Dear Christmas

I enjoyed this Lifetime Christmas movie; it is one of their better films this year thus far. The story was unique in a way (a bit different than many of the generic Christmas movies I have seen this season), and it had a pretty good script to boot (especially the dialogue and banter between the couples). I grew up watching 90210, so it was great seeing Jason Priestley as Chris on screen. He had a pretty good performance, I thought, a Priestly performance. I enjoyed his scenes and interactions with Melissa Joan Hart (playing Natalie). He is not the most expressive actor, but in this film, I think his performance worked nicely. About 28-minutes into the movie, he starts playing the guitar and singing a Christmas song...or was he? There was a bit of lip-syncing going on here, I suspect, as the voice singing did not sound like Jason's voice. Hart had a very good, convincing performance in this one. Her exchanges and interactions with her family and Chris were great. She performs well in this genre of film. The chemistry between the two was not bad. Again, Jason is not the most expressive actor, but I felt it worked, that is, it was believable. There were several scenes with some nice banter between the two (e.g., when they decorated the house together). The supporting cast was great. For example, Natalie's father (played by Ed Begley Jr.) and mother (played by Faith Prince) were brilliant; they had several cute and fun lines/scenes together. Fans of One Tree Hill are in for a treat, as two of the show's cast make a special appearance on Natalie's laptop. Finally, the scenery, props, and sets were pretty good, quite festive (not a fan of white Christmas trees though). I had a little laugh in the scene where Chis (aka Priestley) is carrying an axe to cut down the Christmas tree as opposed to a saw. The former looked good but the latter, of course, is a bit more practical. Was that a real Christmas tree they brought home (Natalie and Chris)? I thought it looked fake. You have got to love those Christmas sweaters (Priestley's worked well with the scene, by the way). I also thought the inclusion of the read glass hearts in the script/movie (in support of the first responders during the pandemic) was a timely and welcomed part of the story. I enjoyed too the glassblowing scene where Chris showed Natalie how these were made. Overall, this is a fun, warm, and sweet movie, a nice new edition to Lifetime's original Christmas movie lineup this 2020 season.

My main reason for seeing 'Dear Christmas', other than appreciating romantic comedy when done well and loving Christmas, was Melissa Joan Hart. Have liked her ever since her 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' days and while her films in this genre have wildly varied she has consistently proven how well suited she is for it. Lifetime have always left me mixed, but have also liked enough of their output to keep watching. Have liked Ed Begley Jr and Jason Priestly in other things.

'Dear Christmas' didn't strike me as a great film and is pretty uneven. It is also not a waste of time and definitely worth an at least one time watch for primarily Lifetime Christmas film completest sake and Hart. 'Dear Christmas' struck me as scraping above average if with a mix of quite a lot of good and some pretty bad things, and somewhere in the middle as far as Lifetime's variable 2020 Christmas output goes. There are better films of theirs from this year, but also worse.

There are good things here in 'Dear Christmas'. It looks good, with lovely scenery complemented nicely by the nicely framed and never cheap photography. There are some amusing parts in the writing, some of it is over the top but endearingly so rather than forced. The direction has a good feel for the Christmas spirit and seems to understand the genre and be at ease with it.

Story isn't perfect, but it is mostly very heart-warming and charming while not taking itself too seriously. Priestly may seem like physically he doesn't fit, but characterisation-wise he did not bother me at all and had a diamond in the rough sort of charm. He has a natural, genuine chemistry, that unfolds realistically enough, chemistry with Hart, while Hart is the main reason to see the film as she is a joy to watch here and her experience in the genre shows.

However, there are things that don't come off well. The story tends to be thin, with some very contrived in writing conflict later on and once again another hastily resolved and too neat ending.

Cutesiness goes into overload and personally have seen far better performances from Begley Jr, here ill at ease in a role that didn't seem right for him. The music is also too loud and has no personality, not uncommon with Lifetime but some of the 2020 Christmas output addressed the problem and didn't have it.

In conclusion, above average if not great. 6/10.

A romance Christmas movie with Melissa Joan Hart that others have criticized for being too sugary? Yes, please! What could go wrong, right? Yet it's all Christmas and no story. As low as the bar is for this genre plot-wise, it still manages to fall completely flat: there's no element of conflict or tension whatsoever, no complications and resolution, nothing at all. And it's such a shame because it does have everything else to be the archetype of the feel-good romance Christmas movie: both actors are perfect for their roles, especially MJH, and the chemistry between them works flawlessly. The atmosphere is overwhelminly christmasy, taking place in a fairy-tale universe where houses, cars, shops, people.. everything is perfect in every sense. If only something happened..

Audio is indeed terrible, if you love to hear actors swallowing their food then this is the movie for you, and Natalie's father characther is absolutely unwatchable. But hey, I can live with all that as long as the story keeps me traped wanting for the two protagonists to overcome their ridiculously trivial problems in their perfect lives and get together at the end, that's why we watch this type of movies, right? Unfortunately the whole budget went to Christmas decorations and nothing was left for a screenwriter. Romance TV movies are expected to be predictable, this one however wasn't predictable at all, not because something unpredictable happens but because "nothing" happens!

So although it definitely wasn't worth the ice-cream I had watching it, overall I think it's a perfect movie to have playing on TV during a family gathering to provide Christmas spirit, beautiful visuals and a story that can be followed with minimal attention without having to sacrifice conversation.

The actors and actresss where all good. If who ever was in charge could have made the sister look like a real pregnant woman that would have helped not make it corny and then topped it off with a face baby! Talk about low budget, they could have steppes it up just a little to make it better.

This movie is full of music that is so loud that you can hardly hear what they're saying. Especially at the end, when I'm trying to hear if they're going to make it work, I had to put the closed caption on just to read the words. This shouldn't be the case.