BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

pumpkinmom-91723 Ok, we all know that Christmas specials are supposed to be a little cheesy and a little far fetched, that's part of the magic. But this entire movie, from the plotline to the acting is disappointing.The premise is that two girls who were best friends have a falling out over jealousy during a performance. Sure, girls can be caddy - but the idea that no parent, teacher or other source of reason stepped in during the 20 years since to put their ridiculous pre-teen feud into perspective? They're both single, teaching the same grade at the same school in a small town across the hall from each other and both miraculously live in gorgeous huge houses with manicured lawns. The one that can't cook at all has a full gourmet kitchen with top of the line appliances. In steps the new guy in town - a recently widowed hottie with a daughter in one of the classes. He's opening a homeless donation shelter in this tiny town that has enough money to put their teaching staff in mansions. Of course, both women pounce in attempts to get his attention - because that's all women are interested in, right? During the movie one woman learns to cook in a few goofy kitchen scene montages, she also babysits the new girl and tutors her a handful of times, and even though she barely has 3 conversations with the guy, love sparks - because she paid attention to his kid. Fast forward. Wacky mishaps. Ambitious deception resulting in a 2 minute tear filled miscommunication that is resolved with an I'm sorry and a hug in true Christmas movie fashion. The only good parts where the actress that played the little girl, the cameo that Alan Thicke had as a judge and the stunning homes that these elementary school teachers and the homeless shelter non-profit guy have. Zero Christmas magic, zero heart-touching honesty, zero personal revelations, zero character growth. I wish I could have rated it a zero.

Jack Vasen Seeing Erin Krakow as a teacher made me want to love this movie from the start. As the teacher on Once Calls the Heart, you can't help but expect genuine love, humility and generosity especially for her students.Throw in a cute little girl as the daughter of an attractive new dad in the school, James, and you have a great start.Unfortunately Christie has a very mean competitive streak. While it isn't nearly as nasty as her grade school rival, Penny, it still detracts from Christie and really is inconsistent with her character.We see an obvious attraction forming between Christie and James and between Christie and Lilly. What else would you expect? The rivalry, embodied in the cookie baking contest, becomes the central thread of the movie. I think you could tell that something was coming with the recipes, even though my guess wasn't quite right.The ending was too abrupt, too quick.

decemberangel1286 The only actor who was good in the movie was Alan Thicke. The plot wasn't executed and the movie was boring. The father was such a darn jerk, it took for his daughter to get him to come to his senses about who really took the dumb cookie recipe. Oh please! anyone could have figured it out when Penny asked him to Fix Christy's table leg just to make him mad and frame Christy for no reason at all. Penny and Christy acted like they were 3 and for what? Some widower with a child? oh give me a break, this movie is nothing but a bunch of useless lines and actors who can't act and aren't even good looking. They all need acting lessons except for Alan Thicke. The rivalry lasted what? 20 years isn't that a long time to carry a grudge? Oh brother, I'd rather listen to boring music than watch some rubbish about some cooking contest taken to a new level. That plot in it self is quite dumb! This is one of the worst Hallmark movie's ever seen. This movie is a 1/10 and that's being generous. This movie has no potential and you can fall asleep watching the movie, I nearly did twice. The movie isn't even comical, its so drab, the more I watched it the more I wanted to throw a script at the director and writing crew.Bad script. Save your time people and watch something else.

ladynomad2000 One of the things I love about Hallmark Christmas films is that they are filled with people that you can root for.However, I just can't seem to like Penny. She just feel so annoying. Even at the end, she just don't seem to regret anything. I wanted someone to slap her in the face. If we are supposed to at least want Christie and Penny to be friends again, we are supposed to see that they actually like each other.James felt bland as the typical widow hot dad with the heart of gold. I didn't like the idea that he would be so quick to jump to conclusions and that Christie just accepted him back.It felt like that Penny and Christie stayed at the 8 year old level. I'm glad that they admitted that they were silly but I wish that the other characters call them out on it.I think the main problem is that there are too many plot lines. What about a simple story that involved two rivals who realize that their drama is hurting their class? That would be great.Anyway, this movie just made me feel glad that I don't remember elementary school.