"The Sweetest Christmas" is an average Hallmark movie about a woman who needs to win a baking competition and get back together with her high school boyfriend to be happy.
Plot summary and other info
"When struggling pastry chef Kylie Watson (Chabert) learns she’s made it to the finals of the American Gingerbread Competition, she thinks her competitive spirit has finally paid off and hopes the publicity will help her jumpstart her new café. There’s just one problem — the oven she’s supposed to use breaks down right before the contest. Determined to enter, she reaches out to Nick Mazannti (Coco), her old boyfriend from culinary school who gave up his dream of being a pastry chef to take over his family’s pizzeria. Nick allows her to use his industrial pizza oven at night to craft her ambitious gingerbread confections. As the two reminisce about the dreams of their youth, their romance is rekindled. But just as Kylie is on the cusp of taking the grand prize — and embracing true love — things get complicated when her ex-boyfriend takes drastic steps to win her back. Kylie realizes she must embrace the Christmas Spirit or risk losing both the contest and her new love."
Released in 2017 as part of Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas programming, "The Sweetest Christmas" was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and stars Lacey Chabert and Lea Coco.
Warning, spoilers ahead!
My thoughts
Lacey Chabert plays Kylie, an amateur baker wanting to open her own cake shop but who's currently making ends meet by working as an assistant at her boyfriend's development firm.
Alex plans a romantic dinner for Kylie at the best pizza place in town, which happens to be the restaurant of Kylie's high school boyfriend Nick, played by Lea Coco.
After an adorably awkward reunion, Nick shows Kylie and Alex to their table where Kylie is expecting a marriage proposal. What she gets instead is a promotion to office manager. Filled with disappointment, Kylie breaks up with an incredibly clueless Alex. Don't worry though, Nick is there to pick up the pieces!
The next day two important things occur. The first is that Kylie finds out she's a semi-finalist in the American Gingerbread Competition. If she wins, she'll have enough money to open her cake shop. The second is that her oven breaks, which means she can't bake her entry at home.
Kylie reaches out to Nick who graciously allows her to use one of his restaurant ovens when they're not open. Kylie begins spending lots of time with Nick and they begin to slowly fall in love.
Unfortunately, I just didn't buy it! I didn't like the character of Nick and I really didn't think there was any chemistry between him and Kylie. I can't even believe I'm going to say this but I think Kylie chose the wrong guy! Alex would have been the better choice.
Yes, his word choice isn't the best and he keeps referring to them as a "team" but I really liked all the ways he tried to win her back and make it up to her.
He not only apologizes, he offers to have his company sponsor her entry into the gingerbread competition and the use of the chef's kitchen in one of the model homes.
Alex also flies in a chef from Europe to bake a gingerbread house with a ring in it to propose to Kylie. That's a grand, romantic gesture!
Lacey Chabert really carries this movie and is as charming, bubbly, and likeable as ever. The other highlights of the film are restaurant chef Ralphie (he's funny), and the beautiful gingerbread creations.
Favorite line
"Uh, so she's gone off the deep end and as a relative of hers this falls on you."
This line was said by Ralphie to Kylie's sister.
Final rating
I really wanted to love this movie, unfortunately it was a miss for me. There wasn't much chemistry between Lacey Chabert and Lea Coco, the movie moved way to slowly, and I honestly thought her corporate boyfriend/boss would have been a better choice.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 2.5
What did you think of "The Sweetest Christmas"? Let me know in the comments below.
If you're a fan of Lacey Chabert and want to see her in really great Christmas movies, check out "Christmas Waltz" and "Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas".
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