I'm Glad It's Christmas

I have a soft spot for Hallmark-style Christmas movies and always try to approach them with an open mind. This film delivers on the expected charm, offering a cozy setting and a likeable cast. Jessica Lowndes shines with her strong vocal performances, and the legendary Gladys Knight graces us with a brief yet delightful glimpse of her singing talent.

However, the story is exactly what you'd expect-formulaic and predictable, with no surprises or creative twists to elevate it beyond the standard Hallmark blueprint. While it captures the feel-good Christmas spirit, it doesn't fully utilize the season to add depth or innovation. If you're in the mood for a simple, heartwarming holiday movie, this will hit the mark. For me, though, it doesn't rise above a 6/10 due to its lack of originality.

As a professional musician, I am horrified that this woman (Jessica Lowndes) is called a singer. Simply listen to her duet of Deck the Halls with Paul Greene and you know she is not. She cannot match pitch and maintain a key from one phrase to the next. Maybe this was because of multiple takes? If so, why was there no consistent key established? Shame on the music production team for allowing something so painfully out of tune to make it to the final version. Maybe they can't hear pitch either. My musician husband and I rewound the scene about five times with our jaws on the floor. Have never heard such an unprofessional final musical product in a movie, except where the singer was SUPPOSED to be awful, like Florence Foster Jenkins. And then came Joy to The World, which wasn't. Sad to build an entire movie plot around this woman singing, when she cannot. I scored as high as four stars only because Gladys Knight and Paul Greene CAN sing.

The story is about a struggling performer who has reached the crossroads of deciding to abandon her dreams if she doesn't succeed by the year end. Chloe agrees to help put on a neighborhood show produced by Cora (Gladys Knight). The execution of the story has some rough moments and lacks depth. It relies on many of the formula Christmas tropes including "do you like like him?" The story even contradicts itself in the conclusion.

The acting is fair to poor. The dialogue is flat. Lowndes and Paul Greene have chemistry but it is not infectious. There are no great highs or lows or real surprises.

Lowndes sings several times through the movie, mostly in brief snippets. It seems like many movies Lowndes appears in that the movie is mostly an excuse for her to sing. Greene should not quit his day job. Both of these actors have moved from Hallmark to GAC Family and GAC seems to realize that Lowndes is an asset the more they allow her to sing.

The conclusion is the show and does include multiple performances including Gladys Knight.

The story and romance are just one more among many. The singing raises the movie above that but only marginally.

I seriously don't know WHY the Title of the movie is Listed WRONG here on this web page!!??? The correct title is as Listed in my preface above!!

This is an adorable movie with some wonderful singing. Gladys Knight ads some sparkle in her character. Yes, it's a typical boy with baggage meets girl but it's supposed to be a "feel good" story or it wouldn't be on this channel.

I think some of the critics here were critical because the story could've moved a little faster, there's a little bit too much "eye gazing" between girl and boy and there is a "Scrooge" person amongst the characters that the story probably could've done without, but hey, it's a Christmas movie.

I personally think with the awesome voices in the crowd there should've been More Singing, because it's a Christmas movie!!

It's definitely worth watching!!

The leads have good chemistry. I don't notice much age difference , imo, they look less than 10 years apart. I feel , that the film is just a vehicle for Jessica Lowndes singing. Her singing is very standard, at best. The male lead actually had a better voice. I guess because he is a man , they don't seem to care about his singing. He seems to sing a lot better and with more power. At times, the female lead is shrill, and even off key I'm not sure why the whole movie is just to compliment some girl singer with a voice that's not all that outstanding. It did feel less contrived than most movies of this type. I do think too much hyperbole was used in regards to the singing female lead.