Well Suited for Christmas

This movie has lots of the usual formulas. A Christmas contest at a charity gala. Designer Rachel really needs to win for her business. Decorating party. Protective mom and dad. Foster kids. And the one that is as pervasive as any but always irritates me relative to how strongly played - the leads' first meeting is antagonistic. In this case it was pretty strong and the unjolly tension remained a bit long. Then it instantly disappeared.

But stick with this despite the early lack of merry measure. There are some twists, small and one large in the second half. At one point I wondered if there would be any conflict between Rachel and Brett because it seemed like everyone's HEA was shaping up early, but it came with a little foreshadowing at the last minute.

After Rachel got over her preconceptions about Brett, I liked Mercedes de la Zerda in this role. She and Franco Lo Presti have chemistry despite Brett's intentional reserved demeanor.

As much as the first half made me feel like a grinch, the second half was very well done not just with little surprises, but some deeper handling of issues like trust, at least one piece of symbolism, and some sentimental moments too. By the climax I was starting to feel my Ho, Ho, Ho.