Christmas Next Door

You can pick away at any Hallmark movie's details. There's always something that doesn't fit or how about that half of them are shot in the summer and have melting foam everywhere! The whole point of watching these movies is to suspend reality for a couple of hours. If you can't do that, you shouldn't be watching them.

I actually thought this moving was refreshing. It was modern and I enjoyed the dialogue. The kids were well cast. They weren't annoying and whiny which is often the case.

I know Jessie Metcalf's hair was ridiculous and so was April's (can't remember her real name), so many ugly extensions! But her acting was great and was beyond TV movie quality and all and all I think the cast was believeable.

I also liked that they shot this movie in the fall (guessing) at least. I could see that the tree branch's were bare and in certain scenes you could see their breath because it was chilly out. I hate when they shoot these wintertime movies in the summer!

This is the first time I've ever written a review and it was because I thought this movie was a cute, original, thoughtful Christmas movie.

When Eric goes to see April at the restaurant at the end, does anyone else find it weird that she just hands the violin off to someone dining, and just leaves without it?

Well I liked this, I thought it was warm, with some nice laughs along the way.

Nice to see some non standard Hallmark actors pop up in the lead too.

This was a pretty good Christmas movie, even in spite of a few minor details that bugged me. The chemistry between the leads was believable, and the script was actually decent. Fiona, the actress who played April, was adorable and charming. I had a harder time with Jesse Metcalfe, as I thought he was still a child before I looked him up and discovered he is only a few days younger than me. He played his bachelor role perfectly.

As for the negatives, I just wish they would have dubbed in a better violinist, and that the actress would have at least attempted to make it look like she was actually playing it. Also, what are these houses made of that he can be sitting in his study two houses away and hear her playing the violin loud enough that he's distracted? Or that when he turns his music up, it's loud enough to disrupt a music lesson with her student? Yet she couldn't hear a conversation between him and his ex-girlfriend in a super quiet evening from feet away? Okay.

All in all, I recommend watching it. It contains everything you expect from a Hallmark movie.

At the beginning Eric was annoyed at April because her violin students distracted him from his writing. He turns up his music which in turn annoys her. When the street is shown, the houses are not connected, and later Eric says to somebody that April lives 2 houses down from him. Somebody dropped the ball there! As a reviewer early said, watching the violin playing was cringeworthy. I think my dog could have done a better job than the actress. The story was typical light romance from Hallmark and I enjoyed it.