Had seen this movie on satellite TV and enjoyed it. Ordered it on DVD. Backordered. Waited two months to get it.
The movie is a generally pleasant, cheerful Christmas story. Unfortunately, the writer created a genuinely sleazy, dishonorable male lead, "Finn". I wouldn't call him a 'hero', because he displays anything but heroic character. Actually, he comes across as a spineless, gutless individual! From the first contact with the heroine, Willa, he sneaks around, refuses to own up to to the real reason he is present in the heroine's life, and worse, he lies through his teeth in scenes with the lady's 9-year-old son. All this dishonesty, even when the lady specifically asks him why he seems to be digging at her for damning information over the gift of a hundred thousand dollars from his father. His ultimate goal is to void his father's will and take the money away from Willa, and her son. Lying yet again, he actively fabricates more lies to explain his behavior. Hey. Just a silly Christmas story, but why write such a dishonest character as a supposed 'good guy'. If the remainder of the story, and other characters weren't so delightful, I would have given this only one star. The many scenes when he's lying to the lady and her son literally made my skin crawl. At one point, well into the story, he finally begins to reveal his true self, his purpose, and is interrupted by a minor outburst from the innkeeper. Moments later, he could easily have continued with his revelation. Yet, true to his wimpy self, he drops the whole thing. Finally, in what I thought was an especially bit of screwed up writing, Finn's sister, early on, tries to calm him down, and portrays a character exuding calm, being reasonable, with common sense. But suddenly, inexplicably, in the final scenes, she travels all the way across the country, shows up at the inn, and in a complete reversal of character, becomes a raging monster, seemingly more vicious, more angry, than Finn is! Out of the blue, with no explanation, she's completely switched positions. She becomes this ruthless, vengeful destroyer. And, again, true to form, the wimp stands there sputtering, whining, instead of standing up to his sister to defend both his own position, and that of the woman he has now presumably fallen in love with. No self-confident, self-assured man I know would tolerate the woman's behavior, her blatant, ignorant (she still has no idea of the true events) interference, for one second. Seriously weird behavior. Unrealistic. Lazy writing. Having said all that, yes, Ms. Reeser and the young man who plays her son were excellent, very enjoyable. Finally. I particularly enjoyed the character 'Sage' played by Ms. Hillary Jardine. Lovely personality. Hope to see her again soon.