Christmas Around the Corner (TV Movie 2018)

Christmas Around the Corner: Directed by Megan Follows. With Alexandra Breckenridge, Jamie Spilchuk, Jane Alexander, Nick Burden. Claire, a savvy venture capitalist from New York City, escapes to a quaint town in Vermont for the holidays and becomes a guest of the Fortenbury Bookstore. Upon arrival, Claire finds Christmas celebrations have been canceled by the town after a flood and the bookstore is in a dire state of disrepair. She immediately takes on the challenge to revitalize the store, but clashes with the owner, Andrew (Jamie Spilchuk), who initially rejects all her proposed improvements. Eventually, sparks fly as the two begin a budding romance, and Claire’s infectious optimism inspires Andrew to join her in reviving the yuletide spirit. But everything comes to a screeching halt when Claire discovers that Andrew is planning to sell the bookstore in the New Year. Will the spirit of Christmas be enough to change Andrew’s mind and encourage him to follow his heart?

“The movie was well done with a good story and good acting. Yes itu0026#39;s sappy. The premise is ridiculous. Some of the circumstances are too. But thatu0026#39;s true to some extent of most of the Christmas Rom/Coms.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe premise may be crazy, but itu0026#39;s also unusual. In some ways it is a twist on the dying dinosaur-business premise. Some of the usual consequences of this premise develop but the story is still fresh.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMuch of the charm of this movie is Alexandra Breckenridge who plays the dynamic and extraordinary Claire. Claire starts out with a business disaster and looks for a break (she really flees her real life), but she quickly dives into the small town situation and makes an impact. Meanwhile, Jamie Spilchuk does a great job as Andrew who presents a counterpoint to Claireu0026#39;s enthusiasm. They start out as not so much antagonistic but more a case of coexisting with each other. They play off one another perfectly with both romantic tension and humor.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA few reviewers referred to this as a Hallmark movie. Iu0026#39;m pretty sure itu0026#39;s not. MarVista (according to Wikipedia) is more closely associated with Lifetime, which is where I saw this movie. Hallmark is not yet to the point of being politically correct as far as LGBT themes and they may never be. While the movie is definitely a sappy romance, it definitely has the Lifetime flavor to it in several ways, not just the one.”