Christmas Land (Hallmark Movie)

I don't think I've yet shared with you my love of Hallmark Movies. I love a good Hallmark Christmas movie. I can watch a Christmas movie in the winter or the summer; Christmas in December or Christmas in July. Doesn't matter. I watched this movie in the Spring and saved the review for closer to Christmas. Christmas Land stars Luke Macfarlane and Nikki DeLoach. I previously saw Luke Macfarlane in the Hallmark Movie and Mystery, The Memory Book (the library has it on DVD), and that was a decent movie. It seems Macfarlane has recently become the darling of Hallmark movies because he's done a Hallmark movie a year since 2014 (and I have thus far seen two of them), and that's fine by me.

When Jules, a high powered something something executive in the big city (something to do with social media campaigns or some such), inherits her grandmother's house, land, and the Christmas themed attraction that occupies that land, Jules returns to the small town she hasn't visited since her childhood. Determined to take inventory of her inheritance, ready it for a quick sale (at her greedy attorney boyfriend's urging), and bounce out of town ASAP, Jules doesn't count on unexpectedly falling for the town's people, Christmas Land itself, or the handsome attorney, Tucker Barnes (played by Macfarlane), tasked with handling her grandmother's estate. Soon Jules finds herself waffling on the sale. And when her boyfriend shows up in town, urges her to meet the buyer he has lined up, and then tricks her into selling to the developer who has coveted for years the real estate Christmas Land occupies, Jules realizes that what she wants in life has changed, and she may have made a huge mistake she won't be able to fix that would inexorably alter the town.

Red flags I had from the greedy boyfriend, and I don't understand why Jules hasn't had any red flags in the months (years?) she's been dating this tool:

Red flag 1: When Jules' boyfriend (sorry, I cannot be bothered to remember his name) arrogantly opens up the letter from the estate's attorney despite Jules' joking protestations, I can see the writing on the wall with this dude.

Red flag 2: Who disdainfully says Tucker 'belongs in a barn' to the man's face? Jules' no-good-boyfriend, that's who. Meanwhile Jules doesn't even call the boyfriend out on his rude comments! And she's blasé when she discovers that the boyfriend LIED about graduating valedictorian of his law school class (because guess who was really valedictorian: TUCKER). P.S. Have you seen Luke Macfarlane? He does not belong in a barn, and I don't care if the insult was a play on his character's surname because it was a lazy pun too.

One rant I had:

Jules trusts her boyfriend (mistake number one) to find a buyer who will keep Christmas Land open; then she signs the contract of sale without even reading it (mistake number two)! WHO SIGNS A CONTRACT WITHOUT FIRST READING IT. Stupid people. And Jules. That's how souls get sold to the devil, ya'll. Jules is lucky this movie is on Hallmark Channel because if this were Sleepy Hollow or Supernatural, the devil would have popped out all, 'surprise, I own your soul now.' Never sign a contract without reading it. Especially if it's only one or two pages long like the contract Jules signs. That's how Christmas Land gets sold to the developer who will bulldoze it, parcel it out, and develop it to within an inch of its life which is almost as bad as selling out to the devil.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

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