Hallmark missed a golden opportunity with 'A Cookie Cutter Christmas': they could have made a nice film, and did in parts, but the insufferable, mean-spirited and childish rivalry between Erin Krakow's Christie and Miranda Frigon's Penny was equal parts annoying and cringeworthy. Watching them was uncomfortable. You're meant to cheer for Christie, obviously, but she makes it hard at times.
A long-standing feued between the two women boils over at the elementary school where the work (and where they continue trying to out-do each other) when single father David Haydn-Jones arrives in town, and immediately becomes the object of both women's affections. There's a baking contest, featuring Alan Thicke as a celebrity chef judge, but even that storyline becomes unpleasant due to the Christie/Penny rivalry. Some nice scenes and pretty good chemistry between Krakow and Haydn-Jones but all of that is unfortunately second-fiddle. Could have been so much better.
A long-standing feued between the two women boils over at the elementary school where the work (and where they continue trying to out-do each other) when single father David Haydn-Jones arrives in town, and immediately becomes the object of both women's affections. There's a baking contest, featuring Alan Thicke as a celebrity chef judge, but even that storyline becomes unpleasant due to the Christie/Penny rivalry. Some nice scenes and pretty good chemistry between Krakow and Haydn-Jones but all of that is unfortunately second-fiddle. Could have been so much better.