Weihnachten in der Holly Lane

Whether it is easy to not take 'Christmas on Holly Lane' and similar films seriously is dependent on whether the good things outweigh the bad and vice. Dependent on how many flaws there are and how big they are. And dependent on how well the film executed its good things. In some cases it is easy to not take it too seriously. In other cases it is very distracting when there are so many annoyances and done to an incompetent level.

'Christmas on Holly Lane' is not one of those films. It does have things wrong with it, then again when has a Hallmark, UPTV or Lifetime festive film (or similar) been perfect, and the flaws are a few of the usual ones. 'Christmas on Holly Lane' does achieve its aims though at being undemanding light-hearted entertainment that has charm and heart, not quite a jolly good time but not a folly, and one of the best recent festive film viewings.

Not every event and every character felt necessary, two of the boyfriend characters are quite sketchy and seemed thrown in for plot device reasons when the conflicts of Cat and Sarah were strong and identifiable enough already without them. They were fairly blandly played too.

Like a lot of this type of film, there are moments in the dialogue that is likely to make one groan (did with me) and had a forced feel. The ending felt too over-sentimental and tacked on.

However, regardless of any questions of the authenticity of the location 'Christmas on Holly Lane' looks good. Especially the scenery. The soundtrack is lovely to listen to and quite infectious, a good fit in placement. Of the recent Christmas film viewings from the likes of Hallmark, Lifetime etc. 'Christmas on Holly Lane' is one of the best written, namely because Sarah summing up the flaws of her husband and Riley's talk with Cat's daughter are quite poignant scenes that have degrees of truth.

Although the story is fairly typical and is not perfect, it is charming and heart-warming with conversations and situations that may not be innovative but are more real than most films in my recent festive films quest. The characters have more depth than most with the three leads particularly coming over like real people in situations that are relevant and easy to relate with for many. All three female leads are strong, especially Sarah Lancaster as the most interesting and well developed character of the three. Jaime M. Callica also does quite well, though the male cast are not as consistent due to their characters not being as compelling.

In summary, nice film if not a great one. 7/10

Christmas on Holly Lane tells a story of three friends growing uptogether. Sarah, Riley, and Cat bond one Christmas. Riley a child of two alcholics and Kat who lost her parents and was taken in by cousins. Kat in paticular never experience a family until that day she bonded with her friends.

Riley, a financial planner with a large New York firm is tired of being looked over. Kat is a chef in Los Angeles who experienced the loss of her husband and is now a single mother with the burden of raising her teen age daughter who's friends parents of one percenters who are more concerned with being the "cool parents". When Kat calls her daughter she learns she attending a party with boys there's also beer being served. Kat decides she's has to do something. Riley decides to present a proposal to her firm. When her perposal is dismissed she resigns and uses severence package to invest in her friend.

Sarah is facing her own situation. She and her husband has agrred on having to reflect. Naturally their daughter is hoping for reconsillation but a surprise will make that no longer possible. Kat's daughter is taking the movie like any teenager would and doesn't hesitate to express her displeasure.

Finally, Riley explained to her why the house on Holly Lane is so important to her Mom and her. Now that Sarah and Ethan.are divicoring the question is Sarah doesn't have the capital to buy him out therefore the house that has been in Sarah's family for three genoration must go on the block. Riley,after injuring herself meets a classmate who now is an ER doctor who also works with Doctors Without borders. After working things out Sarah now is able to get down to work and produces a best selling novel.

Life is hard and for much of this movie, that was the story for the three women. But as they declared as teens, these three unrelated women are family and good family trumps everything.

If you don't like sappy, pie-in=the-sky, I don't think you will like this movie. Like most movies produced for UPTV and Hallmark, realism has no place, at least not at the end. At least two people do complete personality 180's instantly, which usually drives me nuts, but in this case I just went with it.

There are many very sweet moments.

(BTW, I really would have like to have seen the chauvinist boss get more clearly brought down for his blatant sexual-harassing behavior. It's not clear whether that was a factor or not.)

From 12.22 through 12.28 into the movie, there is a street scene with a bus passing by that has nothing to do with the movie's North American (Canadian) location. What drew my attention was the typically European pedestrian crossing sign. A couple of seconds later, there is a bus passing by, with an indication on it that looks Norwegian or maybe Swedish, not to mention the European style license plate. Why did they insert such a scene?

The film is good. When I saw the actress playing the role of "Sarah" I knew I have see her somewhere. I had to google the film and discovered that it's the same wonderful Sarah Lancaster from Chuck. I admire the friendship between Sarah , Riley and Cat. I have always love friends that are always there for each other during the good and bad times. The friendship between the three friends is very nice and wonderful. I will rate this movie 9/10.