Fir Crazy (2013)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

HAPPY Holidays. Tis the season to be JOLLY. It's the most WONDERFUL time of the year. Really? Fully the first 1/3rd of this movie (commercial TV screen time 41 minutes) was a total downer. One bad thing after another. Pile on Elise. And there was more of it later in the movie.Meanwhile, it really didn't seem like Elise and Darren spent much time together, and certainly not much alone time. Even then I would say the chemistry was just average. A lot of the screen time was either the unhappy corporate world, or grumpy Gary, or the tree lot.Sarah Lancaster has a nice smile that she showed off plenty, but beyond that, she wasn't charismatic or energetic. Eric Johnson did the best he could with the screen time he had.My point is this. It's clearly a Christmas movie and a romance one also. So it would be nice if the bulk of the movie was one or both, with a heavy dose leaning toward the romance side. That was not even close to how it worked out.There is a really sweet scene when Elise delivers the tree to the pregnant couple. The couple describes their happiest Christmas moments and it definitely lightens things up. I found it to be the best scene in the movie.

Last year, Hallmark presented a new Christmas movie with a father selling Christmas trees on a NYC sidewalk...and he had a disgruntled son that ran away. I don't think that movie could have been made any worse! Watching it once was more than enough!...........With that awful movie and the increasing numbers of awful Christmas movies Hallmark has been presenting between last year and this year, (2014) "Fir Crazy" surfaced to be at least "likeable.".......It did not have anything enticing or special or magical. But with its 2 "Bah, humbug" characters, it remained focused on Christmas with a nice plot that flowed.....None of the players were annoying.......No blaring, annoying "background" music and/or singing to overwhelm the players' dialogue (as Hallmark Christmas movies are notorious for having). And I have watched this movie several times.

Fir Crazy follows the character of Elise, played by Sarah Lockwood, who, through a series of circumstances, is cornered into a job she has hated all her life - selling Christmas trees in Manhattan for her parents' family business.Soon Sarah encounters a nemesis -an elderly and unlikeable CEO of the nearby store who sees the sale of Christmas trees as a nuisance and wants to shut Sarah's business down. Also circling the tree lot is Darrin (Eric Johnson), a handsome young man who is apparently attracted to Sarah. Add a few colorful supporting characters and you have the basics for a Hallmark Christmas movie - romantic love and people being transformed by the spirit of Christmas! And Fir Crazy carries off the Hallmark formula reasonably well. Its dialog is better than most movies of this type. It has spots of good acting, a couple of surprises, is well-paced and fun. I enjoyed watching it. But I never once felt choked up at the feel-good emotional climaxes (and I cry easily!) Maybe because the characters themselves never seemed to be very unhappy during the moments of greatest adversity; and if the characters don't seem to care then why should the audience? Overall, I found Fir Crazy to be "good but not great." But though it fell short of great, I did think it was fun and a movie I would enjoy seeing again during the holiday season.

Sarah Lancaster always hated the hard working conditions of running a Christmas tree lot during the holidays in Manhattan. However, when she loses her job she has to lend a hand to the family business. When Scrooge-like Colin Mochrie takes over the store, the seasonal lot has always been in front of and decides to get rid of it, Sarah and an unlikely assortment of employees, as well as potential boyfriend Eric Johnson, have a fight on their hands.While I am fond of several of the actors involved, particularly Mr. Mochrie (from his appearances on WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?), the plot is a little too neat and the writing a bit abrupt, particularly the inevitable transformation of Mochrie from nasty to nice. The visuals are fine and Miss Lancaster looks great in a fir-green top for the final scene, but this Hallmark TV romantic comedy is not a particularly distinguished effort, even by the standards of other Hallmark romcoms.