This actually turned out to be a pretty good Hallmark movie. The leads (Ashley and Brendan) are engaging and likable, the supporting characters are used well, and the mystery aspect is a nice change of pace.
The biggest challenge in this movie, and the reason I'm not rating this a bit higher, is getting through the first half hour when he's basically stalking the poor girl. He's a reporter, which appears to be how the writer thinks it's okay for him to be this way, but that didn't make it better because he wasn't even initially researching a story. The innocent and completely unrelated to his job or her mystery first meeting is just two strangers bumping into each other and then him trying to flirt, but she clearly rebuffs his not quite as smooth as he thinks romantic advances. He later sees her in a jewelry store by chance as he's walking by and goes to talk to her, but before he announces himself, he eavesdrops on her convo and hears about the lost charm bracelet and then proceeds to insert himself into her search for information, and she firmly discourages it and tells him she's good on her own. After she's rebuffed his romantic advances and his professional interest, he still thinks, this is a good situation and I'm going to keep being this kind of intrusive, announces to his editor this is his new story and proceeds to track her down, and I do mean track her down, she hasn't given any information about herself to him. The stalker vibe came to an end quickly, and Ashley even said to him something along the lines of "why are you stalking me?" in the scene where everything gets hashed out maybe 20-25 minutes into the movie, which was more upfront than I gave credit for a Hallmark movie being about the way this was coming off. They start working together after that to figure out the mystery (who owns the charm) and all is well.
They have good chemistry, but it's not the kind that jumps out at you, but they do have good banter throughout. So if you can make it past that poorly conceived extended meet cute (that was truly, not remotely cute), then this becomes a very likable and watchable Hallmark movie.
You'd think Hallmark would have a ton of Christmas mystery movies, but this is really the first year where there's multiple movies that have mysteries weaved into the storyline in a more significant way. It's a nice departure, keeps in line with the channel's actual title and focus (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries), and provides some much needed variety in the Christmas TV Movie slate.
The biggest challenge in this movie, and the reason I'm not rating this a bit higher, is getting through the first half hour when he's basically stalking the poor girl. He's a reporter, which appears to be how the writer thinks it's okay for him to be this way, but that didn't make it better because he wasn't even initially researching a story. The innocent and completely unrelated to his job or her mystery first meeting is just two strangers bumping into each other and then him trying to flirt, but she clearly rebuffs his not quite as smooth as he thinks romantic advances. He later sees her in a jewelry store by chance as he's walking by and goes to talk to her, but before he announces himself, he eavesdrops on her convo and hears about the lost charm bracelet and then proceeds to insert himself into her search for information, and she firmly discourages it and tells him she's good on her own. After she's rebuffed his romantic advances and his professional interest, he still thinks, this is a good situation and I'm going to keep being this kind of intrusive, announces to his editor this is his new story and proceeds to track her down, and I do mean track her down, she hasn't given any information about herself to him. The stalker vibe came to an end quickly, and Ashley even said to him something along the lines of "why are you stalking me?" in the scene where everything gets hashed out maybe 20-25 minutes into the movie, which was more upfront than I gave credit for a Hallmark movie being about the way this was coming off. They start working together after that to figure out the mystery (who owns the charm) and all is well.
They have good chemistry, but it's not the kind that jumps out at you, but they do have good banter throughout. So if you can make it past that poorly conceived extended meet cute (that was truly, not remotely cute), then this becomes a very likable and watchable Hallmark movie.
You'd think Hallmark would have a ton of Christmas mystery movies, but this is really the first year where there's multiple movies that have mysteries weaved into the storyline in a more significant way. It's a nice departure, keeps in line with the channel's actual title and focus (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries), and provides some much needed variety in the Christmas TV Movie slate.