Sick Product of a Sick System

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Finally a movie where Candace Cameron Bure isn't completely annoying!Alan Thicke portrays CCB's father and tycoon of hip young hotels for the jet set.He sends CCB to take stock of his latest purchase and plan how to tear it all down and make it new and edgy for their clientele.Well what do you know but shortly after arriving and butting heads with the current owners son (Jesse Hutch) they soon begin to fall for one another!Can CCB convince her father to keep the family charm of their new purchase?!

This is a nice Christmas story about a resort executive who can't remember much about Christmas growing up because her father and she never did anything to celebrate it. She is sent to totally remake a newly purchased resort into a young person's happening resort.Stephanie meets Brady, the son of the previous owner, who leads her through a journey of remembering what Christmas is all about. This resort has everything you would want for Christmas including several old ethnic traditions and legends.It is not surprising what happens. It is a little incredible how quickly Stephanie loses her grinchness and just takes in everything with an open heart. This includes her performing the ritual required to dream about the man she will marry.The two leads make a fine couple falling in love, including the requisite hate each other scene when they meet. Alan Thicke plays the role of the true Scrooge of a father who basically wants to bulldoze the existing facilities and start over. ****SPOILER** He even fires her for failing to follow his instructions. His reformation at the end is totally abrupt, but possibly almost believable after he reads his daughter's Santa letter which was slipped into his coat pocket before he left the resort.

When you watch a Hallmark movie, especially a Christmas one, you know what you are going to get. You know what is going to happen no spoiler alert necessary. I enjoy the Christmas season and by definition the movies on the Hallmark Channel. They are kind of background noise to what I am doing during this time.In that spirit I think this movie might be the best of the bunch. The character dynamics seem more real and the romance more believable than most of genre. The family drama rang true with both characters. I also think the choices facing the characters seemed real and relatable.Unlike other reviewers I thought Alan Thicke was very good in this movie. He had to look like a clueless jerk because that is what is character was supposed to be.Mrs. Bure is very good in this movie as this type of role suits her well. But I also felt the cast outside of her, except perhaps the male leads mother, was very good.Hence, I would high recommend this next November.

Another great quality movie with the very talented, very enjoyable Candace Cameron-Bure!.......But was it absolutely necessary to dig up the talentless, drab, vocally-annoying Alan Thicke?.....Oh well, at least he didn't appear in it much......Anyway, everything else was on the plus side: the plot was very enjoyable. The location was ideal...all the scenery and décor was beautiful...wonderful! It was well written and had very good directing. The supporting cast was well-casted...no one was annoying...(as is the case sometimes in good movies otherwise)................Sometimes it's difficult to separate the actual person from the part he / she is playing. If their exposed personal standards are low, then that casts a shadow on what ever decent part they play.............. However, having heard Candace talk about her respectable personal / family life on "Home and Family," it's consistent with the respectable parts she plays, which makes her decent movies even more enjoyable to watch. In fact, I consider her to be the contemporary Doris Day........"You are a wonderful asset, Candace, for upholding moral standards in life and also for contributing them to the movie industry...which often tends to be risqué and offensive."