Time for Her to Come Home for Christmas

The small church is adorable, the opening song " Star on Top of the Tree" by Grace Leer was beautiful and maybe my favorite new Christmas song for 2023,

Abandoned by her father at the age of one and having lost her mother this year, the orphaned Carly doesn't have anything keeping her in Philadelphia for the holidays. She accepts a two week position as choir leader for a small town church at the invitation of the pastor and his wife. Her task is to choose the songs for the Christmas program and whip the struggling choir into shape.

I really loved how the film highlights that every person has a different story. From holding on to the happy memories of a deceased wife, to holiday crazy, to a returning soldier who dreamt of home and a specific egg cream, to a timid individual pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, to a kid working hard to help his single mom.

"What's life without a little bitter."

I really appreciated the fun tradition of swapping a Christmas record like a secret santa gift. (I might have to start that with my husband.) I also loved the lesson about sharing the emotion and intent of the lyric when you sing...share your joy with those that you love. I like that they brought back door to door caroling. Spreading the joy...not keeping it to themselves.

It was fun to see Shenae Grimes-Beech (Carly) outside of the 90210 realm, I almost didn't recognize her with the bangs. She and Chris Carmack had wonderful chemistry together and were supported by a great small town cast. Beyond the usual falling in love and finding family story...my favorite part was the portrayal of a small town coming to support its individuals as depicted with the storyline of Tyler, whose single military mom pushed him to do an activity-hockey or choir...but who is working hard in all his free time to support her, his mom while going to school and singing in the choir, while his dad is away in the military.

Kathleen Duborg played a wonderfully warm and wise mother named Diane...I think Blake Shelton and his mom Dorothy Shackleford have another hit on their hands. I am not sure which one is my favorite, I would have to watch them again to determine that..I did really enjoy this year's offering.

I think fans of Hallmark holiday films are going to love this one and I recommend it.

I also loved the song that was playing while they made egg creams...I wish I knew who it was, "Christmas is my favorite time of year...keeping out of trouble till the big guy appears...".

6.7 Stars.

Let me tell you about a movie that got lost in a forest of pews It's about a woman named Carly who is alone; her mother recently passed away. Her father has been absent since she was an infant. She is a musician who plays guitar and can sing like an angel. Add to these attributes, she seems like an angel. Carly gets invited by a pastor and his wife to lead their church choir over the holidays and help them prepare for the Christmas musical.

After she arrives, things become unusual and surreal. The writers send us vague hints of a supernatural happenings, or maybe Carly is an actual angel. The peculiarities mount, but the narrative becomes confusing and loses credibility.

There is too much smoke and mirrors throughout, and it feels odd, almost like cognitive dissonance. The camouflaged unveiling of something unique and magical is lost in a clumsy setup. Carly is hired to save an untrained choir from a disastrous performance, but it seems inconsequential, because it's a very small church and nobody seems to care. The choir is a cacophony of mistimed and off key voices, well beyond the hope of reviving in a just a week. It's too cheesy watching the actor pretend to make an awful noise and you can tell they are trying very hard to make it sound as bad as possible.

The lead male, Matthew, is constantly bewildered by Jenny and Carly. Jenny (pastor's daughter) is his best friend, whom he's had a crush on for years, but his sentiment seems unnatural. Furthermore, he's indifferent and too casual. Likewise, his attitude toward Carly is befuddlement. He seems puzzled, maybe curious about her and she reacts similarly toward him. But Carly senses something invisible between Matthew and Jenny and it's not believable and doesn't fit the narrative. Why would the lead male's focus be on a supporting female, with whom he doesn't even seem attracted in the first place? This alone is taboo for Hallmark. He proceeds to unenthusiastically pursue Jenny, which degrades the emotional impact of the film even further. Eventually, he and Carly share mutual attraction, but it manifests much too late. Next, why is the pastor's wife acting so strangely when Carly arrives in town? This is an immediate clue for us to be on alert, but nothing is revealed until much later, so it loses its impact. The choir has a miraculous transformation in a matter of days, which also provides no satisfaction. Not to mention, the congregation is about fifty people and there are roughly ten in the choir. Earlier in the story there is much ado about how crucial it is for Carly to revive the choir and bring purpose, so what's presumed to be monumental is nothing more than meaningless fluff.

Why so harsh with this critique? I'm left disappointed by a shoddy production. There were many brief moments I enjoyed, but they were repeatedly smothered before gaining momentum. If it was the director's and writers' intent to redirect at every turn, they succeeded, but it's too unorthodox to make for tenable entertainment.

I've seen all the installments of Time to Come Home for Christmas and they are all at least better than average.

I would compare this one to the Time for You ... with Allison Sweeney, but even so it's quite different. In all the installments the secret is unveiled slowly. In this one it isn't as obvious that Carly is here for a reunion but pretty quick you start to see little things that tell you something is up. I figured it out very quickly, almost from the first clue.

As in all of them, there is a romance around the central character. I can't say I thought the chemistry was great between Shenae Grimes-Beech and Chris Carmack. His Matt seemed to be above it all.

In some, if not all of them, Destiny seems to be big. They all feature more than a couple of interesting coincidences.

Are you tired of the song yet? I don't recommend a bingathon of this series. The song is catchy but it gets repeated a lot. Last year they seemed to rewrite the history of the song and they keep that version this year. In the original Heath Sawyer wrote it from scratch, not the Blue Notes. Somehow this song didn't seem to be something you would expect from a church choir, but then this church was more of a family or feel good church than any particular religion.

Note: I think I am submitting this before the broadcast premiere because it has been available on the streaming service for a couple weeks now.

In the first minutes of the movie the male star appears in uniform and the most visible element is the division insignia on his left shoulder. Couldn't wait for the star, Chris, to get out of uniform into his civilian clothes. It would have been so easy to get a quick consultation on simple elements like the unit insignia. The10th Mountain Division patch was turned on its side and was grating to watch. Doing a Google search for the 10th Mountain would immediately present the proper postioning of the shoulder sleeve insignia.

While walking out of doors he should have been wearing a cover until ready to board the bus. Simple elements make a big difference.

I really liked this despite all the bad reviews. It seems like people just like to complain on this site. You need to ditch the stupid reviews people!!

Anyway, I liked how Carly (Shenae Grimes-Beech) came in and sorted out the choir, who were very out of sync with each other in the beginning and sounded fabulous at the end. I was in choir during my HS years- Concert Choir, Glee Club and Madrigals. So I know a good sound. The lead soloist sounded great! This is probably the best version of the "Time to Come Home" tune I've heard as I'm not really a country music fan. I liked how Carly managed to deal with the different singers who had different motives for being in choir.

The romance was fine. Chris Carmack played the male lead and he has a great singing voice.

The intriguing part was the "secret" motive for inviting Carly to help with the choir. You'll have to watch it to find out the secret.