Next day, I’m still feeling pretty bummed and anxious about the state of the world. Next stop: the fantastically named Return to Christmas Creek, another unashamed romantic flight of fancy from 2018, from director Don McBrearty again.
In this one, Tori Anderson is Amelia, a young CEO who returns to her hometown to rediscover the meaning of the season, after the ‘holiday app’ she designed gets kiboshed by her superiors for lacking ‘Christmas Spirit.’ Of course, the poor girl also gets dumped by her unappreciative boo right before she heads off to a place so festive and wonderful that they actually named it after Christmas.
Brilliantly, this is the sort of scarcely credible film where ‘spirit’ can solve just about any problem, including bringing a good ol’ boy back from Afghanistan just in time for the holidays and having Amelia bump into a cute old flame (Stephen Huszar) the second she arrives in town. Even better, Amelia joins her charitable do-gooder uncle delivering gifts to the needy via a cool little aeroplane.
It's predestined that our heroine will hang out with the wholesome, cheery townsfolk, reconnect with her estranged uncle and find Mr Right, making everyone’s spirits soar as high as that plane. And you just know that our girl will discover the true meaning of the season just in time to pitch her boss an incredibly vague concept that will save her career, the company and the very souls of every person who watches this. Never mind that the pitch is on Christmas Eve and there is no chance anyone will want to use the app in 24 hours time. Who cares about that? What matters is that this is an unrepentant schmaltz overload…and it’s oddly marvellous.
I’m wondering if two weeks of this stuff has already pummelled my cynical little brain into submission. I do roll my eyes many times, but can’t deny this silly little story’s been the highlight of a wishy-washy day. I’m not sure about watching Hallmark all year round, but as a cure for depressing winter cabin fever, this is good medicine.
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