Lacey Chabert Finds Love With Help From Hallmark’s MATCHMAKER SANTA

As the target audience for most of the original movies produced by networks like The Hallmark Channel and Lifetime, with a special weakness for the Christmas romances, I have a few actors and actresses whose forays into the original TV movie I always watch. Lacey Chabert is on that list, and Matchmaker Santa just makes me eager for more from her.

Chabert plays Melanie, owner of a bakery, who is looking forward to a romantic Christmas weekend with her boyfriend, Justin (Thad Luckinbill). Justin is a nice enough guy, but as the newly-appointed CEO of his family’s company, he’s pretty distracted and hasn’t been giving Melanie as much attention as she’d like. Justin’s best friend and employee, Dean (Adam Mayfield), has been picking up the slack by acting as taxi service when Justin has to work late, filling in at the last minute, and even picking out Melanie’s birthday present. Dean and Melanie aren’t exactly antagonistic toward each other, but she sees him as more the bearer of Justin’s bad news than anything else, and to him Melanie is his boss’s girl.

Enter Chris (Donovan Scott), a jolly old man who sees Dean and Melanie together at yet another of Justin’s missed date nights and decides they belong together. He ends up on the plane with Melanie as she flies upstate to Justin’s family’s lake house, and, with the help of a little magic, maneuvers things so that Dean picks her up at the airport and the pair are stranded together in the charming town of Buford Falls for a few days while Justin entertains his former high school sweetheart/daughter of the president of his board of directors. It’s all very contrived, of course, but I didn’t mind. In fact, by the end of the second day, I found myself hoping old Chris would come up with something else to keep Dean and Melanie stuck so that the spark between them would have time to kindle into a flame.

The magic of Matchmaker Santa is in the main storyline with Melanie and Dean. Their chemistry is palpable, yet it’s a slow burn, almost reminiscent of Darcy and Elizabeth (with less pride and prejudice). Chabert and Mayfield are both very appealing, and Mayfield wisely plays Dean as thoughtful but not afraid to tease, gentle but not a pushover. He’s a good match for Melanie who’s lost her way a bit and needs to be reminded of her heart’s desire.

The film flounders when it moves from Buford Falls to the lake house where Justin and Blaire, the high school sweetheart, are reconnecting. The acting here – it’s  not good. Especially when Justin’s mom shows up. The scenes between her and Blaire are painfully awkward. Fortunately that’s the B-story, so most of the action is down in Buford Falls with Melanie, Dean, Chris, and a few of the town’s quirky citizens (John Ratzenberger, Florence Henderson, and Lin Shaye) where romance and magic are in the air.

Matchmaker Santa premieres Saturday, November 17 at 8/7c on The Hallmark Channel.