Ms. Christmas Comes to Town

The start of this movie is fun and has a few surprises before the leads in this film start their christmassy tour on wheels. The actors are talented and it is impossible not to have high hopes for this film. However the story takes a turn for the worse, it becomes sappy and unrealistic as the bus moves from town to town. The storyline is rather bland and the cast despite their long experience and acting skills cannot make this holiday movie anything but a wreck. That said, the leads got a cool and down-to-earth way of being. I would love to see all three of them in a different Christmas film as soon as possible!

8.1 stars.

Occasionally Hallmark does a traveling theme as a major part of the story, whether it's flying: flight attendant interaction, or someone is stuck in an airport...driving: cross country with strangers, or from here to there, stuck in bad weather (usually snow), stranded while traveling...and they all have a common element: strangers on an adventure end up falling in love.

This one is a bit different than all the rest as far as I can recall, because it's about a celebrity and her workers traveling in an RV. There aren't many RV centered movies by Hallmark that I'm aware of.

Ms. Christmas and her entourage are driving across Washington State for her final tour as the Christmas matriarch of a TV shopping network. My first impression after reading this brief synopsis would be: this is a dead end script, snooze-fest, no way am I going to waste my time, I will put it on the back burner. I would be gravely mistaken if I followed my gut instinct, however, I delayed watching it for a few weeks for that very reason. I am surprised at how wrong I was.

This is another one of those uncommon "it speaks for itself", just give it a moment, movies from Hallmark. It's inventive, cutting edge, hilarious, bleak, emotional...I don't know how they did it, but this story is alive in a magical way, ranging from thoroughly entertaining and fun to endearing and romantic. I will watch this more than once.

What makes this movie work so well is the three lead performers. It is about a successful television personality, Gale Storm aka Ms. Christmas, who is on her final televised Christmas tour before her retirement. Amanda is her successor and Travis is her undercover aide/nurse. Erica Durance as Amanda and Brennan Elliott as Travis cement their reputations as two of the best of Hallmark's actors here, giving performances that are sincere, natural, and heartfelt.. Their eventual attraction to each other is quite believable.

It is nice to see Hallmark present a film that highlights an "older" character as much as it does here - that doesn't happen very often. And Barbara Niven as Gale is just wonderful. Her character, as written, could have been played with a lot of histrionics and over-the-top emotions.

But, Niven, always one of Hallmark's best supporting actresses, plays Gale with intelligence, humility, and sincerity. So much so that her performance is very real and believable.

Basically, it's about three people who, through no making of their own, become a family for each other at a critical time. And these three - Niven, Durance, and Elliott, pull it off perfectly with the writer's good and fairly unique script as their guide.

At the same time, there is much here to put you in the Christmas spirit, and in that regard, it succeeds as well.

The only drawback is that sometimes some of the indoor sets are a little cheesy, but these three performers make sure that is not a distraction.

For trivia buffs : By naming Niven's character Gale Storm, the writer, intentionally or not, delivers a nice tribute to the real Gale Storm, a television pioneer who had a couple of successful TV series in the early 1950's. Much like Niven's performance here, she was always a delightful and sincere personality.

One last thing : How many films have you seen where the character is in a hospital bed for treatment and she is wearing full make-up ? It happens regularly, but not here.

Nivens is so professional and realistic, that she strips it off for her hospital scenes - which only adds to the authenticity of her performance.

This could end up being one of Hallmark's best Christmas entries for the 2023 season.

Wow! I actually loved this Hallmark holiday film. Every time I see Barbara Niven, I forget how much I love her...this film was her show and she was fantastic. She plays the lead Gale, aka Ms. Christmas the famous and wildly popular holiday host of the HSC (Home Shopping Channel). Unfortunately, she receives the bad news that she has a glioblastoma (a terminal brain cancer) with at the most 2 years to live. She tells her friend and studio executive boss, Elizabeth about her diagnosis and her wishes to do one more Christmas road show without anyone being the wiser to her condition. Her compassionate friend and boss agrees, but on one condition...she travel with a personal nurse in tow. The cover story for nurse Travis (Brennan Elliott), becomes that he is Elizabeth's godson and going on tour with Ms. Christmas to learn the ropes.

Ms. Christmas' contract allows her to pick her successor, for which she has wanted her longtime friend and assistant (the daughter of her deceased best friend) Amanda (Erica Durance). The plan is to bring Amanda on to set for this Christmas' road-trip as Ms. Holiday, Ms. Christmas' apprentice as she spreads cheer across small towns in Washington state (only as a Washington state native, born and raised...I can tell you it wasn't, I wish it was). A slight wrinkle ends up being that Amanda has already met Travis...sort of, when she mistakes him for her blind date. The two really have chemistry and Ms. Christmas brings Travis on camera to join them after a Christmas makeover as Mr. Winter.

I loved all of the Christmas details in this holiday film...like the addition of new animated Christmas sun-catchers to their tour bus dash in each new town by their cheery tour bus driver, Murray and the Christmas cookie decorations, and the great Christmas wardrobe.

But the big story is Ms. Christmas' last tour and making it the best ever as her staff and colleagues have become her family over the years since she prioritized her career, sacrificing her own family. When out of the blue a blast from her past shows up...and as much as she pushes him away, he doesn't take no for an answer.

Brennen Elliot and Erica Durance are fantastic independently and together and paired with Barbara Niven...the three of them are fire. They really complement one another. And the story line was great. I loved the handling of a terminal condition, with compassion and kindness. I loved how important it was to Gale to not just pass her role off to Amanda...but to really help her succeed, not just with encouraging words...but by also being with her, in her ear piece for her first solo on screen performance. It was nice to see how people should be treating each other. There were no villains in this story and there was no miracle cure...making this more true to life than a lot of stories I have seen brought to the holiday screen. I highly recommend this film to Hallmark fans, fans of Barbara Niven and fans of Christmas.

(I did have a slight issue with the commercial aspect of the film, and am not a proponent of the home shopping network...but I am aware it exists and has a huge following. I also think that they handled the story in a way to not emphasize the gross commercialism and focus more on the beauty of Christmas and the Christmas spirit.)

I'm the biggest criric of Hallmark productions,must admit my feelings are usually negative.. Mostly due to cut,copy & paste stories.

So far this year it seems Hallmark is trying,maybe they got newer writers? Regardless,it's refreshing.

Oh sure.. Had some typical formulas,but wasn't filled with over used Hallmark clichés.

In all honesty was waiting for the health issue to dissappear(Christmas miracle)or some type of argument/misunderstanding that gets fixed quickly,but shocking it didn't actually happen.

This was cast & acted decent,plus as always.. Cinematography is nicely done.

The music wasn't out doing the conversations,it's nice hearing the actors talk.

Hope we see more new stuff.. You shouldn't be able to fall asleep,wake & feel you missed nothing.

Most years been watching Lifetime,so.. Keep up with your changes Hallmark! We can only take so many festival & other common topics,that are the same.

Although would be nice having movies in some actual,US cities being represented versus Canada.

Anyway.. Worth seeing this,at least once during the holiday.