Let it Snow (2013)

(On Cable TV, December 2021) As far as Hallmark Christmas romantic comedies go, Let it Snow isn’t all that good, but at least it tries to get away from the usual formula. Not all of the formula, though, as the idea of a cynical young woman leaving her comfortable surroundings to go to a rural area remains intact — but this time around she’s a hospitality executive travelling from Arizona to Maine in order to write a report on how to maximize the profits from her company’s new acquisition. Of course, what she encounters on-site is an unsustainable boutique experience filled with a handful of regulars charmed by the small homely feels of Christmas at the lodge. (You have to feel sorry for the older woman handling the buffet cooking by herself, as she logically shouldn’t have time to ever leave the kitchen for days.) Oh, and there’s a sexy young man right there to make her rediscover the magic of Christmas. The building blocks used by writer-director Harvey Frost are as obvious as his destination, and the film’s production values are as ambitious as its plot, which is to say: not very much. Let it Snow is all pleasant enough, but there’s nothing else to do here for more reluctant viewers than riff on the pile of absurdities, bad staging, dull acting and insipid writing in the result. It’s very much the kind of film that is watched six weeks out of every year, and then becomes unpalatable as soon as the gifts are unwrapped.