Every year there are so many Christmas TV movies and some of them are pretty lame and too cute. This one is above average because of the alternate scenarios thing going on - one where she makes a business trip and one where she doesn't. The formula usually works and in this movie, it keeps things interesting enough to see how things turn out.

Haylie Duff performs adequately as the party organizer. Chris Carmack as the tech big shot she has to organize a party for. Idol alum Diana De Garmo makes a cameo but her song is a bit underwhelming. Laguna Beach's Stephen Colletti plays her unfaithful boyfriend. Connie Selleca plays her boss and she looks young and amazingly recognizable from her Hotel days.

If you have to choose one Christmas movie to watch to relax this one isn't a bad choice since it's a little different.

My Christmas film viewings over-time have been a very mixed bag. With some surprisingly good hits, where regardless of how predictable they are succeed in being full of charm, warmth and heart so succeeding in being light-hearted and undemanding fun. But also some quite big misses, where the characters are not likeable, everything is forced and shallow with implausibility too in some of the worst cases, the acting and writing being weak and basically with just nothing to them.

Despite being a long way from perfect or being a complete hit, 'All About Christmas Eve' is thankfully closer to the former category. Certainly not a film to humbug on. As far as the 2012 Christmas output as part of my Christmas film completest sake goes, 'All About Christmas Eve' is in the high middle category (one would not think that looking at the rating here though) and does decently with one of the more intriguing premises of a Christmas twist ('Sliding Doors' with a festive twist), even if even more could have been done with it.

It does try to do a little too much, a danger with parallel structure stories, with too much crammed in in terms of events and characters and the switches from story to the other are not always seamless. Parts weren't explored all that well, with the identity of the person calling the girlfriend agreed being too vague.

At times the dialogue went too far on the cheese factor and was vulgar. Gib Gerard is very wooden as well.

Wooden is not something that Haylie Duff can be described as, she plays her role with a good deal of verve and charm. Connie Sellecca has fun as the boss character. Chris Carmack isn't as interesting but he seems at ease and engages with the material. The chemistry doesn't seem forced. The direction is not always in control of the story but there is enough skill on display. Neither the script or story are perfect in any shape or form, with the script particularly being easy to criticise, but the story does intrigue and provoke thought and doesn't come over as dull.

It is very professionally filmed and the locations are simply beautiful. A lot of Hallmark's Christmas films suffer from being over-scored, meaning being too constantly used and too loud. That isn't so big a problem here generally. While the characters are not meaty or original, none of them annoyed me and nor did they bore me. The leads were easier to connect to than expected. They also had personality traits that appealed and any negative traits were not exaggerated, which can be a common problem with female lead characters particularly in Hallmark's Christmas output.

Overall, decent if unexceptional and not always focused. 6/10.

This film is all about Eve!

Evelyn (Eve) Wright is an ambitious party planner with the large firm of Elizabeth Cole Events in Manhattan. While Ms. Cole is the boss from hell, Eve has maintained a more down-to-earth and easy-going manner. But her ambitious side will be tested in a tug-of-war with her more humble persona, who wanted to be a painter.

The film adopts a creative structure of "parallel lives," as Eve is racing to the airport for the job that could make or break her career in Los Angeles. She is running late to the airport, and at the last second, the door to the sheep shoot closes. Eve talks her way onto the plane, heading off to her successful venture.

But the film takes the same scene from a different perspective when Eve is denied a place on the plane. She misses her flight, loses her job, and discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her. This story is all about the resourceful Eve, who longs to return to her roots as an artist.

Two parallel narratives alternate through the film, one in New York and one in L.A. In the latter story, Eve falls in love with the CEO of the Gobble social media conglomerate. In New York, Eve works at the bar with her best friend Lila, then lands an art exhibit at the small Jones Gallery.

While the filmmakers could have brought the parallel lives together in a more complete way at the end, the film was nonetheless charming and heartwarming. The actress playing the two "Eve's" was excellent in capturing the two sides of her soul warring against each other. The scoring of the film added to the mood, especially the jazzy piano numbers. Miss Diane Degara added some beautiful vocals.

The film was successful in developing the theme of "pure destiny" and how our lives may turn on a dime, based on the chance circumstances of the moment. While it looked like a disaster when the second Eve missed her flight, she landed on her feet, and the ultimate outcome was nothing less than pure destiny.