Le Secret d'un Noël parfait

This is the story of an adult only child named Haley. She lost her father 6 months ago in Hallmark's increasingly morbid agenda of killing off parents. Her mother, Patricia, is not handling the loss well. She has hidden herself away, holed up at home reading books.

Haley learns that her mom, Patricia, who was in a group home as a child actually had an older brother who she was separated from. Haley then begins a search for her long lost uncle. She discovers a potential uncle just 30 miles away and visits his small business under the guise of potentially renting something for a family reunion. First she meets his business partner, Blake who is played by Benjamin Ayres.

Blake and Haley slowly start falling in love as Haley tries to chip away information from the gruff and private Gordon to determine if he is her uncle. In the process she learns Gordon is a widower and has a daughter who makes amazing wood furniture named Brianna. Brianna and Haley partner to decorate a show home for charity...and then Haley finds out Gordon isn't her uncle, or is he?

This is another in the increasingly sad storylines about death and loss that Hallmark is bringing to the screen. This one does have a happy ending and a somewhat positive message about giving back to the community.

I really like Benjamin Ayres and I think he is very natural in this role. Ok film if you can handle the sad story arcs.

This is a Christmas movie about searching for family and also finding love. The story is fairly simple with a number of simple setbacks leading to the expected conclusions.

As with all Hallmark movies the settings are stunningly beautiful. The town, shops, homes and decorations are absolutely perfect. The Christmas trees are presented in a flawless way along with over the top house decorations. The actresses and actors are themselves beautiful and handsome. They are also dressed to perfection and coordinated to the settings in which they appear.

However, this perfection leads to a feeling of living in a fairy tale rather than reality. This is especially felt when every tree and the massive amounts of decorations are store bought costing a small fortune. The characters however bake a few perfect cookies to try and compensate for this disparity and show that they are like real people.

This is a feel good movie but the complete perfection make it very unreal.

Compared to all movies: 6.8 Compared to Hallmark: 8.5

The title is a good indicator for what this is about: the desire to reunite with long lost family. It took no effort to watch, had zero boring moments, and I was entertained.

The story is great, the acting is really great, the romance was actually quite alluring and spontaneous. I was drawn in by the chemistry of Taylor Cole and Benjamin Ayres immediately. One of the additional bonuses was their chemistry improves as time goes on, and so they totally light up the Christmas scene with their attraction. There was even some clever romance humor inserted - quite refreshing.

The rest of the story fits well with the plot, all of the characters are well developed, and the acting is above average for Hallmark Christmas films. The pacing and flow are above average, and the cinematography is decent as usual for Hallmark. The music was appropriate for a light-hearted, warm, and romantic atmosphere.

Why only the 6.8 rating? It's generic and made for TV Hallmark. It has to be really good to be above a 7 in this genre, so this is actually a favorable score. Only my very favorite Christmas movies are 8 or more stars, and those aren't usually Hallmark. For example: The Holiday with Cameron Diaz - one of my favorite of all time. That is what we are comparing with in the genre, so this is not a bad rating. The acting was so good I had to give Long Lost Christmas it an little boost up to from my initial 6.5 gut reaction.

This is another story about searching for lost family. Hayley's mom was separated from her brother by the child welfare system when he aged out. The story includes a potential budding romance with a business partner of the possible family member. It seems like the two threads are about equal.

Most of the story wanders from one holiday activity to another while Hayley tries to stay close to her target, at least through half the movie. Hayley is pushy prying into the life of her possible Uncle Gordon. He is coy about his past which prolongs the search.

While Hayley searches, her mom deals with bittersweet memories while trying to get back out into the world after the recent loss of her husband.

Benjamin Ayres and Taylor Cole have quiet chemistry. The acting is good. Dialogue is decent but not sparkling. There isn't a lot of comedy with this movie focusing more on sentimental drama which is the norm on the HMM Miracles of Christmas.

There is a twist leading into the conflict, but it is one that I pretty much expected despite a red herring along the way. I was taken aback by Hayley's reaction. But that does not take away from a nice ending

Kudos to writers who actually know something about Astronomy acknowledging that shooting star watching is best leading up to 5 AM and on a moonless night. That doesn't stop the director from ruining it all with hundreds of Christmas lights which would wash out the darkness in the same scene.

This is a fairly common Hallmark trope ... looking for estranged family. It's done well ... and with some beautiful buildings inside and out, since we have a builder and an interior decorator.

The actors all do a good job, I believe "as directed", but this is one of a long list of Hallmark Christmas films this year I find to be rather drab. The characters are all very reserved, even in their happiest moments. In the movies I REALLY enjoy, the actors bring some real life and personality to the roles, and I simply didn't get that from this movie.

It's absolutely worth a watch, but it's not one I'll look for again.