When Christmas Around The Corner began, I thought we were going to be in trouble. I mean, the main character is a Wall Street exec, Claire (Alexandra Breckenridge), who failed to get an online pedicure company (wait, what?) on NASDAQ. Oh, and the online pedicure company was named Mistle-Toes. Let’s just say it didn’t scream ‘This is an awesome movie!’

Things pick up a little when Claire runs away to Vermont for a month to escape her failure. She stays at a weird little B&B that her mom loved, where the guests get to manage the bookstore downstairs during their stay. I’m not sure how many people would want to work during their vacation but I’ll suspend disbelief for this. The bookstore is owned by Andrew (Jamie Spilchuk), who inherited it but he would rather be a full-time blacksmith. (I guess this goes with the ‘Men Who Want To Make Things From Wood’ trope.)

Due to a recent flood, the town council has decided to cancel this year’s Christmas festivities. Of course, the Christmas celebration was the entire reason Claire was coming. Since Claire is now managing the bookstore, she makes it her mission to bring Christmas back to Main Street.

To be honest, Corner was a bit of a refreshment from the usual Christmas romance movies. Usually, one of the leads is the Christmas Scrooge and the other has to cajole them into the spirit. This time around, Claire is just kinda lost in life. She spends a ton of time on her fancy schmancy New York City job and doesn’t have time for herself. In Vermont, she gets to spend time doing things she’s good at and with people she enjoys talking to. The romantic thing is kinda tossed in there as a last minute thought. They could have taken that out and it would have been a perfectly fine ‘getting to know yourself’ type of movie. It was a nice little palate cleanser from the movies that seem to want to ruin Christmas.