Oct 26

Oct 26 'Countdown to Christmas' movie review: 'Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses'

With its unapologetic love for holiday traditions, the winsome “Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses” (premiering Oct. 26) is a great movie to kick off Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas).

In short: Single mother Abbey (Jill Wagner, "Mystery 101") pursues her passion for interior design when she's offered the chance to decorate a mansion - but she must win over Nick (Matthew Davis), the estate's workaholic owner. Donna Mills also stars.

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Abbey is as doggedly determined to fill Nick with the holiday spirit as she is genuinely in love with all things Christmas. Wagner is perfectly cast as the decorator totally game to roll up her sleeves to complete to move furniture and a doting mother who loves making ginger bread houses. She's utterly relentless in her initial goal of cracking Nick's cold business demeanor. "Christmas Wishes" is an excellent showcase for Wagner as a Hallmark lead - Abbey is the co-worker, boss and friend you wish you had in your life.

Abbey is confidently and elementally herself through and through, but it's Nick that surprisingly gets the biggest character arc. At first, Nick comes off as a standard career-focused Scrooge type. So it's easy to totally easy to buy Davis as the all-work and no-play workaholic - to the point that he's actually kinda unlikable (in the best way possible).

Nick isn't quite a jerk, but his dismissive, Grinch-like attitude makes him the perfect foil for Abbey. Other Hallmark movies have followed this perfectly fine formula, but "Christmas Wishes" gives Nick a little more room to develop his character. His apparent allergy to Christmas is rooted in his real conflict: Abbey making Nick realize there's more to life than just work.

"Wishes" has some great casting and lovely themes, so its only weaknesses are structural. The story opens with Abbey taking a massive risk: she's a single mother who has steps away from the safety of a steady job to follow her dream job. Abbey has a lot to lose if she doesn't cut it as a interior designer. And once she's hired to decorate the mansion, the story thread of her career is almost completely pushed to the background. It's odd to start a film stressing how difficult it is for Abbey to even ask for an interview - then just jettison that subplot.

Final verdict: Wagner embodies a character you can't help but root for and Davis's struggle to strike a work-life balance makes the story way more relatable. And "Wishes" is a sweet reminder of holiday traditions.