I really enjoyed the first part of this movie. I suspended my disbelief and sunk into story. The chemistry between Ray and Reilly was okay and the outdoor scenes of the town were nice.

The story started going downhill when Louis as Scrooge attempts to buy the boat. Then Reilly's sister totally ruins a perfect one minute reconciliation between Ray and Reilly. The drama just never felt anything beyond something to move the plot along.

Once the Christmas miracles started I gave up fully on this movie. There also seem to be some continuity issues in the last 15 minutes of movie.

For a movie about people seeking authenticity this movie was surely missing it.

The story here avoids a lot of the usual formula plot lines. There are hints of some, but it doesn't hit you over the head with them. Except for one.

Big developers bad. Preserving the small town good.

The writers try to manufacture a lot of emotion from the characters that just didn't grab me and motivate me. Young Emma wants to go to an elite design school. The story tries to create the feeling of need and deprivation. The viewer is supposed to think how great a tragedy it would be if she can't go. It's not the idea, it's the degree to which they go.

Reilly is an attractive character played fairly well by Genelle Williams. She is pretty unselfish. So much so that she repeatedly blames herself for things she shouldn't. One of those is that she considers herself selfish for staging homes rather than helping people make real homes for themselves where they can be happy to live. Again, the story tries to manufacture great emotion over something that just didn't resonate with me.

Williams and Corey Sevier are OK together, but I had a little trouble rooting for Reilly to end up with Ray. Like so often is the case, Williams had more chemistry with Hattie Kragten who plays Emma. I was disappointed with Robin Dunne.

By the end of the movie, they have gone way past sappy, which has usually been good for me, into being extremely cheesy.