Thanks to the actor who played Uncle Ethan, this one was watchable. Kaley, the two little girls au pair and their almost a stranger Uncle take care of her charges while the parents are stuck in New York due to a snowstorm. Kaley fancies herself a perfect little mother to the two girls which make her irritating and a little pitiable since they already have a nice mother. She actually considers turning down a big opportunity in her career field because she thinks of the family as hers and doesn’t want to leave them, which is a little disturbing. Not really sure what Ethan sees in her except she is attractive. I liked the actor and the character was pretty cool as well.
They all live in a very normal looking house in a normal city neighborhood for a couple that can afford an au pair. Or need one. The couple must have two high powered high paying careers, surely? I mean they flew to New York only to attend a Christmas Party and were flying back the next morning. Of all of the low wage earners on these TV romances that live in mansions or fancy big city apartments, this couple cannot afford a high end home, or a great location on the water somewhere? It was very weird.
On the surface, this was pretty standard stuff as far as plot and character. But if you look harder, it featured some very awkward elements and a very Strange-for-Hallmark romance. First of all, 2 very contentious and competitive butterfly wranglers not only in the same city, but booking parties right next door to each other? I had no idea that releasing butterflies at parties was such a booming dog-eat-dog business! Our heroine, Emily, hates her rival Mandy because Mandy treats butterfly parties as a business instead of a calling. Plus, she’s cheaper. She does not have a deep personal connection to the insects like Emily does. Emily suspects Mandy of salting her butterfly releases with moths and actually has the gall to also do Puppy and Kitty parties as well. Hopefully, these dog and cat parties don’t involve releasing them into the wild like the butterflies. Better just shrug and move on. This is one of those Hallmark set-ups that you can’t think about too hard.
Emily’s love interest is a single Dad who hires her to give a party for his daughter. The romance is unusual for Hallmark. Emily is very attracted to him but is worried that he is still hung up on his ex. They actually have a pretty lengthy conversation about that issue, and guess what? He actually is! I don’t know why because she is rude, pushy, bossy and they have nothing in common except a 2-year history. He says “It’s complicated.” End of. He thinks. But no. Emily wants the cards on the table and good for her. He admits he really likes Emily but he is very “confused.” He is so “confused” that after thinking about it long and hard, he chooses the ex over Emily and drives off for the airport, New York City, and a high-paying career! And Emily is perfectly OK with that. In fact, she says that “she’s never felt better!” She seems to mean it because although she looks sad for about a minute, there are no tears or hanging around in her PJs eating ice cream out of the carton. Although this spoke volumes for her strength and self-sufficiency and not needing a man to complete her, it kind of sucked for the romance. At this point, the Hallmark Gods had to intervene because God forbid a woman is alone with friends, family, and a thriving business at the end of a Hallmark movie. He changes his mind off-camera and comes back. And now she is really really happy. We get the final (and only) kiss and fade out before he can change his mind again.
In addition to the problematic romance, We have a creepy and possibly mentally ill father. His antics at a party near the end were not funny. He was horrifying. And I found his conversation with Emily about her attraction to Garrett inappropriate and uncomfortable. Throw in Emily’s self-righteous and judgmental attitude towards Mandy, a truly hateful and psycho bride, an abundance of dead and diseased caterpillars, and losing the entertaining Mandy for most of the movie until she is resurrected and rehabilitated at the end, this movie had me feeling caterpillars, not butterflies.
This one really took me by surprise. For a Christmas movie, it was really different. A lovely and sweet teenager moves to town and gets on the wrong side of a mean girl by winning the Christmas solo that mean girl thought she was entitled to. Meanwhile sweet and lovely girl’s mother and mean girl’s Dad (who is also very nice and very attractive) are falling in love. The mean girl is mean partially because her Mother was cheating on her Dad and left her to be with her boyfriend. This movie was full of tension and the mean girl goes way over the top, ending up vandalizing her rival’s house! That brings things to a head. The ending is almost too heartwarming.
The main problem I had with this movie was how quickly and easily the mean girl, Melissa, did a 180. In reality, she would have been signed up for years of therapy and a selection of some very powerful drugs. The other thing was the casting of the nice Mom. The actress seemed too old for Jonathan Scarfe who played the nice but overwhelmed Dad. And although Kelli Williams is attractive enough, it was not a good match. Ending on a complimentary note, despite the tension and almost horror of the situation, the script was full of witty banter and had some humor. I also liked that Charlotte, the nice girl, had friends who had her back, and even one of Melissa’s posse repented and went over to Charlotte’s side.
Rebekah's Readings and Watchings 