Let It Snow (2013) Reviews

• "I don't do cold."

  utgard142014-11-09

  Stephanie (Candace Cameron Bure) is an executive with no Christmas spirit who's sent by her boss (and father) to look at a family-owned lodge their company has just acquired. The plan is to turn the cozy rustic lodge into a ski resort, which is news to the family selling it. Stephanie spends the week before Christmas with the family, experiencing the holiday their way. If you think she'll fall for the handsome son (Jesse Hutch) and have a change of heart about Christmas, you must have seen a Hallmark movie before. I'm always down for a good Candace Cameron Bure TV movie, especially a Christmas one. She's the same here as she is in every role: pretty, charming, likable. Alan Thicke is good as her not-so-likable dad. The fact that Thicke used to play Candace's brother Kirk's father on Growing Pains no doubt led to some back-patting for whoever cast him. Jesse Hutch is an actor whose face is very recognizable if you watch much TV, even if you can't remember where exactly you've seen him before. He's been a guest-star on just about everything that films in Canada. This is one of the bigger roles I've seem him in. He does well and has nice chemistry with Candace. Their meet-cute is funny. I wouldn't mind seeing him in more starring roles. Dan Willmott and Gabrielle Rose are his salt of the earth parents. It's pretty much impossible to dislike them. Oh, and just to preserve it for posterity in case someone changes it: Jesse Hutch's IMDb bio currently brags that he shares a birthplace with fictional comic book character Wolverine and tells a rather odd anecdote about him faking a hostage situation at his high school. Weird but amusing. The Canadian scenery (subbing for Maine) is lovely. The cast is pleasant and fun. The story is predictable but who cares really? This isn't challenging stuff but it is enjoyable. It has humor, romance, and heartwarming family moments. It's a better than average Christmas TV movie that will make you smile.

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• The Weight of Snow on Boughs

  boblipton2013-12-01

  Alan Thicke's corporation has bought the Snow Valley resort from its third generation and sends his daughter, Candace Cameron Bure, to survey it. She arrives in the middle of its Christmas season and finds love with both Jesse Hutch and the idea of Christmas in this Hallmark Channel seasonal romantic comedy. It's a nicely written movie. Mr. Hutch is oppressed by four generations of tradition, including an elaborate series of events and recipes and even regular family guests which must be rigorously followed, with no room for the changes he wants to make. Ms. Bure feels rootless and enchanted by the order and beauty she sees about her. Add in some quite lovely camera-work of the snow-drenched landscape near Vancouver, and you have a fine holiday romcom.

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• Best Hallmark Christmas movie

  jonathanrspalding2015-11-11

  When you watch a Hallmark movie, especially a Christmas one, you know what you are going to get. You know what is going to happen no spoiler alert necessary. I enjoy the Christmas season and by definition the movies on the Hallmark Channel. They are kind of background noise to what I am doing during this time. In that spirit I think this movie might be the best of the bunch. The character dynamics seem more real and the romance more believable than most of genre. The family drama rang true with both characters. I also think the choices facing the characters seemed real and relatable. Unlike other reviewers I thought Alan Thicke was very good in this movie. He had to look like a clueless jerk because that is what is character was supposed to be. Mrs. Bure is very good in this movie as this type of role suits her well. But I also felt the cast outside of her, except perhaps the male leads mother, was very good. Hence, I would high recommend this next November.

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• THUMBS UP!...not disappointing at all!...VERY safe!

  adoptshelterpetstoday2014-12-04

  Another great quality movie with the very talented, very enjoyable Candace Cameron-Bure!.......But was it absolutely necessary to dig up the talentless, drab, vocally-annoying Alan Thicke?.....Oh well, at least he didn't appear in it much......Anyway, everything else was on the plus side: the plot was very enjoyable. The location was ideal...all the scenery and décor was beautiful...wonderful! It was well written and had very good directing. The supporting cast was well-casted...no one was annoying...(as is the case sometimes in good movies otherwise)................Sometimes it's difficult to separate the actual person from the part he / she is playing. If their exposed personal standards are low, then that casts a shadow on what ever decent part they play.............. However, having heard Candace talk about her respectable personal / family life on "Home and Family," it's consistent with the respectable parts she plays, which makes her decent movies even more enjoyable to watch. In fact, I consider her to be the contemporary Doris Day........"You are a wonderful asset, Candace, for upholding moral standards in life and also for contributing them to the movie industry...which often tends to be risqué and offensive."

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• Stop me if you've heard this one

  eapepin-011292017-12-01

  The movie begins with a woman, young, head strong, beautiful, ambitious and alone, who gets placed in a situation where she meets up with/is forced to work with/gets introduced to a similarly characteristically endowed man and they immediately butt heads/disagree/have an instant dislike for and generally go out of their way to avoid and make each others' existence as unpleasant as possible while trying to do whatever it is they have to get done before Christmas. In this case, her family bought the lodge and she has arrived to take it over and re-make it into the image of her family's image. Invariably it involves some form of having to work together when they would obviously rather not. But you know what? They always seem to find some way of working it all out and fall in love in the process while the mom or the dad or the boss or the other protagonist involved sees the error of their ways and becomes the understanding mom, dad or boss they should have been. Plot sound familiar? It should. With minor variations, it's exactly the same plot the Hallmark Channel has used in all of these: 12 Gifts of Christmas; A Boyfriend for Christmas; A Christmas Detour; A Cookie Cutter Christmas; A December Bride; A Holiday Engagement; A Novel Romance; A Rose For Christmas; A Royal Christmas; A Royal Winter; Annie Claus is Coming to Town; A Wish for Christmas; A Very Merry Mix-Up; Broadcasting Christmas; Christmas Cookies; Christmas Festival of Ice; Christmas Getaway; Marry Me at Christmas; Christmas in Homestead; Christmas Land; Christmas Under Wraps; Let It Snow; Miss Christmas. (The list is much longer, but 1, you get the idea, and 2, I got tired of typing.) Sometimes, it's the mother of the man or the father of the woman who resents the arrival of the other, and who cause the conflict, but it's pretty much the same plot with different faces. The couple always get together in the end, because, after all, it's Hallmark and this is what they do. The movies are sappy, feel-good, live-happily-ever-after pieces of fluff that warm you like hot chocolate on a cold winter night. They leave you, probably, teary-eyed and smiling and believing the world is full of magic, no matter how behind you are on your credit card bills or how obnoxious you ex behaves. It's a 2 hour blanket you can wrap around you and forget about whether your car will start in the morning. Of course, 2 minutes after it's over, the feeling is lost and reality invades, but you are comforted by the fact that you're watching The Movie Channel and there will be another, just like this one, coming your way right after this commercial break. God Bless You, Hallmark Channel.

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