I love Dolly as much as the next country music lovin' gal, but something about this movie... it just dragged for me. I don't know if it just took too long to kick into the meat of the actual story or what, but I just couldn't stay focused on it but I'm glad I stuck with it because the second half of the movie is way better than the first.
Rachel (Winnie Cooper Danica McKellar) is a hotshot NYC event planner. She's earned her Christmas break and goes home to Tennessee with her daughter, Ava, to spend time with her parents, and at the urging of her friend who works at Dollywood, to apply for the event coordinator position for Dolly's Smoky Mountain Christmas celebration.
Luke (Niall Matter) catches Rachel sneaking into a private event space at Dollywood where he is the Operations Manager. He's immediately put off by Rachel's open criticisms about the party preparation and at first, he thinks she's a spy sent by competitors. Luke is interviewing for the General Manager position and it seems like his presentation fails to impress the board, and as a hail Mary, he offers to take over planning the 30th Anniversary Christmas Party. The movie shows a weird juxtaposition between Luke's facts and figures presentation and Rachel's energy and feelings presentation, which is weird and unfair - since they're applying for different jobs. This feels super clunky.
In the end, the board teams Rachel and Luke up and they both want to be the one in charge. In fairness, Rachel is in Luke's house. But Luke's an ops guy, not a party guy. He's also been at Dollywood since he's 15 years old, so he's in the "this how we've always done it" mindset.
There's nothing earth-shattering or new here. Rachel and Luke spend more and more time together (and with Ava) outside of Dollywood - making yule logs with Rachel's family, after-work drinks, building snowmen, etc.and her mom and dad are adorably stoked for this budding relationship.
Rachel and Luke reinvigorate the Smoky Mountain Christmas spectacular and get the seal of approval from none other than the Grand Dame herself!
The Dollywood Parade of Many Colors is going on my Christmas bucket list!
In the midst of the celebration, Rachel realizes that Tennessee is home and Luke is hand-picked by Dolly to be the General Manager.
We get a flash-forward!
Next Christmas, we learn that Rachel fulfilled her original dream of becoming a children's author and her book, inspired by Ava, has been included in Dolly's Imagination Library program (see below!).
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One of my absolute favorite things about Dolly is her Imagination Library.
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| via Hallmark Channel |
Rachel (
Luke (Niall Matter) catches Rachel sneaking into a private event space at Dollywood where he is the Operations Manager. He's immediately put off by Rachel's open criticisms about the party preparation and at first, he thinks she's a spy sent by competitors. Luke is interviewing for the General Manager position and it seems like his presentation fails to impress the board, and as a hail Mary, he offers to take over planning the 30th Anniversary Christmas Party. The movie shows a weird juxtaposition between Luke's facts and figures presentation and Rachel's energy and feelings presentation, which is weird and unfair - since they're applying for different jobs. This feels super clunky.
In the end, the board teams Rachel and Luke up and they both want to be the one in charge. In fairness, Rachel is in Luke's house. But Luke's an ops guy, not a party guy. He's also been at Dollywood since he's 15 years old, so he's in the "this how we've always done it" mindset.
There's nothing earth-shattering or new here. Rachel and Luke spend more and more time together (and with Ava) outside of Dollywood - making yule logs with Rachel's family, after-work drinks, building snowmen, etc.and her mom and dad are adorably stoked for this budding relationship.
Rachel and Luke reinvigorate the Smoky Mountain Christmas spectacular and get the seal of approval from none other than the Grand Dame herself!
The Dollywood Parade of Many Colors is going on my Christmas bucket list!
In the midst of the celebration, Rachel realizes that Tennessee is home and Luke is hand-picked by Dolly to be the General Manager.
We get a flash-forward!
Next Christmas, we learn that Rachel fulfilled her original dream of becoming a children's author and her book, inspired by Ava, has been included in Dolly's Imagination Library program (see below!).
-
One of my absolute favorite things about Dolly is her Imagination Library.
About Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth until they begin school, no matter their family’s income.
After launching in 1995, the program grew quickly. First books were only distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee where Dolly grew up. It became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway. By 2003, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had mailed one million books. It would prove to be the first of many millions of books sent to children around the world.
Dolly’s home state of Tennessee pledged to pursue statewide coverage in 2004 and global expansion was on the horizon. After the United States, the program launched in Canada in 2006 followed by the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.
For more info, and to donate, visit https://imaginationlibrary.com/
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