All Saints Christmas

This movie was a pleasant surprise. One of the best soundtracks I've ever come across in a Hallmark movie. The "Home for Christmas" song at the end was just beautiful and could be a holiday favorite like Lisa Loeb's "Light" featured in Hanukkah on Rye. Thank goodness they didn't miscast the singing lead like...cough...cough Undercover Holiday...or this movie would've been just as much of a dumpster fire.

Like Undercover Holiday, this movie revolved around a fake fiance trope. This time production gets it right. The acting was solid and it's one of the few Hallmark movies, not starring Paul Campbell, that I actually laughed out loud. The heroine was actually a bonafide pop star and not just the winner of a singing/talent contest. Even better, the leads' romance was also believable and they had chemistry. Did I say this actress, Ledisi can actually sing!? Small blessings go a long way Hallmark!!!

This movie was just a fun movie and I smiled and laughed through out. I enjoyed it and even got my husband to watch it with me. He liked it too! It was different from many Hallmark movies but it was different in good ways! You don't have a sense of humor or a fun outgoing personality if you can't enjoy this movie it is definitely an enjoyable movie! I have added this to my list of Hallmark movie favorites. And it being a Christmas movie made it even better! I wasn't sure I would like it when I read the description but ended up really liking it! I'm not sure why people would think this is bad. There is absolutely nothing bad about it period!!!!

I appreciated seeing Ledisi in this movie. I loved seeing the city of New Orleans and some real musicianship built into the story. I also liked that our romantic leads weren't young, encumbered by kids or lacking in parents.

I was struggling with the set up to get our two leads together...and then just felt that the story really fell apart. I thought the leads had good chemistry and I really liked Roger Cross as Matthew.

I struggled with trying to figure out why a man who clearly loved a woman as much as he loved Lissett would walk away from her? And why don't people talk? Wasn't that enough of a conflict for the storyline for the couple to overcome...why was it necessary to introduce the additional conflict/misunderstanding of her record label relationship etc??? Then there was the family business...it was just too busy for a less than two hour made for tv film.

It left me feeling unsettled and like there were good stories there but that they weren't given justice in the retelling.

I am sorry to say this was a miss for me, but I really did like the leads...especially Roger Cross.

There is a cute twist on establishing the fake engagement. After that the story is fairly standard with no great highs or lows or surprises. It revolves around Lisette's dad's retirement and the last performance at his club. . There is a side story on the animosity between Lisette and an entertainment writer, Gia, which dates back to high school in their home town.

The acting is OK and likewise the dialogue. The chemistry between Ledisi and Roger Cross is decent.

The hook in this movie is the singing of Ledisi and she sings several times. If you like her music you will probably enjoy this movie.

'All Saints Christmas' (2022)

Opening thoughts: The 2022 Countdown to Christmas block was very up and down. When it comes to talking about the previous films in the block, there are some good ones such as 'Ghosts of Christmas Always', 'Jolly Good Christmas' and 'Lights Cameras Christmas'. There are also some misfires, namely 'Cozy Christmas Inn', 'We Wish You a Married Christmas' and 'A Magical Christmas Village'. The premise for 'All Saints Christmas' sounded cute if unexceptional, so didn't know which way of good or bad it was going to go.

Watching 'All Saints Christmas', my overall answer to that would be that it was neither good or bad. Id anything somewhere in the slightly above average middle. As far as Hallmark's 2022 Christmas output goes, this is neither among the best or the worst (one of the more middling ones). Hallmark also did both better and worse overall that year too. 'All Saints Christmas' is watchable, it is well performed, has a lovely soundtrack and has nice atmosphere. Yet the storytelling is flawed in more than one way and stopped the film from being more than acceptable.

Good things: There are quite a lot of good things. Ledisi and Roger Cross give very likeable and emotive performances, that never came over as forced or phoned in. Their chemistry is very sweet. Support is good and did like the characters on the whole, not complex but mostly easy to connect with.

Production values are slick. Along with the performances, one of the best things about 'All Saints Christmas' is the upbeat and quite beautiful soundtrack, Hallmark have always varied with their music and that was definitely obvious on both extremes of good and bad in 2022. The one here is one of their better ones in a while. The script is not too sentimental or cheesy, and there is some nice light-heartedness, charm and heart.

Bad things: However, a number of things could have been executed a lot better. With so much crammed in, the film did feel too short, wouldn't have said no to it being 15 minutes longer. It also felt very rushed and over-crowded from trying to cram too much content, and there wasn't enough time to flesh some of it out enough.

Moreover, the conflict with the record label in my view was not necessary, not when not enough is done with it and because it came over as somewhat mean spirited which jarred tonally. The final decision also does not make sense, it was quite cold as well and made me lose respect for the male protagonist, who up to this point was actually a quite likeable one.

Closing thoughts: Overall, acceptable but left me a bit mixed.

6/10.