NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

pumpkinmom-91723 Ok, we all know that Christmas specials are supposed to be a little cheesy and a little far fetched, that's part of the magic. But this entire movie, from the plotline to the acting is disappointing.The premise is that two girls who were best friends have a falling out over jealousy during a performance. Sure, girls can be caddy - but the idea that no parent, teacher or other source of reason stepped in during the 20 years since to put their ridiculous pre-teen feud into perspective? They're both single, teaching the same grade at the same school in a small town across the hall from each other and both miraculously live in gorgeous huge houses with manicured lawns. The one that can't cook at all has a full gourmet kitchen with top of the line appliances. In steps the new guy in town - a recently widowed hottie with a daughter in one of the classes. He's opening a homeless donation shelter in this tiny town that has enough money to put their teaching staff in mansions. Of course, both women pounce in attempts to get his attention - because that's all women are interested in, right? During the movie one woman learns to cook in a few goofy kitchen scene montages, she also babysits the new girl and tutors her a handful of times, and even though she barely has 3 conversations with the guy, love sparks - because she paid attention to his kid. Fast forward. Wacky mishaps. Ambitious deception resulting in a 2 minute tear filled miscommunication that is resolved with an I'm sorry and a hug in true Christmas movie fashion. The only good parts where the actress that played the little girl, the cameo that Alan Thicke had as a judge and the stunning homes that these elementary school teachers and the homeless shelter non-profit guy have. Zero Christmas magic, zero heart-touching honesty, zero personal revelations, zero character growth. I wish I could have rated it a zero.

Jack Vasen Seeing Erin Krakow as a teacher made me want to love this movie from the start. As the teacher on Once Calls the Heart, you can't help but expect genuine love, humility and generosity especially for her students.Throw in a cute little girl as the daughter of an attractive new dad in the school, James, and you have a great start.Unfortunately Christie has a very mean competitive streak. While it isn't nearly as nasty as her grade school rival, Penny, it still detracts from Christie and really is inconsistent with her character.We see an obvious attraction forming between Christie and James and between Christie and Lilly. What else would you expect? The rivalry, embodied in the cookie baking contest, becomes the central thread of the movie. I think you could tell that something was coming with the recipes, even though my guess wasn't quite right.The ending was too abrupt, too quick.

bellasmommie03 I am a sucker for Christmas movies! Christmas is my favorite time of year, watching all the holiday movies and hot chocolate. But I was wondering does anyone know the name of the book she was reading to the little girl when they were sitting on the couch after making the gingerbread cookies? Sounds like a book my kids would like me to read to them. The actress is one of my favorites she is amazing in all of her movies. I think the movie has a good story and a lot of Christmas spirit. I know everyone has different preferences but I don't see I need to get all nasty a bash the movie. I can't wait to watch it this year. There are plenty of others they run in the ground. I would rather see this one more than those.

MiamiReviewer I love me some Hallmark holiday moves. I can't tolerate this one. Two catty, unlikable women competing over the new dad in town. I assume you're supposed to like the lead actress because she's the "nicer" of the two? But she's just as pathetic as the nastier one, meeting the new dad once and immediately setting her desperate sights on him. That is literally the whole plot of this movie. No charming romanticism that develops over two hours. Nope. Just that a single hot guy shows up, and the ladies pull out their claws. Oh, and the hot dad's "job" is running a nonprofit goodwill type ramshackle empty storefront for needy people. Ugh.