Open by Christmas (TV Movie 2021)

Open by Christmas (TV Movie 2021). Open by Christmas: Directed by David Weaver. With Alison Sweeney, Erica Durance, Brennan Elliott, Michael Karl Richards. When Nicky finds an unopened Christmas card from a high school secret admirer, she and her best friend Simone search to find and thank the anonymous author.

“If you are like me and watch every Christmas movie that comes out, sometimes your expectations arenu0026#39;t high enough and you start cruisinu0026#39; on authopilot.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOddly enough, I was just finishing up another Erica Durance movie and somehow I didnu0026#39;t notice she was in this. Itu0026#39;s hard to imagine her playing second (female lead) fiddle to anyone, but maybe not to Allison Sweeney, and even then she wasnu0026#39;t quite second fiddle, but much closer to co-lead.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut back to my point, I may have been looking forward to an early season premiere, especially with Sweeney and Brennan Elliot, but I was distracted and floated through the first half hour. Then I woke up and realized that this wasnu0026#39;t going to be another simple Christmas romance, perhaps with a simple who-is-the-writer quest. There are layers in this story and the mystery is only part. In fact, if you watch a lot of these, you probably had a good idea from pretty early on, even though the story kept giving a lot of misdirection.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd beyond the mystery are the layers. A woman remembers painful moments from high school. Thereu0026#39;s a thread about BFFu0026#39;s. And one about an engaged couple where the man is up to something which everyone but the woman knows is something good. Then the future mother-in-law shows up and the audience makes assumptions which are quickly proved wrong. And a thread about mothers and sons which runs right along with the mother-in-law thread.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe acting is good. Iu0026#39;ve already made the case that this story is good with fresh elements and the pace is good. The dialogue is good.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is one of Hallmarku0026#39;s better efforts so far in 2021 especially if you donu0026#39;t classify it in the same category as the ones that are more musically oriented. For that matter, itu0026#39;s ahead of any new ones Iu0026#39;ve seen so far on competing networks. Itu0026#39;s still early yet, but I think this movie will remain amongst the better ones this year.”