With the threat of having to close her father's candy store, Wendy and
her six-year-old daughter Grace travel to the big city in hopes of
making extra holiday cash to save the store.
Her best friend Angie is able to get Wendy's foot in the door at Wolman's Department
Store, where she has her day job. Run by its founder Harry Wolman and
Harry's nephew Tom Wolman, Wolman's is an old fashioned business that
runs on family values, treating staff truly like members of their
family. Much of the Wolman family's values are under the gun as it is not doing
well financially.
Its Board of Directors has hired a retail consultant,
Teanna Musk, for the Christmas season to turn the store's financial
fortunes around. Nicknamed Cruella by the store's staff, Teanna has no
sentiment toward traditional Christmas values, only looking at the
bottom line. Beyond being a directive by the Board, Tom feels like he
has to abide by Teanna's decisions because she is also holding the purse
strings for a much needed investor. What Tom is unaware of is that
Teanna has ulterior motives, one of those motives being to get Tom as
her man. As such, she has to get rid of who Tom seems to have eyes for,
namely Wendy. But as much as Wendy likes Tom, she isn't sure if she is
willing to give up her Quinton life for the prospect of romance.
Our Two Cents:
We've seen the male lead in this movie before. Remember
Holiday High School Reunion? If your answer is no, count yourself lucky. Probably one of the worst
Christmas movies we've seen. This movie is made by the same people and
isn't much better. A little better, but not much.
There are so many things we could say that are wrong with this, and they are all glaring, but that would take a lot of paragraphs, so instead we'll say what we liked. There's a cute scene with Tom and Wendy singing at the piano.
Also the little boy that is in the daycare center for employee children with Grace is super cute, though his story is terribly sad. His mom isn't an employee. She just likes to shop. A lot. She leaves him there because he gets in the way of her shopping. He's there everyday. We want somebody else to adopt him.
Note: Pay attention when Wendy and Angie are each watching a movie. Can you figure out what it is?
Ratings:
Storyline/Writing
★★★★★ • Acting
★★★★★ • Chemistry
★★★★★ • Overall
★★★★★
Links:
IMDB
Have you seen Christmas in the City? Tell us what you thought of it!
Single mother Ryan (Tricia Helfer) has just about given up on dating
after her divorce, happily accepting her young son as the most important
man in her life. That all changes when Ryan's brother Owen (JT Hodges),
also feeling unlucky in love after a bad breakup, swaps his home in
their small North Carolina town with New York City ad man Sean (Mark
Lutz). Ryan feels an instant spark with her new neighbor, but Sean, who
signed up for the temporary home swap after a proposal gone wrong, is
out of his comfort zone in his new rural surroundings.
After getting news of her father's bad fall,
Jennifer, moves back to the house where she grew up, reuniting her with old flames and old memories. One day, Jennifer gets a Christmas card from a secret admirer in
her mailbox and becomes curious as to who sent it. The admirer knows so
many personal things about her that she decides to write back. Can she solve the mystery of who is sending her the Christmas cards? 
It's no holds barred when two Manhattan department store employees vie
for the same job during the busy Christmas season. Sloan Van Doren is a
driven young woman determined to become the next window dresser at
McGuire's department store and to uphold a 95-year-old artistic holiday
tradition. Serious and professional, she's the polar opposite of the
happy-go-lucky Jake Dooley, who also wants the job. When Mr. Fitch, the
head of advertising and promotion, gives them a challenge, the
competition is on: each will create a series of seasonal storefront
windows twice a week until Christmas. The creator of whichever window
display gets the most attention from passersby will get the job.
Newly widowed Kathy (Kellie Martin) plans to skip out on decking the
halls and trimming the tree this Christmas, trying to avoid anything
that will bring back memories of her late husband. The only Christmas
tradition she will observe is baking cookies for her friends, a passion
since she was a child. When Kathy meets handsome Christmas tree shop
owner Tim (Cameron Mathison), their undeniable chemistry - along with an
ornament Tim gives her that symbolizes hope - helps Kathy open up to
the joys of the season again. With the support of her best friend Jenna
(Jewel Staite), and the budding relationship with Tim, Kathy begins to
embrace the hopeful message of the ornament.
Though two schools have recently merged into one, students at the
newly formed Carter-Cresswell Academy have yet to blend into one
harmonious body. Particularly for the award-winning choral groups of the
two former schools, old rivalries die hard. Music teachers Diana Deason
(Natasha Henstridge) and Ken Stoddard (Gabe Hogan) are forced to
compete for a single music department position by entering dueling
musical acts in a televised Christmas song competition.
