Noël dans les bras de mon ex

I watched this for the second time..and it checks all the boxes except..I wish Jana Kramer would have sung a Christmas song at the town festival!! I'll probably watch it again next year!!

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN.

Now Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB? When one of my reviews gets deleted IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to this review.

I want o get this out in the way now. I lived in the area in which this film takes place. We lost our home to a hurricane. The first time in 2005 then again in 2008. So watching this film just made me very homesick. I would move back but I am just too terrified to losing my home again.

What this film is about is that photographer Holly Logan (Jana Kramer, "Country Crush") returns to her hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi for Christmas. The town is resurrecting their traditional Christmas light show for the first time since a terrible hurricane struck five years earlier. Holly volunteers to pitch in, but soon has second thoughts when she discovers the festival is run by her high school sweetheart, Mike (Wes Brown, "We Are Marshall"). Now Holly must spend the next few days with the man who broke her heart. With the help of her mother Caroline and Mr. Kriss, the kind man who will play Santa in the town's celebration.

The story is straight forward but "I could not get enough of this film". I am originally not from Mississippi but California. I am also not a Republican but very liberal. What I love what this film did was show the "True spirit" of the people that live in the Gulfport area. It did not show them as "rednecks". Trust me as someone that did live in that area "Christmas in Mississippi' was blessing to see.

The only disappointment is how Lifetime has 'hacked up' the original movie and does not show some of the very best parts that give it depth and introduce the concurrent stories. They have cut the light show almost completely out and it is really great. They also have removed the actual ending that wraps up the story and makes it the feel good movie it was meant to be. This is one of 2 movies that Lifetime has hacked up and remove the heart. The setting of the Gulfport recovery is a wonderful background for the secondary story line. I used to have a copy on my cable box until it went bad and Lifetime hasnt run it since then. SHAME ON LIFETIME management ...Scrooges all

Started off quite promising with the intro and upbeat music and drone views, then went downhill. The lead actress is a photographer coming home for Christmas with a just a small bag with her camera, no idea where she put all the false eyelashes and small branch of a makeup shop. It then drags on and on until the end, where not much happens. I am sure I could have chosen better.

There are only so many Christmas romcom stories and plot devices. This movie uses a few of them, but weaves them together well and maybe with a new twist or two. We have the high school sweethearts, Holly and Mike, whose relationship didn't end well. There is a cute kid and in this case his Dad is in the military overseas while Mike, his uncle takes care of him. There is an important job at stake as the holiday approaches. There is the small town banding together. And probably more.

It's how you tell the story that makes it good or bad. In this case the writers put together a number of good elements and interlaced them to make special things happen. There are a few very heartwarming moments, at least one surprising, but also some that aren't. The surprising one really grabbed me leaving tears in my eyes.

Jana Kramer was delightful and her Holly even had a funny embarrassing moment or two. But her chemistry with Wes Brown's Mike was fun to watch. They worked through past hurts, endured a fresh misunderstanding and then went on to redevelop their friendship and more. Trace Masters did his job as Jack pulling on our heartstrings. Faith Ford was also solid as Holly's mom.

As usual with Christmas romcoms things get sappy and maybe stretch credulity a little, but for lovers of this kind of story, this is a good one. I recommend it even for the casual Christmas romantic.