A delayed flight, a woman who's lost sight of what Christmas is all about, and a kindly Uncle all combine for this wonderful Christmas Hallmark film, that pulls you in and provides a lovely 80+ minutes of entertainment.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and thought the cast (including Henry Winkler no less) did a great job. The story line is sweet and funny, and actually has some important messages thrown in along the way.

There are lots of films that claim to be 'Christmas classics' that really aren't, but this is a worthy contender.

When you watch Christmas films these days, there's a certain sameness about many of them. This is NOT a criticism, as many folks KNOW what they're in for with these films and they love them...much like romance novels. So, when you see "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year", you'll notice that there are a lot of familiar story elements AND you know exactly where all this is going...but you likely won't mind.

I should also point out that "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" has many similarities and shares many plot elements with my favorite Christmas film, 1949's "A Holiday Affair"....though there's enough new stuff in this one so that it's not really a remake...more a re-imagining.

Uncle Ralph (Henry Winkler) is a nice guy who, along with his deceased wife, raised Jennifer (Brooke Burns) . And, he's on the way to her house for the holidays when he meets up with Morgan (Warren Christie) at the airport. The two end up becoming friends and Ralph invites Morgan to accompany him to Jennifer's house for at least the next day or so, as Morgan's connecting flight has been canceled due to the weather. Ralph also has an ulterior motive....as he dislikes Jennifer's all-business fiance and hopes he can play matchmaker and get Jennifer and Morgan together. He also wants to do this because Jennifer has a son...and the fiance likely would make a cold and crappy step-dad.

As I said above, the story is pretty predictable and the story is familiar. But the acting and production are so well done, you won't likely mind. Enjoyable and sweet...and a nice Christmas film for the whole family...even curmudgeons.

Hallmark's Christmas films have been variable, especially in recent years, with some surprising hits but quite a lot of misses (or near so at least). Enough of their earlier efforts, such as 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year', were decent and more if never quite mind-blowing. However, in recent years there have been a fair share of average and less films of theirs when overtime they got in comparison lazier, ran out of ideas and resorted to a good deal of recycling.

'The Most Wonderful Time of Year' is one of the earlier efforts, and to me over ten years on it's one of their best festive offerings and indicative that Hallmark can be good if given a chance. The film didn't blow me away or anything and it could have done without one scene, but so much works in its favour and it's full of charm and heart as a Christmas film ideally should do. All while not taking itself too seriously, in fact there is quite a fair bit of humour here.

It looks lovely, the locations are picturesque and there is nothing slapdash about the way 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' is shot. The music is appropriately festive with no questionable placements, not making the mistake of many recent Hallmark films of being too loud or too constant. The film goes at a pace that has plenty of breathing space but doesn't wallow. The story is familiar territory, but its warm heart, amiable charm and that there are nice moments of levity makes it a story that's palatable.

Script is not crass or too sentimental, with some genuinely funny lines from Uncle Ralph. Did find myself invested in the characters and wasn't annoyed or bored by them, loved Uncle Ralph and even the kid isn't overly cute or annoying. The acting is good, with the top honours going to Henry Winkler who is a delight and really gives the film the lift needed.

For all those great things, 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' has debits. Do agree that the assault of the shop owner was not in good taste and really didn't mesh with the rest of the film, the film would have been better off without it and it would not have affected anything if it was cut.

Ending is slightly too pat too.

Overall, lovely. 8/10