For some reason I find Ashley Williams constant toothy smile annoying!! Her lower teeth are part of her expression every time she speaks! It makes everything appear SO insincere! I just can't view her as real with that overwhelming toothy show constantly on display! Next complaint: Doesn't anyone reside in a home that isn't mansion-sized!?! Every single hallmark Christmas movie takes place in a millionaires property! Couldn't anyone live in a normal-sized home?!? Next: Why does everyone wear high-heeled shoes in supposed wintry weather!? Do they all need to dress like the Drumplethinskin family!?
Plot summary
Peyton Canaday, the accountant at her parents' Birch Creek business, the Canaday Inn, and physician Dr. Ben Tyler, having known each other since childhood, were once good friends, that is up until ten years ago when she professed her romantic feelings for him with he responding by leaving town the next day for good. Since Ben returned to Birch Creek a year ago to work at the Birch Creek Community Hospital under the Chief-of-Staff, his divorced father Dr. David Tyler, he and Peyton have conveniently avoided each other. But with one week to go before Christmas, they are forced back together when their mutual friend, widowed Ford Sherman, unexpectedly winds up in the hospital for a few days and needs someone to look after his adolescent daughter, Lily Sherman. With the care to Lily not only the necessities of life, which Ben could handle on his own, but also to maintain some stability in her life by embarking on what were Lily's mother's holiday traditions, Ben requests Peyton's help in he never having had any traditions associated with Christmas. This time with Lily throws a wrench into what both Peyton and Ben had planned in the lead up to Christmas. Wanting to move into event planning, Peyton convinced her parents to let her organize this year's twenty-fifth anniversary Canaday Inn Christmas Eve party, which for all those years has been Birch Creek's event of the Christmas season. Peyton wants to make her mark by making this the best party ever, especially as the Gazette newspaper is planning to feature it on the front page of its Christmas edition. While she has been able to cross all the t's and dot all the i's in being detailed oriented, the one thing Peyton has not been able to do with one week to go is the big picture item of coming up with the party theme, the secret which she's kept behind the locked doors of the inn's still empty ballroom. Ben, when hearing about Ford, was just about to catch a plane to spend Christmas in Honduras for a "vacation", with only his father knowing the real reason being in going for an interview for a three year contract to work at Doctor's Care International's field clinic there, they who need a doctor on the ground the beginning of the new year. In spending time together with Lily, Peyton and Ben become friends once again with the possibility of more, especially if Ben divulges the real reason he didn't say anything to her ten years ago. But they will still have to overcome their different life paths, Peyton in what she hopes will be her new event planning career, and Ben in his medical work in Honduras, much like the altruistic decisions both his parents have made in their lives.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Ashley Williams as Peyton Canaday
Susan Saint James as Woman
Matt Hamilton as Ford Sherman
Paul Campbell as Dr. Ben Tyler
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 774.01 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
Annoying
Reviewed by
Open Your Heart to Christmas
Peyton Canaday (Ashley Williams) is an accountant who wants to demonstrate her extended talents as an event planner at her parents inn. Enter Dr. Ben Tyler (Paul Campbell) a beau from her past. A child by the name of Lily indirectly helps them find out what is really important during the holidays and the other 364 days of the year.
Williams lights up the screen and Campbell is just as infectious to watch. They make this holiday movie a good one to watch.
Bring out the hot cocoa and cookies this one will leave you with a smile and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.
Reviewed by
Hearts at Christmas
Nobody should watch Hallmark films with massively high expectations, their Christmas output particularly. If a Hallmark fan or wanting to see as many Christmas films as possible, expectations would understandably be higher. They are very formulaic with most of them being more of the same narratively and structurally, apart from sporadic attempts at changes of pace. There are a fair share of them though that are surprisingly above average and even good amidst the many average and less ones.
2019 was a very hit and miss and somewhat unimpressive year for Hallmark and their Christmas output. 'Holiday Hearts' to me, and many others it seems, managed to be one of the best from that year and actually among their best Christmas films in general. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch, then again is that expected from Hallmark, or flawless. But 'Holiday Hearts' does show that Hallmark do have a good film in them if given a chance and not taken too seriously.
Like other Hallmark Christmas films, 'Holiday Hearts' is a bit of a slow starter. Some of the dialogue in the early parts did make me cringe and the story didn't grab me straight away when it was very slight. Anybody expecting innovation are best looking elsewhere, as when it comes to the story it is one of those stories that you've seen in some shape or form in other Hallmark films.
While other Hallmark films fared worse, the music is on the intrusive side.
However, for me there was a lot to like about 'Holiday Hearts'. Ashley Williams is very photogenic and has a lot of charm to her, she is a lot better here than she was in 'Northern Lights of Christmas'. She doesn't overdo any mannerisms and she doesn't hold back. She has a suitably sympathetic but never on the wrong side of dull leading man in Paul Campbell. Both the characters were for me easy to connect to and grew in development, with any rushed or senseless motivations. Their chemistry comes over as genuine as well. Lisa Durupt is good fun in her role.
It pleases visually too, especially the appropriately festive locations that are not drably shot or too drab in colour scheme. Once 'Holiday Hearts' gets going and things get better, the dialogue is tighter and less stilted than a lot of Hallmark Christmas films and the cheese and sentiment isn't as much. The story is very predictable admittedly, but it still engaged me and was charming and heart-warming while not taking itself too seriously. It is not as slight as most Hallmark Christmas films too, again though once it gets going. The characters may be well worn cliches, but they came over to me as likeable enough and any negative character traits didn't come over as over the top like can be the case in Hallmark Christmas films. Actually cared for these characters, not the case with a lot of recently seen Christmas films.
Overall, worth seeing if not a must. 7/10