A Very Charming Christmas Town

So, this is now my 4th Lifetime Christmas movie of the 2020 season, and it's second from the top. When I saw that Natalie Hall was one of the leads in the film, I was looking forward to seeing this one. I had seen her recently in a couple of cute (Hallmark) films: You're Bacon Me Crazy and Sincerely, Yours, Truly. Though this film was not as strong as those two, it was still entertaining. Natalie and Jon Prescott's performance were pretty good. Their chemistry was good at times, and other times, it was a bit off, but overall, not bad. The story is cute and enjoyable with some decent dialogue, though a bit 'cheesy' at times, as one would expect in a Lifetime romance movie. The supporting cast was great; I enjoyed Jo Marie Payton's performance as Estelle. The props, scenery and sets were well done, though the fake snow was quite obviously fake at times on the screen. The movie too instilled a bit of Christmas spirit and cheer, which is nice. Fans of Hallmark and Lifetime will no doubt enjoy this new edition to Lifetime's original Christmas movies.

Almost every rom/com has to start with antagonism between the male and female lead. Unfortunately from my viewpoint, Natalie Hall went out of her way to make Aubrey into a witch, especially to Sawyer. Besides being nasty, she also doesn't have enough sense not to shoot off her mouth to strangers. That all eventually disappears and Aubrey becomes sweet and romantic.

I love Kelley Jakle but her character is at times a little over the top even for her. Her character, Laurel, is a bit unusual. She's not originally the lead's friend, but instantly becomes one. Because of the accelerated time frame of a TV movie, conversations often seem a bit strange how quickly they jump to being very personal.

Natalie Hall and Jon Prescott do develop chemistry after Aubrey loosens up. Hall's acting has moments that seem off, like one conversation where Laurel shares a personal tragedy. Hall and Prescott have a lot of screen time together which allows the viewer to watch the relationship develop.

The story is the usual blogger comes to town for a hit piece. And that progresses along the usual lines. It has a lot of the usual themes like baking cookies and a town festival. There's no great highs or low, or surprises. There's not much tension until the conflict pops up from a common blogger-themed misunderstanding. It's a pretty close copy to one of these movies I saw a few days ago. The resolution, however, is unusual, and sweet and a bit complicated.

With two talented singers in the cast, there's got to be at least one performance of an original song. Jakle's is actually a performance, maybe a little short. Hall is featured in a short recording that ends up backdrop for characters dancing.

People keep saying that this is a Hallmark movie- it's not. Lifetime put this one on. This is the epitome of why viewers prefer Hallmark movies much more than Lifetime ones at Christmas. The story is standard holiday fare, but a Hallmark production would have cast far better actors and made sure that the sets were beautiful.

The lead actress is appallingly untalented and save for Sully from Dr Quinn, the others are not much better.

They are stilted and awkward, clearly "acting" - whereas the Hallmark actors make you believe that they actually are their characters. The lead actress might be almost illiterate- her mangling of "windmills" and use of "expeshally" reveals a lack of education on her part, and gross ineptitude on the part of the director and any other staff responsible for dialogue. The dialogue sounds like the Netflix programs dubbed in English- like thevperson is reading from a page and is bored senseless.

The lead actor has less personality and animation than a malfunctionig Disney attraction. This diminishes the appeal of the historic tidbits about the lovely twon- the only thing positive in this train wreck.

Hallmark would have done a far superior production that would showcase Solvang and send droves of Christmas mad tourists to its streets. The town should disavow association with this production.

I'm a lover of bad horror and Science fiction, but my guilty pleasure is romantic comedies and the like. This movie is the perfect example, perfect people in a perfect town with a completely predictable plot. Makes you feel good inside. Enjoy.

I don't get the low reviews this was a good movie for lifetime standards it brings the cliche romances and Christmas spirit