Operation Nutcracker

While this Hallmark Christmas story is not overly complicated, it is somewhat original. Fortunately, the two leads look like they could be paired in real life and the scripting allowed for the chemistry to be evident early on, without the usual Hallmark stand-off-ness until the magical last 5 minutes. Therefore, the final kiss was seamless and not just injected into the final minute as so often happens. The usual required conflict was minor and not overdone. I think this was my first cringe-less Hallmark movie.....Christopher Russell was not scripted to act bumbling, stupid or unmanly the entire movie. This is the first time I've watched the female lead....she is very attractive and an engaging actress. She resembled Denise Richards in quite a few scenes. I enjoyed this one from start to finish.

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It's quite tedious to have to hear this over and over again. And when that mantra isn't repeated, it's the ever-present nutcracker that causes quite the stir, but not necessarily in an interesting way . The beginning of the film is a bit strange, the plot does not flow gracefully and several of the actors lack that little something extra. Good thing that it is only a TV movie and not the big screen. Lottie (Ashley Newbrough) is an asset to the movie. The character she plays is however not that interesting, even if Lottie seem to have a bit of unsorted business in her own personal life. Christopher Russell is as usual enjoyable to watch, but is a bit outshined by Ashley's part, which might be intentional. For some reason I'd love a little more of Rhonda (Cassie Cao). A nice feature in the movie, even if it was for only a few seconds in total. All together, the TV movie is not bad, not superb, but watchable.

source: Operation Nutcracker