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Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Northern Lights of Christmas (2018) [TV-G] ***

Zoey Hathaway (Ashley Williams) had wanted to fly ever since she was a little girl so, when she and her parents lived in Aurora, Alaska she was trained by an old family friend Gus, and received her pilot’s license at the tender age of fourteen. Now Zoey lives in Seattle, is a chief airline pilot (four stripes – left-hand cockpit seat) and dreams of owning her own private plane.

Then Gus passes away, and his attorney informs Zoey that he has left his ranch to her. Zoey realizes that her dream of owning her own airplane is within reach, and her plan is to travel to Aurora and put the ranch up for sale.

However, when Zoey arrives in Aurora she reconnects with old friends and school teachers and discovers she still has a strong connection to the town. Then she meets Alec Wynn (Corey Sevier), the ranch caretaker whom Gus had hired and advanced his salary for the winter. But when Alec realizes that Zoey plans to sell the ranch he gives her Gus’s advance and plans to leave.

In the meantime, Zoey has decided to recreate the ranch’s annual Christmas Festival that Gus and his wife Ida had hosted for many years, and she wants Alec to stay and help her. Alec however is convinced that any new owner will not love and care for the ranch the way Gus and Ida did, and it is only after Zoey offers him ten percent of the ranch sale price and gives him the right to reject a potential buyer that Alec agrees to stay and help her put on the Festival.

In typical Hallmark movie fashion, this G-rated romantic drama contains little romance and drama. Williams is not very convincing as an airline pilot and there is no romantic chemistry between the leads. The outcome is totally predictable and the final fade-out kiss feels forced and unnatural.

However, Ashley Williams is capable of great romantic chemistry with a male lead. For an example, google: “YouTube Ted and Victoria HIMYM” for videos of Ted (Josh Radnor) and Victoria (Ashley Williams) falling in love on How I Met Your Mother. Why these two did not end up together is a good question for the producers and script writers.

Labels: Christmas, drama, romance


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