M on a property she owned basically for free a week earlier.

See, her nasty boyfriend had her sign a three page contract for sale from Al without reading it, over lunch. And apparently this is totally legal and "final." Not even the weird 'I think he is the love interest' local real estate lawyer could find a way out of this.

So, pretty boring movie full of every cheesy cliche in the book until Jules signs the contract without reading it, or having an appraisal done to know the true value, or even having legal representation. Then, she goes from being portrayed as this classy, successful, smart, motivated NYC business woman to being a complete and total idiot. It's like she is two characters, pre-contract and post-contract. The first character would never, under any circumstances, sign an unread contract for sale over lunch. And the fact that she allows herself to get extorted by Al in the end to pay him a cut just to have the tree farm back also goes totally against her character that is setup in the first half hour.

The rest of the movie is filled with bad acting, weird characters that have income but no jobs, cans of cheese, plot holes, errors in geography (mountains by Chicago, really?),fixing up a broken down Christmas town in two weeks with two cans of paint, and on and on. We never get to see the actual "town" and there is no Mom, Dad, Sister, or best friend to experience the mess for the audience and ask Jules what on Hallmark earth is she thinking? The love interest has zero chemistry and is forced beyond all measure. But they have to put it in there because this is a Hallmark movie after all, right?

I guess Uncle Frank's contribution to the $450K, a coffee can stuffed with $100 bills, can be considered back pay for rent, as he admitted to illegally living in the guest house on the property early in the movie.

Know that there is a silver lining in the ending, maybe even a Christmas miracle. Al does not get off scott free for being a scrooge. The second he walks into a bank with $450K cash to deposit he will be arrested. He has no receipt, no contract for sale, nothing to prove to the IRS and FBI where he got that money, so yes my friends, the true ending of this movie is that Al goes to jail. Merry Christmas!

Actually a charming movie with good actors, decent chemistry and enough filled to make the first three quarters fairly entertaining. Then, as others have said, the ending is enough to make your blood boil.

The evil real estate mogul manipulates the lead and flips the property back to her a day late for a $1.3 million profit. And everyone is singing merry Christmas and thanking him for being so kind and generous to sell it back. Are you kidding me? Also agree with others that the lead was frustratingly stupid for signing over the property without reading it, given that she was supposed to be so savvy. And agree that she would have been able to sue the pants off her boyfriend/attorney for malpractice, because he clearly violated her client privilege by colluding with the seller to mislead her into thinking he would keep the property as is. Or because he conveyed to her that the contract would keep the property as is, an he clearly knew the opposite.

The ending of this movie is like if scrooge didn't learn the meaning of Christmas but instead sold tiny Tim a crutch for $150 and then let Tiny Tim sit on his lap and help count the gold coins at the end.