Look at all the bad reviews because some dare make a...gasp...heart warming and satisfying film.

And that is exactly what it is, heart warming and satisfying. The kind of movie that promises you from the onset that the guy is going to get the girl and everyone is going to live happily ever after.

You have that promise walking in to it...so giving the film a negative review because it makes good on the promise is sort of....jaded. The movie makes promises that it keeps, and the promises fits within the genre....

...but there are parts of it that are so far out of the genre that it really catches you by surprise, and that is the brilliance of the film. You know exactly what the movie is going to give you walking in...and then it throws a curve here and there that makes it stand out completely from all the other films in the genre...

And I don't want to have to throw up the spoiler shade on this, so you take my word for it...when you think you know what's about to happen...you do, it's exactly that kind of movie, but there's enough of a twist to it to catch you off guard.

And those little things, the humor, all makes Pottersville stand out above the rest of the feel good Christmas movies. It's heartwarming and delightfully different, even if it does fit nicely into a mold.

12/25/17. This was actually a cute holiday-time movie that was surprisingly enjoyable to watch. I say that because I would never picture Shannon doing such a movie, and he was good! It's almost like a modern day take off on It's a Wonderful Life. Catch it!

The title of the film, which is also the name of the town in which the story takes place, immediately brought to mind the 1946 Christmas classic, "It's a Wonderful Life". That's because the town of Bedford Falls where that story took place, was reimagined as Pottersville during the alternate reality in which Jimmy Stewart's character had never been born. I don't know that I'd classify this as a Christmas movie per se, although there are enough scenes in which Christmas trees, holiday decorations and good old Christmas spirit abide to provide a nice, family friendly viewing experience for those who would like to catch something a little offbeat. I do think Michael Shannon would have been better served as the principal character if he managed a smile every now and then. He looked so much like a younger David Letterman that it kept me distracted somewhat. His employee Parker (Judy Greer) did seem like a better match for him than wife Connie (Christina Hendricks),so their getting together at the end of the picture was somewhat expected, especially after all the hijinks involved with the Bigfoot sighting and the attendant uproar created when 'Monster Finder' TV rolled into town. Their media celebrity Brock Masterson (Thomas Lennon) was a bit hard to take for this viewer, and it was satisfying to see him sent packing when all the dust settled. Anyway, now that I've thought about it while writing this review, I'm going to include "Pottersvile" in my list of Christmas movies I've watched and reviewed here on IMDb. It's at least as Christmasy as "Santa Claus Conquered the Martians" and with it's current IMDb rating, it's at least twice as good.