A Cowboy Christmas Romance (2023) -
From the start of this film I didn't really get the Christmas - no tree decorating, cookie making or any of it, but I did like the more realistic feel of things. The characters weren't all sweetness and light and oh so perfect or trying to have the best festive season ever or sulking because it was their dead husbands favourite time of year, but it's not the same without him.
It's not that I don't like the Christmas element, I actually only tune in to the seasonal Lifetime and Hallmark stuff, but I would like to see a bit more realism around the behaviour of the characters and less of the silliness.
People do get frisky on a first date and also hold grudges. These films are technically aimed at adults so why not make them adult. I'm not talking an 18 or X Rating, but just don't make it all snowballs and hot cocoa. Give them some grit!
This film achieved that, but unfortunately missed the Christmas element and I definitely do find it harder to feel the festivity when the films are full of sunshine and lacking the coats, hats, gloves and scarves.
In this one Lexie (Jana Kramer) reluctantly returned home after 10 years away intent on getting a rancher to sell up his land. But Coby (Adam Senn) did not want to sell, especially to Lex's estranged Father Harry (Bruce Thomas) and Brother Walton (Sterling Jones).
It was all a matter of pride and it all fell out as I had expected, even to the point that I saw the twist and the risky moment coming.
I liked the two leads a lot though, they were attractive physically (Especially when Adam Senn was in just his undies) and they worked well together. It was a partnership that I could get behind and wanted to succeed, because even if their relationship was a slow burner in some ways, the realism of their first meeting and so on showed the compatibility and tension between them.
It was also easy to feel sorry for Jack (Max Ehrich) who was the other Brother that Lexie had left behind. He was torn by the whole family. I felt the emotion with this element having had estrangement in my past too and because he delivered his part well.
I did struggle to believe that Coby's Daughter Abby (Reagan Marum) was 11 years old though. She seemed at least 15! So her hopes for Santa Claus and her wise head on young shoulders were a stretch of reality. He actually sang a lullaby down the phone to her before she was seen on screen, so it was a shock to see such a mature child when she did appear.
When things did finally come to a head with Lexie's family I thought that Daddy's reasoning for pushing her away was stupid. And I was pretty sure that he wouldn't have been happy with her final solution to keep everyone happy too.
But what I did like was the fact that the romance wasn't set in stone at the end. There was no marriage proposal or suggestion that she would give up everything to move back, but a sensible, REAL idea that showed the potential for things to grow between them and a genuine business proposition, although that element might have been slightly fairytale in its credibility.
In general the other elements that go in to making a film were all there and nobody gave a duff performance. I liked the story and the delivery, I just needed it to feel a bit more like it was December and that there was an age appropriate kid excited about the big day.
7.12/10.
