Il club di Natale

Love these two together, very real and funny. An honest, not forced romance. Not a totally original story, follows the Hallmark playbook to a tee, but I still liked it. The kids were cute not overacted as well as the supporting actors. One of the few movies that makes you laugh. Going on my next year's Christmas watch list. PS Love Elizabeth Mitchell in everything.

A woman's Christmas club money is swept away by a sudden gust of wind, and strangers Olivia (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Edward (Cameron Mathison) kindly help in her time of need. She is a ballet teacher and widowed mom, and he is a business consultant who travels a lot, but the 'magic' of Christmas then ensures they continue to meet. Great chemistry amid the usual story curveballs ensures it enjoyable enough to perhaps revisit every other year.

We've thought the 2019 crop of Hallmark Christmas movies has been pretty disappointing. This is the third one we like.

We liked Cameron Mathison in "A Christmas to Remember", and he came through again here, with a very similar performance. Elizabeth Mitchell is just as beautiful as we remember her from her Santa Clause roles.

This is a story of two people broken on love, and a chance(?) meeting which brings them together ... again and again and again.

The characters all have chemistry, which is essential for a romance, and the story has believability, despite the "magic lady" who drives the couple's fate.

I'm not sure if this is one we'll want to watch year after year, but we very much enjoyed one viewing.

Cameron Mathison is adorable in this. The Uncle I aspire to be, the business mind I'd like to have and the gorgeous, loving and kind man I'd like to share my life with.

The female lead is a bit precious and "sweet" in a sickly kind of way, but she's not that bad. Certainly she wouldn't make me turn it off, because I actually really enjoyed this film. After turning off 4 films yesterday, because they were all terrible, it was nice to get back on track with this one.

It's full of Christmassy activities, morals and spirit and the romance is cute.

I think her reaction towards the end is a bit OTT, but they have to do something to cause some drama don't they.

It's a festive film that we could all watch and feel something for, but we definitely need to start seeing Cameron topless, at least, in one of these soon.

Of course Hallmark have its standard list of go-to performers for its films, and they're great, but it is equally nice to see someone new pop up in one of them.

Enter Elizabeth Mitchell ('Santa Clause 2-3) here, and what a joy she is, allowing this to be a different sort of Hallmark film.

Ably supported by Hallmark regular Cameron Mathison (allowed to do more than just be an 'action man', as he normally seems to be cast as) this was lovely, with more depth than a standard one of these films.

One of the best festive films I saw in 2020.