FINDING FATHER CHRISTMAS (2016)

Miranda, a high-powered real estate agent in Seattle, is contacted by a man who is cleaning out an old theater for renovation. He has found a suitcase with her mother's name on it and assumes she might want it. Miranda's single mother Eve was an actor who died of a heart attack on stage during a performance of A Christmas Carol while the young Miranda was in the theater. She goes to claim the suitcase and discovers an old photo of a little boy sitting on Santa's lap that was taken in the small Vermont town of Carlton Heath. Thinking this might be a clue to her father's identity, she heads off to Vermont to investigate. She arrives at a bed and breakfast and reluctantly admits to the owner, Katherine, what her mission is. Katherine thinks she might be able to contact the former owners of the photography studio where the picture was taken, and in the meantime, Miranda has a meet-cute moment with Katherine's hunky son Ian, who does odd jobs around the place as well as keeps the inn's books (and, belying his rustic appearance, also has a law degree). Ian's father Andrew is also an actor and is rehearsing his role as Scrooge in a Christmas Carol production at the local James Whitcomb Theater, named after a late legendary local actor whose son Edward still lives in town. With Ian's help, Miranda tries to get to the bottom of her domestic mystery but gets nowhere until she sees the Santa photo on display at Edward Whitcomb's home. Will old family skeletons get disturbed and ruin everyone's holiday?

Based on a novel, this Hallmark Christmas movie is a tad more serious than most of them—in addition to Eve's fatal heart attack which takes place in a flashback, one character has a non-fatal heart attack and another verbally attacks Miranda, assuming she has come deliberately to ruin reputations. Even the wonderful comic actor Wendie Malick doesn't get much of a chance to be funny, though she's very good in her role as James Whitcomb's widow. Erin Krakow is fine as Miranda; she doesn't get to stray much from the Christmas heroine template, though it is nice that her big city job is not really much of a plotpoint. I kept watching largely because of the handsome and non-threateningly masculine Niall Matter as Ian; his small-town charm is a predictable element but the differences between the two aren't presented as obstacles to be overcome. In fact, by my count, they kiss four times during the movie, which must be a Hallmark record. In another twist, it's Ian who gets teary (and Matter pulls this scene off quite well). Jim Thorburn, a familiar Hallmark supporting face, is good though underused as the Whitcomb son. Another Hallmark regular, Nelson Wong, has a small role as a doctor. I like that we're told that Eve named Miranda after the character in The Tempest, which is actually a clue to the resolution of the mystery. There are two sequels that I might track down. [Hallmark]