All She Wants for Christmas (2006 TV Movie) User Reviews

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[Christmas-Reviewer · 6/10 · 4 April 2018]

Review Date 4/4/2018

FIRST REVIEW FOR THE 2018 HOLIDAY SEASON!

I Have Reviewed OVER 400 Christmas MOVIES. On all Christmas movies BEWARE OF FAKE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. Many reviewers have only have ONE REVIEW. When it's a POSITIVE REVIEW chances are that the reviewer was involved with the production. If its a negative review then they may have a huge grudge against the film for whatever reason. I am fare about these films.

I review them is to keep track of what "I have seen".

Noelle Dunn, has dreams of leaving her small town (Echoes of It's a Wonderful Life) and working in the big city. As of now she is an efficiency director at the local factory that makes Christmas ornaments. However no Christmas movie will ever semm complete without a love story and this is no different.

As the film starts a new man moves into the smalltown. He and Noelle hit it off well and trouble looms for the new couple as the factory make be in trouble. I hate to say this but Monica Keena is miscast in this.

She doesn't come off well. She seems to not convince me that she understand some of her dialog. She also seems like a "Puffy Mess". She is severely miscast here!

Budding Hollywood writers: study this film

[MisterMiata · 4/10 · 21 December 2006]

A note to all of you budding film writers: Study this film. If your dialog reads like the dialog in this film, please shred your script and try again.

I didn't have high expectations, but was intrigued by the description indicating there was a mystery at the Christmas Ornament Factory. The Mystery is resolved very early and the film becomes a straight romance. I almost stopped watching it at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and at the first break. My spouse , who is the Hallmark & Lifetime fan, gave up at the first break.

Forest River is a company town - the main business is Aikens Ornaments, who make all manner of holiday decorations.The patriarch of the company has recently passed away, so the companies future might be in question. We soon meet Noelle, who would rather be on Wall Street than Main Street, and the mysterious Justin, who gets a date with Noelle after a large snowman she is inflating crashes into Justins car. Once we meet Alison Aikens, doing due diligence for the Board, we have our story setup.

If you can't nail all the story arcs by the first commercial break, you haven't seen enough of this kind of Holiday film. Maybe that's a good thing.

Decorative Christmas Romance

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 28 November 2012]

Nicely-proportioned blonde Monica Keena (as Judith Ann "Noelle" Dunn) has returned to Forest City to advise the "Aikens Christmas Decorations" factory that employs most of her home-town's residents. The business has been failing in recent months, following the heart attack of its founder and president. A mishap involving a promotional giant snowman introduces Ms. Keena to mysterious dimpled Tobias Mehler (as Justin Allen), who has just arrived in town. He is handsome and immediately hired to work for the failing "Aikens" company. Apparently, there is always room for another good-looking hunk on the payroll...

Keena receives unexpected competition from efficiency expert Sonya Salomaa (as Ashley Aikens), who has apparently arrived to shut down her deceased grandfather's factory. Keena catches her rival in overly friendly meetings with Mr. Mehler, who is supposed to be Keena's boyfriend. Mehler has a "great butt" as evidenced by director Ron Oliver and ogling girlfriend Ali Liebert (as Priscilla Clark). Playing her part well, pretty mother Dense Galik (as Mary Lee Dunn) also notices. The plot is very predictable. This is a Christmas ornaments movie, with the inside trimmings looking better than the overly done outside ornaments.

**** All She Wants for Christmas (2006) Ron Oliver ~ Monica Keena, Tobias Mehler, Dense Galik, Ali Liebert

All you ever wanted in a film for a nice, satisfying evening, is here, that is, romance, humor, drama and a happy ending

[inkblot11 · 19 August 2009]

