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Two sisters. Eve and Lacy, who are having a miserable Christmas season wind up living in a Christmas movie as all the cliches (mean boss, sweet grandma, handsome small-town guys, a Christmas festival that needs to be saved, romantic problems involving nasty ex-girlfriends) are rolled out to be gently mocked. I loved this cute holiday movie satire, which manages to be quite funny and also avoids being too snarky. Though it originally aired on UpTV, it's harmless enough that it could easily play on the Hallmark Channel. There are some story glitches but the actors, especially the real-life husband-and-wife team of Kimberly and Brant Daugherty, seem to be having fun and make the movie a delight. Brant Daugherty is especially good, walking a tightrope edge, balancing charm, whimsy, and non-threatening small-town masculinity. The sparkle in his eye helps to keep the slightly stalkery aspect of his love for Lacy in check. Some IMDb reviewers downgrade this for its "stupid" plot, but that's the point. The plot is silly and exposes the silliness of the more traditional Christmas romance movies. I had a smile on my face for almost the entire film and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

The title would indicate that a snowy cityscape and a jaunty Christmas carol should open this film, but instead, we get some rather ominous music and shots of folks in togas looking anguished against an ancient Greek seascape. In the 12th century, Daphne spurns the hunky Pericles, and his mom puts Daphne under a curse to become a mermaid until she can return to land, find the reborn Pericles and perform a selfless act. In the present day, she finds Pericles (as a depressed widower named Travis who is about to lose his Florida beach town bar) and tries to redeem herself with him.

This isn't a traditional Hallmark Christmas movie. Its holiday tropes are more inspired by Dickens than by Hallmark. But that winds up being a good thing. I wasn't familiar with the actors, but it turns out that most of them are soap opera stars .In terms of talent, they can generally hold their own against Hallmark regulars. Arianne Zucker is particularly good, having fun with the villain role. At one point, someone says to her, "You sound like a character on a soap opera" and later when she's asked why she's being so mean to Travis, she replies, "Because I'm the bad guy!" Jessica Morris as Daphne is fine; Kyle Lowder as Travis is a little less so, but I'm shallow enough not to care because he's pretty darn hot. The Christmas elements aren't played up very much and It also has a hard time keeping the balance between serious and humorous from tipping occasionally. But as a change of pace from the usual holiday fare, this was kind of refreshing.

Corrine is a musician who works in a music store; her boss Dave is an old friend of hers, and is sweet on her but would never show it because she has never seen him as boyfriend material. However, Christmas is coming up and she is fresh off a break-up with Tim, who keeps calling her hoping for a second chance. We know a bit about Corrine's background: her grandfather, overseas during WWII, sent her grandmother songs instead of traditional letters. The last one she got was on a Christmas Eve before he was reported killed, and when she died, she gave the song to Corrine as a keepsake, which she treasures. Her favorite ornament, also from her grandmother, is of a group of carolers, and one night, when some carolers come to her door, she notices that the front-and-center singer, Harold, is wearing the same snowflake scarf that one of the ornament carolers is wearing. Wouldn't you know that, a couple days later, Harold winds up as a seasonal worker at the music store. This is when the movie takes a "Wonderful Life" twist: Harold is actually an angel who has been assigned to get Corrine and Dave together. If he succeeds, he'll win his wings. But Harold has his hands full since Dave is a little gun-shy because of his own failed romances, and just as it looks like Corrine is starting to see Dave in a romantic light, that rat bastard Tim comes back in the picture. Can Harold get everything straight before midnight on Christmas Eve?

I give this Hallmark holiday movie a few extra points for its somewhat original plot. Yes, it's stolen from It's a Wonderful Life but it does have a couple of nice variations, and in its plot point involving an old song written by a dead loved one, even borrows a bit from the climax of The Bishop's Wife. The mostly Canadian cast, none of whom I remember seeing before, is fine. I like that Dave (Graham Abbey) is a little rougher-looking than the usual shiny bland romantic leads, and Sergio Di Zio, as the angel, gives an almost eccentric performance that ends up working well. I had some problems with plot loopholes that I can't discuss here, but I recommend this as something just a little different from the Hallmark Christmas Factory.