Un Noël country

My title pretty well sums up my take on this movie. The story is a little bit different than most of the ones we see this time of year, but also has many of the usual elements. (Snowmen, Christmas cookies.) There isn't a lot of tension or mystery, but it's watchable. Without Osnes' performances this movie is more like 6 stars.

I can't say there were fireworks between Laura Osnes and Stephen Huszar and I think part of that is because so much screen time is spent on other things. In this case, I was willing to accept that because one of the biggest other things was Osnes' music. I kind of like that her country music isn't loaded with Southern twang. I like the Southern accent, but it is refreshing to have something different.

There is a healthy dose of giving to others. The story treats it as a responsibility and a privilege.

Loved this one.

Laura Osnes as Charlotte Quinn and Steven Huszar as Matt have tremendous chemistry and that is 50% of the battle won with these Hallmark movies.

I really loved that Osnes sung a few times: The Tony Award nominee has a truly magical voice that is tailor-made for singing Christmas carols.

The cast around Osnes and Huszar are very good, especially the Quinn family. Osnes and Jesse Irving have the perfect sibling relationship down pat.

The intertwined military and country music storylines ensure 'A Homecoming for the Holidays' isn't your run-of-the-mill small town Christmastime homecoming story.

Of course, there are still a few Hallmark staples - like the Christmas tree lighting - scattered throughout and there is a bit of a spanner thrown in the romantic works late, but, of course, everything works out just fine.

A great movie.

Hallmark has always left me very mixed with their Christmas output. They certainly do have their fair share of good films, but also quite a lot of average at best ones. Saw 'Homecoming for the Holidays' anyway for completest sake, but also because the title was heart-warming, the music was country-oriented (a style/genre of music highly appreciated by me) and Lauren Osnes is very talented at what she does. So actually expctations were a little higher than usual.

And on the most, those expectations were met. Is 'Homecoming for the Holidays' great? Not quite. Is it worth watching? By Hallmark Christmas film standards yes it is. Just for the record, there is no bias against Hallmark's Christmas output, but to me a lot of them are heavily flawed and it's beyond the predictability often seen with their films. 'Homecoming for the Holidays' generally though is among the better films of Hallmark's festive output.

By all means, it is flawed. A lot of the story is foreseeable early on and takes a while to set up. Like with too many Hallmark Christmas films, the music could have been used a lot less and been a little less over-scored.

Some of the dialogue is on the slightly banal side.

On the other hand, 'Homecoming for the Holidays' looks good. The scenery is lovely to watch, regardless of the authenticity, and complemented with style and slickness by the photography. The music is affectionately used and is not as too overused or intrusive as the music for other Hallmark films. The direction accomodates well but doesn't make things drag too much.

In terms of the script, it doesn't sound too stilted and most of the dialogue is not too cheesy or too saccharine, if it had more depth and wasn't as banal as it was at times it would have been even better. The story may be predictable, but more often than not warms the heart and has quite a lot of appeal. The characters are rootable ones and Osnes proves herself to be a more than competent actress as well as a great singer. She is partnered with Stephen Huszar, he appeals as well and they work very well together. The supporting cast do well too, if not quite up to the same level.

All in all, pretty good. 7/10

6.3 stars.

A woman (female lead) is a talented singer, songwriter. Her brother is in the military (doesn't really seem the type, he reminds me of a young Woody Harrelson, I swear they are related even though I can't find anything on it), her dad is ex-military, mom and dad own a business of some kind. The son is supposed to take over the business when he is discharged. There's another military guy, he's our male lead. Our female lead goes on to become a country music star (we learn this through a 1-2 minute slow motion sequence that covers a 3-4 year period of time showing her rise to fame). Now we are 3-4 years later, the military dude is out and searching for a job in finance, the female lead is now a big country music star and her brother is finishing his tour, and the town is basically unchanged. Now the main story begins. The two leads eventually fall in love, she sings and helps a fledgling female artist a bit, and gives a bunch of money to various people, he helps around town with some veterans program, the brother might take over the business or accept another job overseas, and the parents are going to retire. There is an ex-military friend who appears to have PTSD and other issues that plague military folk, and he has a rescue dog.

I have to say this: I feel for those military people who suffer. I understand it as best as I can, I've seen it first hand. Now for the rest of my review...

The movie was not anything special, and I bet most people would agree. The reason I suspect this is that there are only 11 reviews as I write this, and that's the least number of reviews I've seen yet on any Hallmark Christmas movie made prior to 2022.

6/10 - an average Hallmark Christmas flick with a whole lot of country singing