I'm a little behind on this year's Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, but last night my mom and I finally got to watching this one. My mom got to choose which movie we watched, and she gave just a few criteria: No death. No dogs. No Santa. And Matchmaker Santa is what we settled on, even though it has Santa. Call him the least of three evils. Also, my mom loves Party of Five, so I think the fact that Lacey Chabert is the main character tipped this one into the "Watch me!" column.
The love story in this one is actually sweet and not too heavy-handed. Lacey Chabert is a bakery show owner who wished as a child that Santa would one day give her true love with her Prince Charming for Christmas. She has a workaholic boyfriend who often sends his tall, dark, and handsome assistant/consultant to pick her up for their dates...and you can see where this is going.
Lacey sits next to Santa Claus, known in the movie as "Chris," on her flight to meet workaholic boyfriend's mother during the holidays. Tall and handsome consultant is sent to pick her up, Santa tags along, and they get trapped in a town staffed by John Ratzenberger and Florence Henderson until they fall in love. And boyfriend gets true love, too, since he reunites with his high school girlfriend who is also a corporate workaholic and who his mother, Mary-Margaret Humes of Dawson's Creek and Motocrossed, likes more than Lacey Chabert anyway.
I only found two major flaws in this movie. One, Santa's powers to alter circumstances to bring about the fulfillment of Christmas wishes are fine, but the special effects to bring about some of those changes are super hokey. Two, the movie didn't leave itself enough time to wrap up nicely. The two new couples just meet up and confess the new relationships and everyone's happy about it. In about 20 seconds.
Matchmaker Santa is definitely worth a watch, if only for the charms and good looks of the lead male love interest. I think this newcomer deserves some more made-for-TV movies in his future. And I hope those movies don't feature him in this frilly apron. Or an elf costume.
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