Holiday Watch: Let It Snow

An idyllic Christmas lodge serves as the backdrop of well-loved mom & pop business locking horns with a cynical resort corporation. Let It Snow puts the grinchy children of each faction together to work out a solution.

Stephanie Beck (Candace Cameron Bure), the scion of Falcon Resorts, a family-averse sure-fire-formula-based corporation, is sent to research and report on the Snow Valley Lodge the company recently acquired — with an eye on razing it so Falcon can put it tried-and-true formula in its stead.

Brady Lewis (Jesse Hutch) is fine with letting Falcon Resorts have the family business. He’s tired of making other’s Christmases bright while being the one to do a lot of the work. His parents, however, are relieved that Falcon Resorts aren’t going to change a thing — so they were assured before the sale without it actually being written into the contract.

Grinchy Stephanie and Grinchy Brady spend a lot of time together as Stephanie gathers data for her report. They bond in their grinchiness and then bond in their compatibility. With the Lewises pulling out the ol’ Snow Valley Christmas charm, it isn’t long before Stephanie has drunk the egg-nog-flavored Kool-Aid.

When the time comes to give her report to her father, Ted (Alan Thicke), he responds as you might expect from someone used to always being kowtowed to. But then memories happen and he decides to let his heart grow a few sizes, and all ends well.

This was a hard movie for me to evaluate. It has a lot of really nice elements. I like that the principles manage to kiss warmly without going in like large mouth bass (some of the kisses in these sorts of movies seem a bit forward for the given relationship stage, so this was a welcome change). The setting is nice and the characters there are pleasant. The ending was pretty much as expected and while not exceptional also didn’t leave the viewer wanting.

There was something off that I just can’t put my finger on. One thing that I am sure of is that Stephanie was sort of wishy-washy in the middle of the second act — variously corporate and then suddenly girly. The dichotomy was a little jarring sometimes. But I was having my sense of something off before then. Maybe it was the pacing. Maybe it was the score that was lacking. I’m simply not sure.

Every now and again a movie comes along that is fine but the sum of its minor flaws cause the film to not reach the next tier. Let It Snow is one of these for me. It’s generally pleasant, so you should give it view and see if it resonates better with you.