A Joyous Christmas

Rachel is a self-help book writer who is promoting her new book "Me First" (or close to that). This movie is about her journey to realizing that Christmas is about giving to others. My first problem with this movie is that these two principles are absolutely contradictory and a self-help writer can't suddenly promote one theme when her book is about the other.

Another problem is Rachel herself. This woman is unsure of herself. For a self-help guru with at least two published books, she shows that she has almost no understanding of people. She can't see obvious things going on around her.

Finally the character Joy is nothing more than a prop. Joy herself seems confused at times.

If you can just accept all of the above without questioning, which is what you are supposed to do with Hallmark movies, you may enjoy this movie. The story has some interesting things in it including a little secret that needs to be revealed. There is a nice romance. And there are some heartwarming moments. I don't think I can be objective about the acting because some of the main characters were so self-contradictory which I think is more due to the story.

The one thing I didn't like about the movie was Joy. She had NO joy, was sour-faced throughout the whole movie. She never smiled!

Yes, she had sadness in her past, but when a miracle happened in her life, she had the same expression. She did not believe that you must love yourself before you are able to give love to others. Not a selfish "Me Only" kind of love of oneself, but an acceptance.

She was always giving her time and energies to others because she carried so much guilt. Yet there was no progression in her character at all. It could have been a better movie with different casting or different directing, not sure which was the problem.

It is like a small, crooked tree. It has nothing special among Hallmark Christmas films but it is different. And you love it. For many reasons, many out of words, few very simple. First, for the rehabilitation of Christmas as a happy , in profound sense , of family, in many aspects. Second- for the beautiful acting of Bonnie Bedelia. Three- for the fine job of Michael Rady. Not the last - for the nice perspective about motivational literature. It is real different and you feel that. Not better, not special, not great or out of the too familiar recipe. But a seductive crooked tree. And it is enough to see it not only once .

I absolutely loved this movie. Natalie Knepp plays Rachel Kennedy a motivational speaker who returns to her home of Fall Oaks, Massachusetts for an event near Christmas. The bad guy manager was played very well by Steve Bacic. The good guy producer Jack is played by Michael Rady. He starred in Christmas in Homestead (2016) which I have not seen, but probably will after seeing him here. The scene where Rachel and Jack first meet is great as he is asking her whether he should get the Santa or Snowman tie. The last main character is Joy who is the reason the movie is named a Joyous Christmas (very well done).

The movie to its success focuses on Rachel. Natalie Knepp seemed so familiar to me, but I haven't seen her in other roles. Seems like this is her biggest role and she was superb. I did see she was in Loving Leah 8 years ago as "the female guard" (very small part). I will go out of my way to see her again. This movie came close to getting a perfect 10 from me. The story has a little surprise between Jack and Joy, which was good. My criticism is the revealing could have been done better maybe involving Rachel a little more.

I am happy to watch it again. The scenes and dynamic between Rachel and Jack are good. We have some singing by Jack and piano playing by Joy.

This certainly is a "Joyous Christmas" movie. The premise is not a new one but it's well executed and the acting, especially by Bonnie Bedelia and Michael Rady, is well above par. A young, self-obsessed, self-help author returns to her home town to promote her new book with a grand inspirational event at Christmas. She mends fences with her own family and discovers the true meaning of Christmas love with the help of the town and two locals in particular. Her ambitious Manager almost upsets the apple cart but the situation is caught in time. Natalie Knepp is a little weak as the leading lady but she is probably perfect for the type of person she is playing ... and we certainly see her grow and soften as she embraces the help she seeks and is offered to her. The only problem I had with the movie is that on several occasions, we have to suspend disbelief when things seem to magically happen in impossibly record time and that we rarely see her "working" on the event. Instead, she is Christmas shopping, volunteering at the Community Center, having fun with her new (and incredibly attractive) producer, entering a candy cane relay race and sampling the local fare at the Christmas Carnival etc etc etc ... She seems to save the Community Center Christmas party in a flash and when she and her producer arrive at her townhouse, after what seems to have been a full 24hr day, they notice that she has no Christmas decorations up so they drive off to get some! Before the night is over they seem to have decorated the entire yard, bought and decorated her Christmas tree and the whole living room. Now, maybe we are supposed to think a few days have gone by but the editing makes it a little confusing. Had I noticed if she'd changed her outfit, I might not have been so confused when she interviewed her producer-to-be the day after she helped him choose a tie and nearly got knocked down. The way it was edited, it seemed like only a few hours later to me. I think it's really enjoyable movie.