Finding Christmas (2013)

Basically the movie The Holiday where the men switch instead of the ladies, and in different cities....

We have two love stories in this Christmas romance. The story is unusual in that sense, especially since the two are related but take place several states apart.The first gem is Tricia Helfer. I've seen her as a solid actress in a lot of things, but in this one she really drew me into the story. I thought especially that if you contrast Helfer's sincerity with either of the rival girls, you could see Ryan's love. Meanwhile you could clearly see in contrast that, even Kimber, played well by Brittany Gray, wasn't sincere as she professed her love for Owen. It was good acting by both Helfer and Gray. Jessica Phillips, as Halo, was a little more obvious what she wanted.I wish I thought that Mark Lutz, the beau opposite Helfer, was as good as her. Not bad, just not as good.The other gem is the singing of J.T. Hodges. I love these Christmas movies when a talented star sings. His character, Owen, was in the other love story with Mia. Hodges was good in his acting, again not as good as Helfer. As for the last main player, I thought that Cristina Rosato delivered a lot of her lines stiffly.This is one Hallmark movie where the kid didn't steal the show, nor was he intended to. He was cute, but really not central to the story.The story was mostly straight forward. We expect some roadblock on the way to happiness, and both romances got one.

I went into this knowing that the synopsis of this film was nearly identical to "The Holiday", but I was still curious to compare the two. And the title of this review is pretty much all you need to know. This was a decent movie, the acting is passable, and if I hadn't already seen "The Holiday" I probably would have thought the idea was pretty unique. The problem is that the story lacked the depth and charm that "The Holiday" has. They took elements from the original movie and watered them down. I'll give some examples but just be warned, mild spoiler alert. Two guys suffer major relationship blows right before Christmas and they decide to do a house swap. Now I know house swaps are a thing but they're not really that common. Instead of England and LA, the guys trade their places in New York and North Carolina. The city guy has a difficult time adjusting to country life at first, just like Cameron Diaz's character in "The Holiday". Country boy makes friends with City boy's assistant and the slow-burn romance commences. City boy meets Country boy's sister who is unlike any woman he's ever been in a relationship with. They date, all the while she keeps her son a secret from him. This works in "The Holiday" because you don't previously know that Graham has daughters, so it's a shock (and pleasant surprise) that the girls who are calling him aren't looking for a hookup, they just miss their dad, whereas in "Finding Christmas" you know from the first or second scene that Ryan has a son. City boy's almost-fiancée follows him to the country to get back with him. All of the problems are resolved and both couples spend the holidays together.Like I said, it's an OK film (plus Owen is pretty cute!) but "The Holiday" is so much better. This story is very superficial and bland, but in "The Holiday" you see real character development from all of the characters, especially Iris and Amanda. I am definitely biased because "The Holiday" is one of my favorite movies of all time, let alone favorite Christmas movie.

This movie has a somewhat predictable plot line, as do most of the Hallmark holiday movies: boy meets girl, boy loses girl (through a series of misunderstandings), and boy and girl finally get together. In this case, it's a gender reversal of the movie "The Holiday". There are some cute twists to the story and the dialog is believable. Unfortunately, as is usual for Hallmark, the characters are a little simplistic, so I was pleasantly surprised ... no, DELIGHTFULLY surprised at J.T. Hodges' cover of "Joy to the World." It was wonderful. His rendition was simple, fresh, while still being respectful. It made me want to hear more and I've watched the movie twice just to hear the song again.