Noelle (Monica Keena) is going back to her hometown to do a business study about the local Christmas ornament factory. It's near the holidays and the plant's owner, who died recently, was discovered to have been supplementing the factory with his own income to keep it afloat. Business whiz Noelle is keen to find a way to save it, for her mother and many other residents and area small business operators depend on its existence. As Noelle is blowing up a large company balloon, it breaks free and causes a male driver, Justin (Tobias Mehler) to lose control of his car, inflicting minor damage. Noelle is apologetic, especially since Justin is young, handsome, and coming to work at the factory as a seasonal employee. The gentleman also likes what he sees in Noelle and they begin to "step out" together. But, there are complications. First, the factory really is in the red and there seems to be no way out, other than moving it overseas. Then, too, the locals learn that superstore, Global Mart, will be coming to town, driving several small businesses to their demises. Lastly, Justin seems very smitten with Noelle, at times, but she often glimpses him in close conversation with the former owner's pretty granddaughter, Ashley, who has also come to town to make decisions about the company's future. How will this all turn out? Here is a winning film for the holidays or any other time of the year. It is funny, clever, sweet, and just perfect for an evening of nice entertainment for romcom fans, even ones in their teens. The two principal stars, Keena and Mehler are very winning and so is the rest of the supporting cast. The lovely town setting is also a fine asset, while the costumes, script, and direction are more than adequate. The film, in fact, resembles this year's New in Town, in quite a few ways, and that statement alone is strong praise. Do you love "getting in the mood" around holiday time, by watching a few worthy Christmas films? Include this one, then, in your schedule, as it most likely will be all you ever wanted in a seasonal flick.

Really, some terrible acting

[jacquilynne-1 · 3/10 · 13 December 2008]

Some of the worst, least natural acting performances I've ever seen. Which is perhaps not surprising given the clunky, lame dialog given to the one note characters. Add to that the cheap production values and you've got a movie that doesn't look like it even belongs on television. One doesn't expect much from a Lifetime movie, especially one this old, but this is nearly unwatchably bad.

Plot-wise, it's a dreadful, clichéd romance of a type even Harlequin would consider beneath them. It's possible to guess how the remainder of the movie will go by simply watching the opening couple of scenes. Surprise, the only female character who gets any focus and the mysterious stranger end up falling in love.

not a good Lifetime Christmas movie

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 27 September 2015]

Forest City is a Christmas company town depending on the Aikens Christmas decoration factory. Judith 'Noelle' Dunn (Monica Keena) is a MBA student back in town to write her thesis on the efficiency of the plant. An accident with a giant snowman lands her with drifter Justin Allen. Justin gets a job in the factory. Noelle discovers that the late founder had been discretely covering the losses and his granddaughter Ashley Aikens arrives to determine the future of the plant. Justin keeps meeting secretly with Ashley and hiding a secret.

This is trying to be cute but it's actually a bit annoying. This is a lower level Lifetime movie. I really love bubbly Monica Keena when she was younger but she's not growing into a mature actor well. The romantic chemistry is really problematic. The guy is a stiff and he keeps going off which leaves Noelle as a jealous mess. Jealousy and plant closing don't strike me as Christmas material. It makes her character unlikeable. I don't expect much from movies like these and this one delivers even less.

Eh I've seen worse

[LtlHippo · 3/10 · 21 December 2007]

They should have named this movie ...Blonde women that needed to get their roots colored. Also the main character, geeze, the too tight sweaters. The giggling. Thought the guy did a good job though. I keep hoping we'll find a good 8 star Christmas movie to watch this week. The dart throwing. Had to laugh at that too. We've still got 3 more on the DVR to watch, maybe we'll get lucky. Oh yeah, I figured the guy out pretty quickly and nailed it when he picked up the flowers and then drove out with his cousin. I told my daughter they were on their way to the cemetery. And how stupid was it that the two gals followed them there spying on them? Creepy.

Where is the plot?

[abby_s · 1/10 · 31 October 2010]

Almost despite myself, I have become a fan of Lifetime/Hallmark/ABC Family romantic movies. The plots are formulaic and the endings are predictable but, with varying degrees of success, they all manage to be engaging and, at times, uplifting. Even with the generally low expectations that go along with movies in this genre, this one fails miserably. The dialogue is elementary and the plot is almost completely non-existent. After 10 minutes, I realized that absolutely nothing had happened. After an hour and the unsurprising "twist" revelation, still nothing had happened. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that no compelling reason to save the factory is presented to the audience. We cannot sympathize with a mission that the protagonist herself has said is impractical.

Poor execution of the same ol same ol

[Jackbv123 · 3/10 · 18 November 2019]

When a movie has a plot as thin and recycled as this one, the actors need to step it up and carry it. I've seen many Christmas movies where that is exactly how it worked and a simple unexciting story worked because of the leads.

