Operation Nutcracker

While this Hallmark Christmas story is not overly complicated, it is somewhat original. Fortunately, the two leads look like they could be paired in real life and the scripting allowed for the chemistry to be evident early on, without the usual Hallmark stand-off-ness until the magical last 5 minutes. Therefore, the final kiss was seamless and not just injected into the final minute as so often happens. The usual required conflict was minor and not overdone. I think this was my first cringe-less Hallmark movie.....Christopher Russell was not scripted to act bumbling, stupid or unmanly the entire movie. This is the first time I've watched the female lead....she is very attractive and an engaging actress. She resembled Denise Richards in quite a few scenes. I enjoyed this one from start to finish.

It's quite tedious to have to hear this over and over again. And when that mantra isn't repeated, it's the ever-present nutcracker that causes quite the stir, but not necessarily in an interesting way . The beginning of the film is a bit strange, the plot does not flow gracefully and several of the actors lack that little something extra. Good thing that it is only a TV movie and not the big screen. Lottie (Ashley Newbrough) is an asset to the movie. The character she plays is however not that interesting, even if Lottie seem to have a bit of unsorted business in her own personal life. Christopher Russell is as usual enjoyable to watch, but is a bit outshined by Ashley's part, which might be intentional. For some reason I'd love a little more of Rhonda (Cassie Cao). A nice feature in the movie, even if it was for only a few seconds in total. All together, the TV movie is not bad, not superb, but watchable.

I found this movie delightful even though it followed similar lines to other movies where the protagonists are trying to find something throughout the story only to have many near misses. The viewer sees these misses but since it's Hallmark, we know the pieces will all fall in place eventually. I don't think it is a spoiler to say that almost too many things fall into place in happy ways. Against the backdrop of the search we also have the very common trope of the two romantic leads thrown together to plan a big Christmas event. There is also the secret that the viewer knows will come out a bit too soon and hurt the protagonists. In many ways, this movie might have been a rehash of all the same old stuff, but it wasn't. Or maybe I should say it was so much more. It is fun to watch the near misses and start to imagine how the writers will bring it all together. I think that most viewers will start to come close to figuring it out even if only slightly before it happens. Ashley Newbrough and Christopher Russell have chemistry and watching them together is part of the fun. The acting is all good and the dialogue has some good moments. This is one to watch again.