Christmas in the City (2013)

You could easily dismiss a film like this. It is easy to do but this film is very "family friendly" and has a sweetness to it that i found comforting. What this is about is about love and hope. They story is Wendy Carroll (Ashley Williams) and her six-year-old daughter Grace (Kylie Price) live in a small town where Christmas is everywhere, she gets a foreclosure notice three weeks before Christmas for her father's candy store that she has ran for the last five years. To make some extra money and save the candy store Carroll and Grace travel to the big city. She stays with her friend Angie from back home whom just got a major part in a play. Angie works at Wolman's Department store where she takes Carrol to apply for a temp job. On waiting for Angie to check in she meets Tom who manages the store and offers her a job in the toy department of Wolmans, the city's biggest department store, Wendy can't wait! She thinks the store is amazing, with all the Christmas holiday cheer, unfortunately her excitement doesn't last long when the store's manager, Teanna (Ashanti), destroys the Christmas spirit throughout the store and replaces Santa. (Michael Durrell) with a hunky male underwear model surrounded by elfin "babes."What Teanna is unaware of is that she has in fact sacked the real Santa. Unaware of his real "Santa" status, Wendy reaches out to the old man but it seems even he has given up hope. With her daughter losing faith in the holiday, Wendy realizes she must bring the true meaning of Christmas back to Wolmans before it is too late.What I like the most about this was that it did capture "That feeling you have at Christmas when your a child". You think everything is possible

This film is so far fetched that it borders on camp however, Ashley Williams makes the film watchable and believable. This is not easy because this film has things that are crazy. Example Angie lives in an apartment that she could never afford. Tom is "Good looking" "Nice" and "single"? Then there is Teeana Setting up Wendy and when she is caught she doesn't even go to jail? Putting all of that aside I still love this film. It all comes down to"Faith" "Hope" "Family" and "Traditions".The main plot of the film is that Wendy Carroll (Ashley Williams) and her six-year-old daughter Grace (Kylie Price) live in a small town where Christmas is everywhere, she gets a foreclosure notice three weeks before Christmas for her father's candy store that she has ran for the last five years. To make some extra money and save the candy store Carroll and Grace travel to the big city. She stays with her friend Angie from back home whom just got a major part in a play. Angie works at Wolman's Department store where she takes Carrol to apply for a temp job. On waiting for Angie to check in she meets Tom who manages the store and offer's her a job in the toy department of Wolmans, the city's biggest department store, Wendy can't wait! She thinks the store is amazing, with all the Christmas holiday cheer, unfortunately her excitement doesn't last long when the store's manager, Teanna (Ashanti), destroys the Christmas spirit throughout the store and replaces Santa. (Michael Durrell) with a hunky male underwear model surrounded by elfin "babes."I don't want to give too much away but I love it when it seems the whole world breaks out and sings "Oh Come All Ye Faithful". I am not religious but that moment is magic to me. This film has a vibe that reminds me of the movies "Disney" made in the 1960's and 1970'sVery family safe. Not for everyone. However if you want to watch a film about a woman trying to hang on to family traditions and succeeding then watch this. I wish this was available on DVD however you can stream it on Netflix. I am looking forward to seeing Ashley Williams on other projects.

There are so many issues that I have with this movie. My review is going to go through only a few of the many issues I saw on my first (and only) view.So the place and time are New York City in December. One glaring issue that I saw related to this was all of the grass, trees, and shrubs in every outside scene were green, showing no signs of Winter. Grace Caroll, the child, continuously talks in a child's "OH MY GOSH, I'M GOING TO BE IN A MOVIE" tone. The overacting is terrible. Right before Tom learns about Angie's plans, he walks to Angie's printer and finds her plans. As he walks up, the printer is jammed, and the paper that he pulls out of it is crumpled on the bottom half. However, the jam on the whole bottom half of the page does not even smudge the ink? I sure wish that the director would sell his design for printers like that... What about after Wendy finds out that the store Santa is the real Santa? I'd be surprised for at least a few minutes, yet about 10 seconds after she finds out, she has a dim expression and seems unfazed by this? Wendy said to Tom that her father tried to teach her to skate for years, and that she has two left feet, so she never could. But near the end of the movie, after the years of not even trying to skate (as she said earlier), she doesn't fall, and can even raise on leg in the air as she skates without falling on her face? How about every actor having red eyes throughout the whole film? They all look stoned because of this.This is just a little description of the issues that were raised in my first and only viewing. I would not recommend this low-budget piece of crap to anyone, even if it would save my life.

Ashanti sparkles in an otherwise run of the mill cable channel Xmas unfortunately cast as the horrible, naughty boss and not as a deserving and ultimately rewarded believe in Christmas character. A department store fantasy about two potential mates not otherwise likely to meet, bonded through chemistry and a parallel agenda to save a failing family business from the mistakes of their progenitors Ashley Williams and Jon Prescott give it their best without the character storyboard punch or the editing punch making Ashanti glow. There are the traditional cable channel sidekicks including a clueless, doting mom, a less fascinating if well intentioned buddy and a store Santa Claus with a surprising backstory. The only reason I would enjoy this over and over is Ashanti.