Christmas at Carbell Family Farm

A Star For Christmas/Christmas At Carbell Family Farm (2023) -

It may be the fact that it took me a long time to get around to writing this review and that the few photos on IMDB didn't exactly refresh my memory, but I really couldn't recall a lot about this film, especially as I feel like I've seen something else just like it since.

All I could really remember was that Cody Ray Thompson as Jack was nice, a bit stuffy, but goofy too. He also seemed to be the only one that could act without being over the top, based on the few notes that I did make.

Tamara Almeida in the role of Gracie played the usual force to be reckoned with from the city and a bit over the top, which grated a tad against Jack's calm and cool personality, but I didn't object to their coming together as I sometimes have with these films. They balanced each other out.

Also Cosmo Jr (Lindsey Owen Pierre) was plain ridiculous and Hank (Allain Lupien) was so obviously gay that it spoiled his romantic side story.

There was also a scene of Spice Throwing which I really couldn't understand the point of, surely it wasn't a tradition based in real life? It was so stupid and wasteful, not to mention potentially dangerous.

The only other note that I made was that none of the dancing went with the music that was playing and so obviously so.

I didnt think that it was a bad, bad film, but I can't imagine that I will prioritise it in the future.

5/10.

It is interesting to me that Lifetime's Christmas 2024 starts with two stories where the heroine is essentially a corporate real estate raider. If you watch more than 2 dozen new Christmas movies every year, or even a fraction of that, many of those movies set the big corporations as the enemy and corporate real estate development is evil. Admittedly many of those stories end up with the villain being converted into preserving the rustic flavor of the local town. But with Gracie, it didn't seem like this go getter could change.

In addition to the story being about the above conflict, it is also a quest story. Most of the movie is spent chasing the quit claims of five one foot square plot which were awarded to unknown parties who need to be discovered by Gracie. Five one foot square plots blocking a development seems a little crazy, but this story has a bunch of crazy elements. Along the way Gracie meets several new Christmas traditions that are probably pure fiction with little or no basis in reality. Maybe, who knows what strange traditions are really out there. That's OK because it fits the story.

Gracie, as played by Tamara Almeida is a dynamo. She starts out focused, but soon her energy is turned into enjoying life and surroundings. Despite beings the corporate seller of the new hotel concept, she is good at making strangers friends, and it is genuine. Cody Ray Thompson is not quite as much fun. He is restrained but a little quirky too. I guess they had chemistry, but Jack iis also holding back. I think Almeida was mostly the one who generated any chemistry.

The quest, or the mystery, has a hidden element and it's not hard for the viewer to realize it, at least most of it.

The story is like many other Christmas movies with the quest contributing some fresh mystery. The real draw in this movie is Almeida once you realize that Gracie isn't just a corporate suit.

In the UK, when the movie starts, and the titles roll, it shows the name of this film as "A Star for Christmas" and it's year was 2023, not 24.

The rest of the IMDB details are correct AFAIK. At the time of writing this, the IMBD score is 5.6 and I feel that that is about right.

Plot is good, most acting is good, seems well directed znd produced etc. Some Christmas movies are an annoying waste of time, this is not one of those - but having said that, I wouldn't go out of my way to watch this again. It's a nice film, that's about it. (There was some mild over acting mind, and one extra stood there like a tree at one moment, that was funny but distracting)

Good film, worth watching.