Sarah Lancaster Charms in ‘Fir Crazy’ for Hallmark

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the original holiday movies on The Hallmark Channel and Lifetime, and thanks to my job as Editor in Chief at NiceGirlsTV, I get to watch them in advance to review.  The icing on this particular sugar cookie is that our own Sarah Lancaster stars in one of Hallmark’s holiday movies this year!

Fir Crazy, premiering Sunday, November 24 on The Hallmark Channel, stars Sarah Lancaster as Elise MacReynolds, a woman in New York City with a rising career, a decent boyfriend, and a gorgeous new loft. Until, that is, it all comes crashing down thanks to the economy. Laid off from her job and dumped by her appearances-are-everything boyfriend, Elise decides to go home for Thanksgiving and some parental advice.

It just so happens that the MacReynolds own a Christmas tree farm, which means young Elise spent her holidays huddled in a freezing trailer in Manhattan, selling trees and/or bored out of her mind with her parents from Thanksgiving through Christmas. You can understand why her holiday spirit isn’t exactly merry and bright. When her father breaks his leg and is ordered to stay off it for weeks, Elise reluctantly agrees to run the tree lot in Manhattan alongside her cousin until she can find another job. Initially sulky and definitely not winning any customer service awards, Elise finally decides to pull herself together and do her parents proud.

Along the way there’s a new love interest, a grouchy landlord, a questionable job offer, and an attempted reconciliation to keep Elise busy.

Sarah is a perfect fit for a romantic comedy. Both wistful and pragmatic, she keeps Elise relatable even when she’s acting like a petulant teenager. She has sweet chemistry with Eric Johnson, who plays love interest Darren, and navigates the prickly relationship between Elise and landlord Gary (Colin Mochrie) with ease, all while giving us the warm fuzzies without tipping over into sickly sweet. I hope she does more of these Hallmark movies!

Fir Crazy premieres Sunday, November 24 at 8/7c on The Hallmark Channel.