Following Yonder Star

Finally Hallmark nailed it! This movie was so enjoyable to watch. I loved BD & JB as the leads, they were cute together and I also enjoyed the ensemble cast as well. The Inn was festive and joyful. I absolutely loved they incorporated God into the script, after all, Jesus is the reason for the season. Brooke is always beautiful to watch, her acting chops are fantastic and her male counterpart is adorable. As a whole, i thoroughly enjoyed the movie and before I knew it, two hours flew by. I never rolled my eyes or drifted off once. The little girl who played the daughter was cute as a button. I would definitely watch this movie again. Thank you Hallmark, you hit the mark on this one! Congratulations to the entire cast and crew for a job well done.

I am so glad for this movie being on Hallmark and Hallmark going back to its old roots of the true Christmas with Christ. No fake Satan um I mean Santa sorry for the misspelled word there.. I was so worried that Hallmark has lost all sanity with the very bad movies they have been pushing out lately so this was quite refreshing and enjoyable. Hallmark has gotten so bad with very badly written scripts and poor acting. This was nice and it's so true with how the world is with media and not realizing that actors and actresses are actually human beings who hurt and make mistakes just like the rest of us.

This is "famous actress finds love in small town but has to leave for career" movie number 386, so there aren't any surprises at all here.

For #386, it's nice. The reason she flees to a small town is amusing, as she has a meltdown video go viral and it mildly threatens her next role.

Of course, she becomes involved with a widowed father with an adorable daughter and gets involved with the kid's Christmas show, lending her professional acting talents to make the performances better, and spending lots of time with the widowed father, who owns the inn where she's staying.

And of course, her agent almost spoils things for everyone at the end as he pushes things to benefit her career.

One redeeming feature, the father never addresses his daughter as "kiddo".

It's a nice watch, and we like D'Orsay from all the way back to Royal Pains, but with nothing new in the story, it's a one-time watch for us.

Following Yonder Star is the story of a popular actress who discovers that everyone is the press in the social media age when a minor run-in with a store clerk blows up into a big scandal.

Brooke D'Orsay as Abby retreats to Vermont to let it blow over and winds up in a bed and breakfast run by John Brotherton as Tom.

He, among other things, is directing a children's Christmas play that includes his young daughter, but he is out of his element. Abby offers to help.

Commence bonding and all the usual Hallmark stuff.

D'Orsay is her usual sweet, vulnerable self. Brotherton has a nervous energy, totally appropriate for the part, but it made me uncomfortable.

Supporting cast is good, and as always, I really appreciate the inclusion of faith and the Nativity story in these movies.

Jack was right about the Astronomical stuff, that was silly. Made me laugh, Jack.

All in all, not the greatest ever, but very watchable.

Seven.

7.8 stars.

While this film is following the Hallmark blueprint right down to the last cross of the t and dotted i, it still brings much emotion.

Brooke is amazing in this role. I've seen her do a few amazing performances, this is one of those. I've seen her do some blah, and a below average performances is too, in fact it seems that she's improving over time. She moves up a few slots every time I see her in a new film. I love her transformation into a much more effective and passionate performer.

The male lead is great as a blubbering fan, at first. He's too authentic at portraying an awkward admirer. This detracts from the romantic aspects of the film for the first hour, but eventually his character becomes more comfortable as her friend and eventual boyfriend.

The story is formulaic, so I won't bother to explain the plot. But I must say that it's engineered to entertain and it absolutely achieves that goal.

If you don't mind formulaic, watch this one. It's a classic.