It is now time for our second Corey Sevier Christmas movie of the season. First we had Noel Next Door, where he played a grumpy composer. Now we have Christmas On Mistletoe Lake, where he plays a grumpy boat owner. OK, I’m not really sure what his character does for money in this movie. Let’s just get into it.

Reilly (Genelle Williams) is an interior designer heading to Mistletoe Lake for Christmas. The local bed and breakfast is completely booked so she ends up staying on a boat owned by Ray (Corey Sevier), who she met in the town general store. Over the next few days, Reilly falls in love with the town and with Ray. But will the financial troubles of both ruin what she has fallen in love with?

This movie is so weirdly written. Parts of it are really sweet but there are lines that no one would ever actually say that. In the beginning, Emma (Hattie Kragten), Ray’s teenage daughter, within minutes of meeting Reilly says to her “Why aren’t you celebrating Christmas with your boyfriend or husband or whatever?” Who says that? Definitely not a teenager. And there are a few other places like that throughout the movie. It sucked me right out of any enjoyment I was having.

Another thing I disliked about the movie is the conflict. Ray is selling his boat to Louis (Robin Dunne), who happens to be one of Reilly’s former clients. While Ray wants to keep the boat as is, Louis wants to hire Reilly to change absolutely everything. Instead of telling Ray about it, Reilly keeps the information to herself. Of course, this mean Ray gets pissed off at her. A better conflict would have been if Reilly told Ray the situation and the two of them teamed up against Louis. Reilly and Ray had already kissed at this point so we weren’t waiting for the will-they-won’t-they. Having the main couple team up against the bad guy would have made Christmas on Mistletoe Lake such a cool and different movie. But, no, we got the usual boring trope.

On one hand, I want to recommend Mistletoe Lake. Genelle Williams is an amazing actress. My husband and I loved her in Warehouse 13 back in the late 2000s/early 2010s. However, this is not a great movie. Maybe watch it if you have nothing else to do. But don’t plan an entire night around watching it.

A lot of Christmas movies have the word ‘Christmas’ somewhere in the title. I appreciate that this one goes with Santa instead. Though, apparently, it’s also known as Santa’s Squad. But it’s only one person. There’s no squad; there’s just one person.

Allie (Rebecca Dalton) is an unemployed teacher. Her friend, Tony (Chris Sandiford), shows her a job listing for The Santa Squad, hired Christmas helpers. Allie’s first Santa Squad assignment is the Church household, where a wealthy widower lives with his two daughters.

The Santa Squad was an adorable movie. It gave me a little bit of The Parent Trap or The Sound of Music (without the songs) type of vibe. There’s two daughters of a wealthy single man, an awful girlfriend who kinda hates the kids, and a new woman who befriends the children. OK, that last part isn’t very Parent Trap but it does have similar vibes.

I quite enjoyed the movie, for the most part. My only gripe is that Rose (Hattie Kragten), the older daughter, is given the ‘quirky trait’ of rattling off little known facts about animals or bugs. While that could be really cute, it fell a little flat for me. Some of the interjections fit into the scene well but some of them felt forced. It would have been nice if her facts fit the conversations better.

With that said, the rest of the movie was enjoyable. Gordon (Aaron Ashmore), the father of the family, and Allie had great chemistry together. Even Paniz Zade was pretty perfect as the stuck-up girlfriend Kimmee. Sometimes it can be difficult to find a good bad guy.

So, should you watch The Santa Squad? Yes! Lifetime has only had a handful of good movies this year. And this is one of them.