The acting is horrible. Monica Keena is totally unnatural in her performance. Tobias Mehler is bland. The leads make an effort at chemistry, but Keena's childish behavior counters what chemistry there is. I got tired of her jealousy, but given the evidence, it did seem justified to a point, but the final conclusion she jumps to is ridiculous. Regarding the jealousy, I think the writers beat this horse to death. At this point, fast forward became my best friend.

Sonya Salomaa is similar to Keena. The dialogue doesn't help the acting. Background music is at times overly melodramatic and distracting.

As a slightly side note, why do romance writers tackle things about which they know nothing. There should be a law against them trying to write about business in any detail. But they do and sometimes manage to hide their ignorance by focusing attention elsewhere, but not this time. The business angle of the plot had more focus than any romance. Other than Monica Keena's acting, the story's focus on the business details is the biggest problem in this movie.

The viewer should be able to guess what the mini-secret that might otherwise be an interesting twist even though it was revealed slightly over half way through.

Note to self. In future years when I'm recording every Christmas movie in sight, avoid this one.

Super cute Christmas movie....

[designerdawn · 9/10 · 14 December 2006]

A movie you can watch with the whole family...Loved it! And all the kids will like it, even the teenage girls, they will love the outfits...I know my niece is copying some of the fun outfits she saw after watching it..It is nice to see a fun cheery Christmas movie that is different from the usual..Plus it made us all laugh, great Director for adding some funny stuff..Loved how it had such a happy ending too. We all hope to see this movie again next year, I think it will be a Christmas bubblegum classic...Only wish there was some fun eighties music thrown in there too!... Thanks for something different!...And hopefully we can buy it on DVD to put in our collection.

Great Little Christmas Movie With A Great Cast

[darryl-jason · 10/10 · 19 November 2018]

There's just something about Canadian Christmas movies that really give me that festive seasonal feel-good feeling & this movie certainly lives up to its title. With a great cast including Monica Keena as the female lead paired with Tobias Mehler who indeed have great chemistry together.

It's your typical Christmas movie that features everything you would expect from comedy to romance, plus a little bit of mystery. This is one of those movies I could watch all year round, but who am I kidding, there's loads of Christmas movies I watch all year round. I suppose I'm a sucker for these low-budget Lifetime / Hallmark movies. I guess I just get lost inside them when I watch them. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea I certainly like it. The DVD cover doesn't give much away but the film is certainly full of surprises.

The First Noelle

[lavatch · 8/10 · 4 January 2020]

Judith "Noelle" Dunn is the effervescent heroine of this heartwarming Christmas yarn that combines romance with economic theory.

Noelle has been an accountant at the Aikens Christmas Decorations company in the small town of Forest City. The business has fallen on lean times following the passing of the dearly department head of the company, George Aikens. Old Man Aikens had been using his personal funds to keep the company afloat and avoid layoffs.

Now, the situation looks grim as a stern auditor, Ashley "Ash" Aikens, the granddaughter of the former owner, is preparing an audit. Matters are not helped by the mysterious stranger, Justin Allen, who shows up in town and begins a romantic relationship with Noelle. Justin also takes the job of dock loader at Aikens Decoration and seemingly befriends Ash.

The film juggles the romance with the concerted effort to save the little Christmas decorations company. Noelle struggles to explore ways of forming a bond with the Globalmart corporation that is planning a new store in Forest City. She also comes up with the brilliant idea of expanding into the area of Halloween decorations. The film develops a bit of suspense in the mystery of who actually is Justin Allen.

Old Man Aikens was fond of the saying, "If you don't have a little bit of Christmas every day, you are not really living." The words of the old sage are at the heart of film's message about spreading the Christmas spirit, which influences the budding romance of Noelle and Justin, as well as her brilliant plan to save the Aikens Christmas Decorations company. Everything comes to a head on an endearing and heartfelt Christmas even celebration.

Refreshingly pleasant acting; fun to watch.

[JBThackery · 8/10 · 15 January 2022]

The acting is bright and intelligent, with pleasant relationships. It is also refreshing to have an original plot, not just ground out from the predictable "movie mill" taking over. Photography, color balance, editing, sound, casting, makeup, and music all work together well. The director was on top of this one.

Loved the variety of locations and quality of sets. Action is real, and varies in a captivating flow.