I for one enjoyed it. It felt a little rushed sometimes and like they could have expanded on a few things, but it was still cute and I'll buy it on DVD. James Van Der Beek and Erin Karpluck had some great chemistry. I would have loved to have seen more of that with the story expanding just a little more on their characters' courtship. The Christmas program left much to be desired but it wasn't the focus of the story so we'll forgive them that one.
I do have one severe gripe and I've seen this many times over in movies that have a similar conflict with a specific character. With the back story between Reba and her sister I felt dissatisfied with Reba finally just showing up on her doorstep. If I were her I'd have a few more things to say and a few questions I wanted answered. Yes, perhaps they did talk and we weren't intended to see it but I would have liked to. In my mind it's no longer about the guy for Reba. He's long gone anyway and she's better off without him. It's about what her sister did and what would drive a sister to go that far. Mere competitiveness seems too trivial for a betrayal of that magnitude. So I would have liked to see that conversation. I would also have liked to see Seth at the piano in their home before his final decision to play at the pageant. I realize they probably wanted to emphasize his return by him just showing up but I would have liked to see it anyway. This movie wasn't really meant to be a nail-biter, after all.
Still, as I said, I enjoyed it and I'll be happy to have a copy when it's released on DVD. I was definitely more pleased with this than National Tree or Flower Girl.
I do have one severe gripe and I've seen this many times over in movies that have a similar conflict with a specific character. With the back story between Reba and her sister I felt dissatisfied with Reba finally just showing up on her doorstep. If I were her I'd have a few more things to say and a few questions I wanted answered. Yes, perhaps they did talk and we weren't intended to see it but I would have liked to. In my mind it's no longer about the guy for Reba. He's long gone anyway and she's better off without him. It's about what her sister did and what would drive a sister to go that far. Mere competitiveness seems too trivial for a betrayal of that magnitude. So I would have liked to see that conversation. I would also have liked to see Seth at the piano in their home before his final decision to play at the pageant. I realize they probably wanted to emphasize his return by him just showing up but I would have liked to see it anyway. This movie wasn't really meant to be a nail-biter, after all.
Still, as I said, I enjoyed it and I'll be happy to have a copy when it's released on DVD. I was definitely more pleased with this than National Tree or Flower Girl.