Olivia (Danica McKellar) is the University of Connecticut's star arborist (didn't know Star Arborist was a thing), known by some as the Christmas Tree Whisperer for her ability to tend to sickly pine trees. She's about to take off to spend Christmas with her mom, though she's never comfortable with her mother's focus on socializing, especially this year when Olivia has called off what was supposed to be a Christmas wedding to her longtime boyfriend Justin. But an emergency call from Jack Connor (Benjamin Ayres), of Connor's Christmas Tree farm in the nearby small town of Avon, gives her an out: his cut trees are turning brown and losing needles at an alarming rate, and this is hurting his business, not to mention putting in jeopardy his ability to supply a giant tree for the Christmas Eve tree lighting in the town square, a hundred-year tradition which his grandfather started. She heads to Avon for what she expects to be an overnight visit, and the two meet cute when they have a fender bender in a roundabout. Eventually, Olivia sees what a warm and good-hearted person Jack is--he's always willing to help families in need. She runs some tests that are inconclusive and winds up staying in town for several days; romantic feelings develop, egged on by Jack's best friend Elliott and Jack's gal pal Lisa. But when Olivia suggests that Jack diversify his crops (better for the soil and would avoid having all his business hurt in the situation he is in now), he responds with negativity, insisting he would be betraying his late father by doing so. At almost the last minute, Olivia has a breakthrough on how to save the trees, but 1) will it work? and 2) will the two overcome their growing animosity over Jack's stubbornness?
A slightly above-average Hallmark Christmas movie, mostly due to the unusual circumstance of having a woman with a degree in forestry be the heroine. (The title is cute, but The Christmas Tree Whisperer would have been better.) McKellar comes off as intelligent and charming; Ayres is nice-looking but sometimes there seems to be some menace hiding behind his eyes--he has a squint that is just a degree away from being an evil leer. The supporting cast, except for Linda Darlow as Jack's mom, is underdeveloped and lackluster. The friends--Lisa, Elliot, and his girlfriend (or wife, it’s never made clear) Kelly--never become important to the story. Jason Hervey (the older brother in the original Wonder Years) has a couple of scenes as Jack's rather shady competitor. I appreciate that the usual romantic complications involving previous loves are absent--we never meet Justin or even know why Olivia left him. Some odd cutaway shots indicate rushed post-production; apparently this was shot in Canada in August during a 100 degree heatwave, though the snow settings generally look convincing. Reference is made to a glass ornament containing sand from Normandy that a relative brought back from D-Day, but nothing comes of this, and that adds to the somewhat unfinished feel the movie has. But it's certainly watchable, mostly due to good chemistry between the leads (pictured above). [Hallmark]
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