Touched by a Wooden Angel
It's been a couple of years since her boyfriend dumped her on Christmas day, in doing so turning copy editor Susan (Jennifer Finnigan) in to a Christmas grinch who hates it when December 1st comes around and everyone else is playing Christmas songs whilst covering their desks in Christmas ornaments. But after approaching her boss about wanting to be a writer rather than a copy editor she is given the task of wring an article about Christmas. Through her parents she sets about writing about the family's Christmas Angel, an old wooden ornament which has supposedly magical properties to bring people together. And it seems to be working as she keeps on bumping in to artist Brady (Jonathan Scarfe) as she sets about unlocking the mystery surround this heirloom Christmas angel.
A meet cute over coffee, repeatedly bumping in to each other followed by helping each other solve a mystery and... Well I have lost track of the number of TV movies I have watched which not just include one of those elements but all three. And "Angel of Christmas" is another that I can now add to the list, well that is if I kept a list. What that means is that half of this Hallmark Christmas movie is utterly obvious. Yes the minute that Susan and Brady meet there is only one outcome to all this or at least one thing will definitely happen before the credits roll.
But in fairness those familiar elements are just part of the movie and you then have the slightly more original side to "Angel of Christmas" with Susan digging in to her families past. We get to see were this Christmas Angel came from, and how over the generations it has bought the owner of the angel romantic good fortune. We also have Susan trying to work out who an actress was who her great grandpa fell for and who inspired not just the angel but a cabin in the woods. I won't reveal any more because in truth this is the most interesting side of the movie but I will say that whilst more interesting it isn't great as unfortunately it makes me want to use a word like contrived to describe it.
What this all boils down to is that "Angel of Christmas" is for me just another romantic Hallmark Christmas movie which despite coming up with an interesting story still ends ultimately familiar for those who each year look forwards to the latest Christmas offerings.
Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies
