Signs

In the third installment of the Gift wrapping lalapalooza, we don’t hear much about the all so important Christmas Gala this time. That’s because there is so much else going on! Lily (Ashley Newbrough), the marketing and publicity director, is very busy going on actual dates, hosting a cocktail party to promote Gala ticket sales, mentoring an intern from a business school, and dealing with participating (or not participating) in “The Festival of Trees.” Busy Busy Busy.

While Tina was very super-organized and tightly wound and Mia was a romantic dreamer, Lily’s #1 personality trait is her belief in fate, signs from the universe, and horoscopes. Also she is dealing with Dead Parent Syndrome as far as Christmas tree decorating. This has caused her to not decorate a Christmas Tree for the Festival of Trees which is a neighborhood activity that everyone in the twin cities goes to. Strangely, it is not held in the neighborhood but in what appears to be a local school gymnasium. It is also strange that Lily’s sadness over her father’s death a year ago only affects her ability to decorate two trees. I can go with her not wanting to use her box of her father’s memory-laden decorations for her main home tree, but what does that have to do with the tree for the festival? The rest of her house is all decked out in Christmas bling including at least one other tree. Her lonely barren tree in the Gym has incurred the wrath of her next door neighbor whose zeal for the F of Ts rivals that of the HOA in the Haul out the Holly movies, and is just as scary. BTW, Festival of Trees trees are all very unimpressive and institutional looking. Do better, Hallmark.

Lily has two men vying for her hand, and they were the highlight of this movie. All of the “signs” (Literally. Batchelor #1, Owen, a star realtor and super salesman, has his handsome mug peering down on The Twin Cities from numerous billboards which are seemingly following Lily around whispering to her to date him.) Franco Lo Presti stole the show as Owen, who, as well as being the most eligible bachelor in the city, turns out to be a smug, self-satisfied know-it-all. The actor was perfectly cast as he is too good-looking to live with a head of hair that deserves its own screen credit.  Although he was a hoot as the wrong guy,  Lo Presti managed to give the character some vulnerability and conveyed the sense that maybe he was just trying too hard to impress the gorgeous and successful Lily. After he hilariously oversteps at her Christmas Cocktail Hour she breaks up with him pretty quickly for a Hallmark Heroine. Usually, it takes a while for the HH to get hit with the clue-stick. The other guy, Sean, is played by Torrance Coombs who turns out to be “The One.” He was also really good as the humble nice guy, who was also very attractive and charming. Lily and he hit it off immediately but are separated by each thinking that the other are in serious relationships. Another prime example of Hallmark’s characters not using their words.

Everything is ironed out in the end with the tree decorating and the romantic misunderstanding but there is a jaw-dropping twist at the end regarding the Gala’s Gift Wrapping Contest. No spoilers here! Hopefully, next week, in the conclusion of the series, we will have a reappearance of the magical Gift Wrapping Machine which turns polaroid snapshots into real wrapping paper. It has been absent since its debut in the first movie. I am really looking forward to getting another look at that thing. It was awesome.