I've always felt Paul Campbel has been dealt the short end of the stick when it comes to good roles in Hallmark movies. The character he plays best is in Once Upon a Christmas. Finally he's not a nerd or a loser. He actually is quite handsome as a hard working bachelor.This movie is painful to watch.... saccharine sweet, and ridiculously stupid story line. Not everyone needs plots spelled out in such detail you get sick of the movie in the first 15 minutes.

Gridley(Paul Campbell) is a down on his luck drifter who runs into his high school crush Josie(Hilarie Burton) in the park one day. Her boyfriend Richard, who is arrogant and stuffy, knows that Josie's wealthy parents hate Gridley even worse than him, so he pays Gridley to accompany Josie home for the weekend to her parents 40th anniversary party, in order to make him look more appealing.Yes, there are a lot of standard romantic clichés here: snobby parents, comic mishaps by Gridley, and romantic sparks flying between Gridley and Josie. However, three things make this better than the usual Hallmark romance. First, Tim Conway plays grandpa as a man who fakes dementia to avoid his family's squabbles and is hilarious throughout.Second, Josie's sister Mindy with her green-streaked hair, which is the result of a Gridley mishap, and her free-spirited, stubborn ways is extremely likable and comes close to stealing the show.And third, Paul Campbell has just the right amount of quirkiness and makes the viewer both sympathetic and humored.Of course, Josie and Gridley fall in love, her family accepts him and they end up together as one would expect. But, the journey there is fun and sometimes its nice simply to watch a movie, especially Hallmark, JUST for fun and romance!!

Delicious romantic comedy where a guy who is not liked by his girl's parents pays a guy they even disliked more to spend the weekend at their mansion so that the former would come out looking good by comparison.Of course, bringing the two together brings back memories and sparks romance once again.The best part of all this is the snooty parents who act as though the world is totally beneath them. It is at their 40th wedding anniversary that their younger daughter finally has the courage to tell them off and it's nice seeing how they're brought back down to earth.Tim Conway is a scene stealer as a grandfather pretending to have dementia so that he can tune out his daughter and son-in-law.A great way of looking at ourselves and removing our foibles.

This Hallmark holiday romance has all of the prerequisite Hallmark clichés: Stuffy boyfriend, quirky true-love, visit to well off but mean parents, heroine caught in the wrong career, and troubled sister. It manages to overcome them all, thanks to the whimsical charm of Paul Campbell as Quigley, and Tim Conway as the grandfather pretending to have dementia so to escape being drawn into the various family dramas. The redemption of her parents is well done and accomplished with a slinky and a Twinkie cake. The secondary romance of the sister and her next door neighbor and son of the Mother's nemesis is a nice touch. The sister was tons more likable and interesting than the primary heroine, and actually is more compatible with her love interest, but would not have provided the necessary "opposites attract" dynamic and her eventual character arc where she has her epiphany regarding her love life and her career.