This movie was not made for people like me, but I enjoyed it anyway. There is a LOT of singing, especially Christmas themed singing (and singing practice and singing prep). I love the holidays, but a little Christmas caroling goes a long way for me. But that says more about me than the movie. In fact, there's a line about "Sandy and Danny" that the teenager didn't get but the adults did. Except me. I had to Google those names. But again, that just says more about what I like as opposed to the quality of the movie, which was quite good.
Darcy is delightfully played by Broadway star Patti Murin who, though quite talented, doesn't sing my kind of music (I'm a Springsteen fan and just spent a small fortune on Taylor Swift tickets for my daughter and me). But there's some really good messaging in connection with Darcy encouraging a group of high schoolers to become better singers and, more importantly, to become more confident.
Brendan Penny plays against type as Adam, a music teacher with nerdy glasses and, at least initially, an unattractive personality and immature envy that he didn't even try to hide. Most fans of Hallmark movies and romance novels like the "enemies to lovers" trope, which is why we see it over and over again. But the best ones, for me, are when you can understand both sides. Here, there really was no justification for Adam's attitude. He inevitably acts better and, as Darcy puts it, she sees him as "dorky in a weirdly attractive way".
But if Adam needs to wear glasses, why does he show up one night without them?
Cassidy Reichman as Darcy's niece Megan was excellent as was Jennifer Robertson as Gretchen.
There were lots of fun lines by writer Russell Hainline:
Darcy: "Don't do anything I would do"
Adam: "So we both don't 'not like' each other. Does that mean we like each other?
Darcy: "Ooh! Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Gretchen: "So, if you live in New York, shouldn't you have made, like, a teeny tiny gingerbread apartment with little gingerbread cockroaches?"
Lawyer Mom's reaction to Megan's burgeoning social life is fun, as is the $5 bet
I don't think I've ever heard anyone (who isn't a lawyer) react to a date proposal with "I would be amenable to that." But it worked.
I love the scene with the two sisters as one gets ready for her date. Very sweet.
But I wasn't thrilled with the very Hallmarky Career versus Small Town Love choice that Darcy had to make or how that was resolved.
