By Robert Bianco | USA Today

A Town Without Christmas 

3 out of 4 stars

For anyone who thinks the season is incomplete without a shiny new Christmas movie, CBS has a present for you Sunday.

Lest they be dashed, or Dashered, don't get your holiday hopes too high. A Town Without Christmas is not a classic TV Christmas movie along the lines of The House Without a Christmas Tree or A Christmas Memory — it drifts a bit, and it lacks their universality. But like those movies, this fable knows the best holiday films are not all merry and bright. You need a darker obstacle for the seasonal spirit to conquer.

You also need a good cast, and Town supplies one. The star is Everybody Loves Raymond's Emmy-winning Patricia Heaton, who gives an understated performance as M.J. Jensen, a reporter who has given up on love.

M.J. finds redemption in an equally damaged writer (sweetly played by Rick Roberts) — and an unexpected matchmaker in Max, a mysterious stranger played with grizzled-elf charm by Peter Falk.

The story is set in motion by a child in a depressed fishing village who writes Santa, saying, "I'm ready to leave this world and I know how to do it." When the letter is intercepted, it kicks off a media frenzy, with M. J. among those sent to uncover the child's identity and stop him from making good on his threat.

On the way, she meets David (Roberts), a struggling writer who just lost his job at a greeting card company. He's looking for an artist who has been sending him pictures — pictures that seem to tell the future while pulling him into a past he has tried to forget.

The two of them are not exactly made for each other. But destiny — and Max — can play funny tricks.

Heaton does a fine job of making M.J. smart enough to be credible as a star reporter and appealing enough to be credible as the love interest. Roberts is a good counterpoint as the more spiritual David, and Falk is an expert at supplying gruff comic relief.

For all its Christmas charm, Town could have done with a little more plot and a little less fantasy. We'll accept magic over the holidays, but not when it's used as a get-out-of-jail-free card, pulled out to rescue the plot whenever it's worked itself into a corner.

Still, if you're in the mood for Christmas cheer, Town ultimately delivers. It may not be the best TV present you've ever received, but it's an enjoyable movie with a kind of unforced glow, just the kind of film we've come to expect from the season.

What would we do without one?