One of the most interesting things this year is how inclusive the Christmas movies have been. The world no longer revolves around attractive thin white women. And I am here for it.

Izzi (Ali Stroker) is a romance novel writer with writer’s block. The leading man in her books has become unbelievably perfect. In order to reignite her spark of creativity, Izzi goes on her annual Christmas vacation to Silver Springs. She quickly finds out that her favorite lodge is under new management. The owner’s son, Matt (Daniel di Tomasso), has taken over and he is trying to change everything.

I first heard about Ali Stroker when she won the 2019 Tony Award for her performance in Broadway’s Oklahoma! Unfortunately, I did not get the change to see her perform on stage. However, she is a delight to watch on screen. Even though the script for Christmas Ever After isn’t great, Stroker does a great job with Izzi.

The plot of Christmas Ever After revolves around Izzi having a problem writing her holiday-themed romance novel. She finished the book in the beginning of the movie but her editor-friend, Mila (Kim Nelson), thinks that the leading man is too perfect. So Izzi has to rewrite the entire thing? It is the main conflict but we don’t get a lot of detail. We know that she’s behind deadline and she needs to have the book finished….at some point? But it never feels like Izzi is risking anything. She spends a lot of time at the Christmas events the town is running. There is very little time spent actually writing. It would have been nice if the stakes were a little higher. Maybe she could be seen writing at all of the events or maybe her contract with her publisher would be at risk if she didn’t get the book finished immediately. Mila says the book was supposed to be finished by the holiday season but the movie begins a few weeks before Christmas. Even if they used the first draft that Izzi submitted, there’s no way the publisher would have the books on shelves by Christmas.

Overall, the movie is pretty good. There are a few flaws but I think they could be overlooked pretty easily. Go ahead and give this a watch. If anything, Matt’s daughter, Kacey (Melia Charlotte Cressaty), is kinda adorable.