What time is it? Time to save a quaint mountain inn! But in a twist, the owners aren’t being pushed out by Big Hotel. They just want to get off front desk duty and frolic in the Maldives during their retirement, so they’re ready to sell.
Unfortunately, they haven’t told their event planner daughter (Paige), who’s home for the holidays and has no clue that the suspiciously handsome man (Dylan) poking around the place with his precocious 8-year-old son is actually the money man who will free mom and dad from their day-to-day small business drudgery. Grab your favorite marmot; it’s a Coyote Creek Christmas.
So, I feel like it’s pretty obvious what happens here. Breaking news: the attractive young singles end up together. But we’ll get to that in a second. My thoughts as I watched this movie frequently turned to Dylan’s son Noah.
He’s charming, wise beyond his years, and conveniently deposited in potentially unsafe locales while Dylan does business and chats up Paige. Noah is left to his own devices in the lobby of a busy Denver hotel, an independent bookstore, and a hotel room, just to start. Where’s mom? She ran off, prompting Dylan to lead a nomadic lifestyle so Noah could focus on the fun in life and bury the trauma of being abandoned by his mom. Sounds exactly like the type of duo you’d want to get romantically involved in after a couple of hot chocolates and meet-cutes.
Paige, meanwhile, has been living it up in Denver as a mid-level event planner, but when her child-like sketches for a party idea don’t get the effusive praise from her boss that she was expecting, Paige is throw into a tailspin that’s only heightened when she learns that her parents will be toning down their annual Dec. 23 Christmas party at the inn.
That won’t do, so Paige hoofs it up to Coyote Creek, with visions of gaudy place settings and over-the-top themes dancing in her head. Her parents don’t have the heart to tell her that this will be their last Christmas at the inn, so they let her plan the blowout holiday party of her dreams. Her big idea: Celebrating Christmas traditions from around the world, with accompanying cuisines that the hotel’s chef will be required to whip up. (Insert Miranda Priestly side-eye here.)
There’s some side plot about a marmot statue that gets hidden around the city, and adorned with a piece of clothing by each person who finds it (and then re-hides it). Paige explains why, but I zoned out. Won’t the clothing being attached to this thing get soggy if left outside in December in Colorado? Of course, but we need not think of such things.
There’s also another subplot about Paige’s childhood friend having a crush on a local musician, as Hallmark continues to pepper its movies with bland LGBT content that it hopes won’t cause its more closed-minded viewers to clutch their pearls. These ladies don’t even hug, so mission accomplished?
There must be a third-act conflict in every Hallmark movie, and here, it’s Paige finding out that Dylan is actually in Coyote Creek to broker the sale of the inn when Dylan’s brother calls the front desk and Paige picks up. She’s super mad at him for not telling her, and mad at her parents for not asking her to take over the inn. Which, I guess is fair, but Paige has also known this dude for like three days, and her parents can make their own life choices.
Okay, so the ending. If I’m keeping it 100 with you, I don’t really remember exactly what happens at the end, and I’m too lazy to queue up my DVR right this second. There’s some discussion about Dylan having to remodel the inn in order to appeal to investors? BUT, from what I can gather, news about the sale of the inn makes the rounds in Coyote Creek ahead of the party, and that causes everyone and their mother to rush over in the hopes of securing a room? Do they not understand reservations? And fire codes? When they found out there was no availability, why didn’t they get back into their SUVs and go home? There was no blizzard blocking Sidewinder Pass.
And who’s going to be all-in on the glamping tents that Dylan procures to house these people? It’s December in a town named for coyotes. Let’s sleep outside! Wait, is this an allegory for Jesus’ birth? No room at the inn. People being forced to sleep in tents outside. Fetch me an ox and lamb to keep time! Noah definitely has little drummer boy vibes.
Can I watch Hallmark’s entire 2021 Christmas movie lineup? I’m going to try. For more, check out:
