Confessions of a Christmas Letter

I confess I have nearly stopped writing TV movies reviews. They seem to get dumber every year: are scriptwriters running out of ideas? Hallmark Christmas movies, this year, seem to have engaged the perilous slope of the farce. Almost all, so far. Somebody there must be confusing the concept of intimate joy with epidermic silliness. This one is barely saved by the final attempt to give it a more serious, constructive moral. Unfortunately, the basis for the plot is preposterous and idiotic, the acting is amateurish and frantic, the gags are juvenile at best, all through the movie. I wonder if at Hallmark all goes to the direction of a farce because they have lost the ability to take Christmas seriously. The results are that most of their dramas are a laugh and their comedies make me cry.

Of course I had never heard about this 2024 Christmas movie titled "Confessions of a Christmas Letter" prior to sitting down and watching it as part of a December Christmas movie marathon. But from the movie's cover alone, it looked like it was going to be an archetypical sappy Christmas movie. Yet, I still opted to give the movie a fair chance.

Writers Jennifer Smith and Kate Smith put together a fair enough script. It was watchable and entertaining enough, for sure, but it was hardly an outstanding foray into the sappy Christmas movie genre. But hey, if you enjoy the sappy Christmas movies, then you're in for a treat here.

The only cast member that I was familiar with was Garry Chalk. However, I will say that the acting performances in the movie were fair.

"Confessions of a Christmas Letter" is a movie that caters to the diehard fans of sappy Christmas movies. You're not in for any grand movie experience, if you sit down to watch the movie as a casual viewer.

My rating of director Heather Hawthorn Doyle's 2024 movie "Confessions of a Christmas Letter" lands on a bland four out of ten stars. There are far, far better sappy Christmas movies out there.

4.9 stars.

I don't understand what is going on here. It's the story of a middle aged woman who has failed to win a Christmas letter contest for many years. She hires a famous novelist to write it for her. Already, you can see a debacle in the workings.

Her family is in on the scheme, relatives and friends are visiting their home over the holidays. This writer she hires comes from Puerto Rico. He has what appears to be a gay father or grandfather with a gay lover living with him there. I am not sure if they are gay, but they act like it. I'm just curious about that part.

The matriarch's son is gay and married, then we are introduced to strange and competitive neighbors and friends and the rest of the story is a cacophonous smattering of activities and planning and running in circles during the holidays.

Failed romance, no drama, no comedy. It's a shame when a film attempts to resemble classics like 'National Lampoon...' and nobody can do it.

I must admit I get hooked on Hallmark Christmas movies despite their formula, predictable, corny format. This movie though, I had to turn off shortly in. I tried to watch it again and yes, I made it further, but it is the worst Hallmark movie of all time. The acting, I guess I will call it that, is beyond awful, the premise is ridiculous and there is nothing about the characters that makes you have the slightest bit of interest in them. I really like Angela Kinsey (The Office) and Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas), but what were they thinking taking on roles in this horrible movie!!! I would definitely recommend giving this one a pass.

I thought that the movie would get better as it went a long but after about half an hour I couldn't finish. The characters were so over the top and so unrealistic and child like it was stupid. Not really anything good to say about the movie and sadly I cant say anything about the actors themselves due to the character they were playing took the light off their abilities. Hallmark should start looking at much better scripts and ask themselves is this a movie that is worth watching or is it a movie people will be turning the channel after realizing it is ridicules and is an embarrassment for everyone involved.