It is a performances centric movie

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It is near Christmastime, and a young widower has six-year-old rambunctious twin boys who drive all the other nannies away with their antics-but Mrs. Merkle appears suddenly and is able to make them behave better. Not by waving a magic wand, but by simple psychology. But she does not deal only with the children.The widower himself is still grieving for his wife, and as a result won't tell his twins about her, nor will he play his piano any more. Mrs. Merkle subtly arranges to get a woman owning a travel agency to meet him, help with a local school pageant and meet her estranged sister.The story works because Mrs. Merkle, as mentioned before, does not use magic, but is able to subtly push people to do things using suggestion and psychology-though she somehow knows information that nobody evidently tells her. Perhaps she uses magic after all? It doesn't really matter. The movie may be routine, clichéd, and predictable, but it succeeds thanks to good performances by the actors and a storyline that is just long and simple enough. Not deeply meaningful, but good family entertainment.

This movie opens on a familiar scene of children driving away a string of housekeepers, but that's only one of the plot threads in this heart-warming seasonal movie. There's a lot to like despite the frequently-visited trope of the super-nanny straightening out the chaotic household.What makes it an outstanding example of the concept is not only the highly relatable problems faced by the family - no over-the-top issues here - but the realistic way those problems are brought out and resolved over the course of the film.The young boys are cute and lively but troubled. The way their inner trouble is portrayed is subtle - comments by their teachers and a brief, odd reaction from their father (the handsome and vulnerable James Van der Beek). Nanny predictably fills a void in their lives.She also, predictably, nudges their dad gradually into delivering what his sons need from him, and what he needs from himself. Nanny's mechanism for coaxing Dad out of his funk is the delightful Reba (played by the equally delightfully Erin Karpluk with deftly handled emotional fragility), a local businesswoman with her own problems.The romance felt a bit rushed, especially between the first meeting and the first date, and the nanny's departure was also rapid. Another reviewer complained about the speed of reconciliation in Reba's family but I found it very realistic.In fact, one thing I particularly like was that, instead of the plot benefiting from one of those last-minute miraculous interventions so common in Christmas movies, the 'Christmas Spirit' only nudged, and the humans had plenty of chances to turn away from the inner changes needed to bring the plot to a satisfactory resolution. It felt real and probable, especially as played by Van Der Beek and Karpluk.I'm pretty sure I'll be watching this movie again in future years.

Most Christmas movie plots are pretty predictable, and this one is no exception. It has the standard Christmas elements: new nanny; recalcitrant kid/kids; widow/widower; chip---or memory---on the shoulder; mistaken perceptions; happy ending with the girl/boy marrying,or at least dating seriously. It only lacks a 'real' Santa Claus figure in the plot, or maybe a reindeer or two. And despite the hype about the writer, it's just a Christmas oriented 'Nanny McPhee.' Consequently, this is not an impressive work of art for the writer, Debbie Macomber. But, for Christmas movies, it's good. And I've chosen to watch it more than once.

I for one enjoyed it. It felt a little rushed sometimes and like they could have expanded on a few things, but it was still cute and I'll buy it on DVD. James Van Der Beek and Erin Karpluck had some great chemistry. I would have loved to have seen more of that with the story expanding just a little more on their characters' courtship. The Christmas program left much to be desired but it wasn't the focus of the story so we'll forgive them that one. I do have one severe gripe and I've seen this many times over in movies that have a similar conflict with a specific character. With the back story between Reba and her sister I felt dissatisfied with Reba finally just showing up on her doorstep. If I were her I'd have a few more things to say and a few questions I wanted answered. Yes, perhaps they did talk and we weren't intended to see it but I would have liked to. In my mind it's no longer about the guy for Reba. He's long gone anyway and she's better off without him. It's about what her sister did and what would drive a sister to go that far. Mere competitiveness seems too trivial for a betrayal of that magnitude. So I would have liked to see that conversation. I would also have liked to see Seth at the piano in their home before his final decision to play at the pageant. I realize they probably wanted to emphasize his return by him just showing up but I would have liked to see it anyway. This movie wasn't really meant to be a nail-biter, after all. Still, as I said, I enjoyed it and I'll be happy to have a copy when it's released on DVD. I was definitely more pleased with this than National Tree or Flower Girl.