Deux Stars pour Noël

7/10 - romantic spoof of "Live! With Kelly and Michael" is fun and lighthearted

Some years ago, I saw the Hallmark movie The Irresistible Blueberry Farm, which starred both Alison Sweeney and Marc Blucas, the two leads in this film. I can still remember the chemistry they had on-screen. It is one of my favourite Hallmark movies. This time around, it was pretty good too. Though the story is not as strong, the chemistry between the two is. The plot is not that original, of course, but the movie did engage me; i.e., it pulled me. This was primarily due to the acting. As I alluded to above, the acting and chemistry between the two leads are excellent. Alison Sweeney, a Hallmark regular, had a strong performance. Marc Blucas too performed well in this one. It is their interaction, their dialogue, which I found so appealing. The supporting cast's performance was, for the most, pretty good too. Is it me or do some of these Hallmark Christmas traditions only exist on-screen (in the Hallmark universe)? A three-legged race? That seemed odd. Also, is building gingerbread houses that widespread, that popular of a Christmas tradition? I know it exists, of course, but it appears in so many of Hallmark Christmas movies (this year, as well). In my hometown, a small village in up-state NY, we never once built gingerbread houses, nor did I know of anyone who did. Our village of a couple thousand or so inhabitants did have some public Christmas traditions (e.g., the lighting of the tree) but none of them included the building of gingerbread houses. Nor am I aware of any other village, town or (small) city in my county that had a gingerbread tradition. Hmmm...maybe it is a regional thing. The tradition that seems to be getting popular is the wishing tree; it has appeared in at least two Hallmark movies this year thus far. I am not sure if this is grounded in reality or Hallmark reality. Finally, the scenery and props in this movie were beautiful. For example, the decorations at the Mistletoe Inn were stunning (though maybe a bit too much for some). Overall, this was a pretty good Christmas movie: an unoriginal story with some really good acting and some great chemistry between the leads.

A charming Hallmark film. It is the simple, fair definition about this film It is charming for the smart construction of chemistry between lead characters.

For the inspired remind of importance of supporting actors work, basic gift of this genre of films.

For the air of old fashion romance films in which, yesterday , Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy are brilliant.

For nice flavour of TV show and small duels between presenter.

For encouragement from consacrated names to ordinary people and for the luge .

And for relation between siblings, contests, the poor childhood sketch and gentle fall of sentimental relation.

So, just charming.

While the story line of a pair of cohosts doing a live show in a "Christmas town" is not unique, it also isn't the most common premise. Having one or both leads participate in all the usual Christmas activities is very common. Misunderstandings causing a conflict, especially when a rival is involved is maybe universal in this type movie. While the ultimate outcome is inevitable, there is a nice twist that helped get it there.

The real attraction is the leads Allison Sweeney and Marc Blucas. I have loved both of these stars in several movies and they even did one together before. Blucas has hit home runs in 3 previous Christmas movies and Sweeney was great last year in one and good in one two years before. The two eventually developed great chemistry in this one after Blucas' character, Brian, stopped acting like a stuck-up jock. It took a little time for me to stop seeing Brian that way.

Love everything Alison is in. Didn't care for the male lead, it's not his fault but all I kept seeing is Ron DeSantis. He looks so much like him. And no way would the lady director/producer film them live without their permission. Bad idea!