gail-is-joshs One of my top all time favorites from Hallmark!! It's full of humor, family love and romance!

SimonJack "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is one of the better modern Christmas stories put on film. My eight stars may be pushing it a bit because at times the acting seems wooden or hesitant by the two young leads. At other times, especially early on, Brooke Burns as Jennifer Cullen seems to over act, or over react. Maybe it's that so many films focus on the busy-ness of people around the Christmas season that this seems to be wearing thin in the modern run of films. The engagement between Jennifer and Richard, played by Woody Jeffreys, isn't believable. The guy is so intense as a businessman that he doesn't show any affection toward her at all. He doesn't smile one time in this film. Yet she insists several times that "Richard is a good man," etc. It's a real stretch for viewers to think or believe that she could be in love with that guy. The screenplay comes up short in these areas; and the directing should have put some life into Richard. While it may seem a little hokey that Uncle Ralph (played by Henry Winkler) would invite a stranded airline passenger, Morgan Derby (played by Warren Christie) to spend Christmas with his family, it hearkens to a similar situation in the highly popular movie of 1987, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." Morgan seems a little awkward at first, then uncertain of himself, then a little forward toward Jennifer. Still, this is a good story - and a refreshingly fun film. It owes most of its appeal to Winkler. He is a retired police officer from Brooklyn who is making his annual flight across country to spend the Christmas holidays with his niece and nephew. He meets Morgan in the airport, and Morgan pulls a little caper with Ralph's help to get them checked in at the head of the line, and moved up to first class. On the plane flight out, he tells Morgan that Jennifer is more like a daughter than a niece. And his nephew, Brian, is played beautifully by young Connor Levins. It seems to be a formula for all films in which a single parent child appears, that the child intuits who the right mate should be for his or her mom or dad. Well, it's that way here with Brian taking to Mogan right away and not caring for Richard. But of course, we viewers can see the same thing just in how the characters are presented. The film has some nice touches of humor throughout, especially with a busybody neighbor. Uncle Ralph takes every opportunity to push Morgan toward Jennifer, and to ease her out of her engagement to Richard. Jennifer knows what he's doing, and part of the humor, and warmth, is their interaction. The relationship between Ralph and Jennifer shows a very believable and lovable chemistry between an uncle and a niece. That's one of the strengths of this move. I agree with the reviewer who noted the fight scene with Morgan and the store owner. Playing that for humor detracts from the value of this as a family film. Hallmark tried to make it seem innocuous, but that's sending a message to a child that white lies are OK. Overall, though, this is a Christmas film for adults that one might add to his or her holiday film collection.

blanche-2 Wow, major raves for this one. I must admit that for me, this was just another predictable Hallmark movie with a young, attractive cast.The film from 2009 stars Brooke Burns, Henry Winkler, Warren Christie, and Woody Jeffries.Burns is Jennifer Cullen, a single mom feeling overwhelmed by the holidays. She will be meeting her boyfriend's (Woody Jeffies) parents and serving them dinner, which she finds frightening.When her uncle Ralph (Winkler), a former cop, arrives, he wants a young man, Morgan (Warren Christie) to stay at the house also. Jennifer flips out. This is all she needed.Morgan proves plenty useful, hanging her Christmas lights, helping with the meal, and breaking into a store to retrieve her son's gift.We all know what happens. Not exactly a spoiler. Sweet movie, nice for the holidays. Warren Christie, who is actually Irish, is quite the hunk and has been a recurring actor on many TV series, and a regular on Alphas.

seasamh If you like the Hallmark formula (and I do!), this one should hit all the right buttons. There's not much plot going on (but you don't watch these things for the plot, do you?). Our heroine is a single mom to an overly-mature, curly-top child; favorite uncle meets stranded hunk on a plane and invites him home for the holidays. Okay, so Mom is not keen on Christmas, and she really can't cook; Son isn't sure there's a Santa Claus; and Stranger is a holiday-lover who happens to be a chef. Any doubt where this is going? So how could that garner 9 stars from me? The casting! I hardly noticed there was no plot until I was thinking about it afterward! Brooke Burns -- not an actress that I would expect to see on stage at an award show -- is actually quite good. One of my favorite scenes: She's talking through the car window to an irritating neighbor, trying to keep her composure with a forced smile on her face, and after she rolls up the window and starts to pull away, she mutters (almost without moving her lips), "Step in front of the car, lady!" She just nails the line -- she's not a nasty person, so the nastiness she musters in the line works. I've never seen male lead Warren Christie before, but ... where has he been all my life! The chemistry between the two is awesome, really awesome, and he may be my favorite Hallmark hero of all time. Henry Winkler is the match-making uncle. I find him a little annoying -- he always plays the same character, and he's obviously intended to be droll, but it's a bit too overt -- like he has "I am droll" stamped across his forehead. It's a credit to the leads that he recedes into his proper place. This was an enjoyable entry into the Hallmark holiday collection. I highly recommend it.