Christmas on the Vine

Yeh... This was just too by the book for me. Too many cliche set pieces: flirty sledding, flirty snowball fight, save the small family business from the big meanies, cookie baking, wreath making, and the Christmas festival (which also had to be saved). The only good things were Juliana Guill and the quality of the production values. I didn't like the male lead and didn't think he had good chemistry with Juliana. Plus he was stupid. The end came out of no where and was too abrupt.

This is another save-the-family-______(winery) plot and a consultant is sent to help. An evil big corporation is swallowing up all the land in the area. There are no real highs or lows or big surprises. The climatic conflict was created in a little bit of a surprising way. I thought it was out of character, but maybe understandable. The very end is abrupt with a change of heart coming on what seemed like a whim.

For me the enjoyment was the cheerful Julianna Guill. She and Jon Cor had good chemistry, but I think that was thanks mostly to Guill. The movie gives the leads plenty of screen time together. Guill seems to be in practically every scene and a lot of them with Cor. I wasn't as impressed with Cor's acting. All the supporting actors turned in decent performances.

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime and Hallmark. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. And 'Christmas on the Vine' did have the sort of premise where the execution could have gone either way.

Lifetime's 2020 Christmas film batch, like all their previous years, was pretty hit and miss which was not unexpected. 'Christmas on the Vine' is somewhere in the middle. If one was to judge it from its early portions, it could have easily passed for being one of the worst if it didn't get better. Luckily 'Christmas on the Vine' did get better though still stayed uneven, providing that one is willing to stick with it. Was really umming and erring at first whether to but generally don't regret my decision to stick with it.

The film is a long way from perfect. It starts off terribly, with some truly laughable dialogue that makes one cringe at its awkwardness and cheesiness, lifeless pacing and characters that one dislikes quickly. Also thought that the film ended underwhelmingly too, too abrupt and rushed with a truly implausible out of character 180.

Jon Cor was rather iffy as the male lead, he comes over as rather stiff and dull and also slightly creepy. His chemistry with Julianna Guill (who acquits herself well) isn't there at first.

Guill however is truly beguiling and easy to like from the get go. Meredith Baxter is a lively presence and the rest of the supporting turns are very good, only Cor doesn't work. The chemistry between Guill and Cor took time to settle but when it did settle it was quite charming. Luckily there is a lot seen of the relationship and it moves at a relatively realistic rate and grows. Didn't care for the characters at first, but they grew on me throughout the film.

A great job is done with the Christmas atmosphere, where it does feel like Christmas and in an affectionate way. Some lovely Christmas touches and there are some very sweet, but not sickly, scenes. The script is poor to begin with but gets better once one gets past the terrible first quarter or so, where there are a fair share of funny and poignant lines. The story is very predictable with pretty much everything being what one expects, but also has a lot of heart and charm. It doesn't take itself too seriously while not taking things as too much of a joke.

In conclusion, doesn't start off well at all and runs out of steam at the end, but much of what happens in between is pleasant if nothing mind-blowing. 6/10.

I enjoyed this Christmas movie. It has been one of the better ones thus far. The Christmas on a vineyard worked well, at least, it did for me. The story was fun and delightful, and the script was decent as well. I thought Julianna Guill had a really good performance. Her performance has this sort of Christmas, happy vibe about it. It was hard not to like her character. The chemistry between her and Jon Cor as Tyler was just about right, I think. The supporting cast was strong. I especially enjoyed Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez's cute performance as Michael. The scenery, props and sets were well polished. It was well done. The movie too instils a bit of Christmas spirit with some fun and cute scenes (e.g., the shooting of the commercial - sonata and the elf) and warm scenes (e.g., the play at the school). Overall, it is a nice little addition to Lifetime's original Christmas movie lineup this year. It is worth a watch.

Brooke (Julianna Guill) goes back to her hometown on a job. She's rebranding a small struggling family-run winery. Tyler (Jon Cor) is the son of the owner and two school years ahead of her. She remembers him but he's not sure. Carla Kilgore (Meredith Baxter) is their powerful competitor who is looking to buy up all the businesses.

It's Lifetime Television doing Christmas. This genre is dominated by Hallmark. This is no better or worst. It's all pretty much the same level of background TV. You put it on in the background while you do other stuff. The one outstanding aspect is the snowy outdoor locations. It looks wintery and Christmasy. It's mostly fine.