Moonlight & Mistletoe (2008)

The Worst Film Ever

Powerful

Excellent adaptation.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A great film for the holidays. It follows a formula but the package works well. Characters develop and become very familiar. Picturesque setting with all the classic elements of a Christmas film. Good guy, bad guy, goal to keep the pace. You want everything to work out. Wholesome and charming. Great family movie.

After seeing "Moonlight and Mistletoe," I wondered why Hollywood or TV hadn't come up with the idea for such a plot long before 2008. Kudos to Hallmark for having an original and interesting plot. It seems like a natural, and the setting of this TV film in Chester, Vermont, apparently gave the community a tourism shot for the next several years. While the story is a good one, this movie unfortunately suffers in a number of areas. The screenplay seems to skip a beat here and there. Some of the situations are overly hokey or a little hard to believe. The most obvious is Nick's accident and injury. His runaway horse-drawn sleigh crashes into a tree? The film is billed as a drama, romance, family movie – no mention of comedy. So, we're to believe that a horse that had been pulling Santa's sleigh for more than 20 years all of a sudden went wild (in its old age) and ran its sleigh head-on into a tree? A somewhat lesser, but still very obvious far-fetched scene is toward the end when Holly all of a sudden is in love with Peter. Until that scene she was so-so, even a little attracted to Ben. But when Ben turns out to be a bad guy, Holly suddenly falls for Peter. It's a bit much. Perhaps the writers and/or director could have had this build up a little earlier – and not have it appear right on the heels of Ben's fall from grace. Finally, the acting. Most of the cast were passable to good only. Tom Arnold as Nick was just enough overboard in his enthusiasm (I know, it's a part of his normal persona), that he came across as being oblivious to his dire circumstances. And, while Candace Bure portrayed the hectic Holly as a businesswoman, I think it was overdone to the point that we in the audience can't buy her sudden return to earth with her nostalgia for the past. If her fast-paced, hectic busy-ness had been reduced just a bit, the return to normalcy would have seemed more natural and believable. The exaggeration of those two performances detracted considerably from the story. This film isn't bad, but it misses its potential for a number of these shortcomings. Most people may enjoy it once, but aside from some pictures of toys, I doubt that the fast action of Holly and her dad will keep young ones interested.

Unlike some reviewers I found this film to be a typical Christmas movie. Candice Cameron Bure has matured very nicely in my opinion and I did not find her shrill. Her acting was good enough for this show. I have always liked Tom Arnold and while his nasal voice can be a little annoying at times he still is a good actor. In this picture Tom Arnold is not the real Santa but a man who loves Christmas so much he has made a whole town called Santaville dedicated to Christmas. It is open every day of the year, no exceptions. Candace his his daughter, Holly. She gets enough cheer while growing up and has moved to the big city where she is the consummate sales manager for a big company. She returns to Santaville after years away and finds out daddy is close to losing it all. A seeming miracle occurs when a financial adviser shows up and says he might be able to help. Of course he is a bad guy and while he gets backers the contract calls for Tom to pay off his debt by Christmas, three weeks away. Trying to save the place leads to Tom doing a blog and calling past visitors. This leads to hundreds of people and their families coming out to the town. Then there is Peter a very gifted craftsman who makes one of a kind hand made Christmas related toys(?). Turns out they are what saves the day as they sell so well that, with a substantial commitment from Candace's boss, they manage to raise enough to save Santaville. Since this is a feel good Hallmark movie Peter and Holly also fall in love. I liked it.

I'm afraid I find the performances in this drama about a man who runs a 365-day-a-year Santa Claus Village that is about to go under (Tom Arnold) and his daughter who moved away (Candace Cameron Bure) rather poor. Tom Arnold is clueless and nasal until the plot calls for a bit of warmth and Miss Bure, while very pretty, is shrill.The other actors are good, but their roles seem to be matters of revealing the secrets that made them come to Santaville for some warm fuzzy moments. In fact, that seems to be the entire set-up of this movie: conflict, then warm fuzzy moment, and the performances make it all seem very calculated.Even the camera work supports this: consider, if you will, the scene where Tom Arnold and Candace Cameron Bure finally bond. The are sitting at the dining room table, going over his mementos of his dead wife. Instead of shooting it in an extended two-shot, which would have been more difficult to achieve and hence more expensive, but more effective, it is shot in a series of close-up reaction shots: basically, instead of two people together, it winds up two people apart. Using a yellow light for atmosphere does not make up for missed opportunities in the service of a small budget, alas.