The Christmas House

Almost passable, but not quite. 'The Christmas House' is cheesy and the actual plot is lame, I do appreciate the additional bit of depth to the story though - admittedly that's relatively-speaking as it's still a Hallmark movie, but there's slightly more to it than is usual for a festive flick of this sort. There is some same-sex couple representation, which is definitely something you don't usually get with these films, so minor (belated, after all) props for that. As for the cast, they bring what's required. I watched Treat Williams in 'Rocky Mountain Christmas' last year and found him to be the standout, he's solid again - helped by a better cast around him here. Robert Buckley and Ana Ayora are decent, as are Sharon Lawrence and Jonathan Bennett. I'm always intrigued when these television films get a sequel, so I'm up for checking out 'The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls' - even if I'm not expecting much from it, naturally.