Review: Marry Me at Christmas
Two gorgeous blondes fall in love.
Title: MARRY ME AT CHRISTMAS
Starring: Rachel Skarsten (LOVE her!) and Trevor Donovan (SWOON!)
Release Year: 2017
Based on Book by Susan Mallery (Highly recommend the Fools Gold Series!)
Channel: Hallmark Movies (watched on demand via FRNDLY app)
Premise:
Maddie is the co-owner of a bridal shop in the small town of Fool’s Gold who agrees to take on the part of wedding planner for Ginger Blake. Johnny is Ginger’s famous action-star brother who has come to town to help plan the wedding. Maddie and Ginger want simple and tasteful for the wedding and Johnny want’s nothing but the most expensive for his baby sister. Shenanigans ensue. Of course, Maddie and Johnny are thrown together over and over and sparks fly. But they both have trust issues. More, less fun, shenanigans ensue.
ELEMENTS IN MOVIE (RATED 0–10 CHRISTMAS BELLS)
Romance Factor: 8 Christmas Bells — The chemistry was there, the story was there, but the ending lacked just enough for me not to be able to give the romance factor a 10. The love was there, but it just wasn’t expressed to my satisfaction.
Cheese Factor: 6 Christmas Bells — I’m actually a little disappointed they didn’t up the cheese factor with more of the quirkiness of the town and inhabitants of Fool’s Gold. But you have your Christmas Wedding and disenchanted movie star, so there’s adequate fromage.
Chemistry: 9 Christmas Bells — There’s chemistry between these two from the beginning. Maddie gets a little tongue tied when she first sees him. She’s a pretty down to earth, cool cookie, so it’s not his star-factor that gets her all googly-eyed.
Christmasy Factor: 8 Christmas Bells — It was nicely done. Fools Gold is a “Christmasy Town” but they were able to make it a great backdrop instead of a main character in the story (which very often happens). There’s also a Christmas Wedding to plan, so that ups the Xmas Factor a bit.
COMMON TROPES IN THIS MOVIE:
Rich/Poor Romance — He’s a rich, super famous, action star. She’s not “poor” but her business is in trouble.
Business Must Be Saved — Maddie’s bridal shop is on the brink of closure.
Super “Christmasy” Town — Fool’s Gold goes all out for all occasions (you really must read the book series!)
Finds the Meaning of Love — It’s more like they find love, but also find the meaning of trust.
Actor or Famous Person comes to small town — he’s in town for his sister’s wedding. Will he fall in love with the town and stay? We can only guess!
Christmas Wedding — Though neither of the lead characters are getting married, the wedding is a central part of the story.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
10 Christmas Bells — If you haven’t noticed, I’m a fan of the book/book series this movie was based on. However, like all book to movie translations, especially romance books, there were quite a few changes. If you’ve read the book already, go at this movie as a completely separate thing.
Looking at the movie on it’s own, it’s just delightful. Rachel Skarsten is the perfect Maddie and Trevor Donovan as Johnny, well, at risk of repeating myself, swoon! The romance is a nice slow build and very sweet. I highly recommend this one, even if you don’t generally like Christmas movies.
