A Very Country Christmas: Homecoming

Actually personally wasn't that crazy about the first 'A Very Country Christmas'. Liked the music and Greyston Holt, but disliked Bea Santos, how excessively unlikeable her character was and the lack of chemistry. Not to mention the pong-filled dialogue and over-stretched story. Expectations were not high in all honesty for 'A Very Country Christmas: Homecoming', seeing as most sequels (with of course some very notable exceptions that are on par or even better) have notorious reputations for being inferior.

Luckily, for me 'A Very Country Christmas: Homecoming' was a lot better (am not sure how well that opinion is going to go down, having a lot of support for the first film here in reviews for this). It wasn't great and had some serious faults still, but it also had two particularly major improvements that were enough to make it superior. There are much better sequels out there than 'A Very Country Christmas: Homecoming', and there are also much worse. As far as sequels for anything from Hallmark/Lifetime/UPTV go, this is somewhere in the middle.

Is it perfect? No. The story here also feels overstretched and has very little new, complete with moments of draggy pacing.

Did also think that 'A Very Country Christmas: Homecoming' was marred further by having too much of the truly obnoxious Cake and Charlotte Hegele's increasingly tiresome scenery chewing.

Holt however is as appealing and charismatic as he was in the first 'A Very Country Christmas' film. Santos' acting is a massive improvement here, much more comfortable, far less cold and with a lot more charm. Her character is also a lot more likeable, no flaws taken to extremes. The chemistry between Holt and Santos improves a lot too, there is some this time and it is understated but charming.

The dialogue is a lot less cheesy, apart from with Cake, and flows more and while the story is far from perfect it is warm hearted, doesn't take itself too seriously while not being over the top. The scenery is picturesque and complemented slickly by the photography and the soundtrack is pleasantly infectious.

Concluding, not perfect but superior. 6/10.

I really enjoyed the first one (haven't seen the second one) but this time around, Bea looks like she could. Not. Care. Less. You'd think the honeymoon phase is portrayed as happy and a couple absolutely besotted with each other but I could sense the awkwardness from my couch. These 2 have 0 chemistry and I feel as though Greyston tried to put in the effort for the sake of the movie, but Bea's terrible acting convinced me she hated making this third movie.

Fans of UPtv's Very Country Christmas will not be disappointed in this third instalment of the movie series starring Greyston Holt as Zane (a famous country singer). The story is warm, funny, and entertaining. The writer did a good job building on the previous two films. The script/story does not try to do too much (I mean that in a good way), but rather focuses on developing the relationship between the characters. Holt's performance was strong. He looks like a country singer, not a bad voice either. This genre of film suits him well. The supporting cast was good. It was a cute performance by Raven Stewart as Quinn (the daughter). Rob Stewart's performance was strong in what arguably was a more challenging role to play. I liked the two radio jockeys, especially their scene with Cake (the over the top pop star played by Charlotte Hegele). The movie ended with a couple of nice musical performances: first by Deana Carter (as Jolene) and then by Zane and Quinn. The latter was very heartfelt; Raven Stewart has a beautiful voice. Indeed, in the last 20 minutes or so the movies instils a bit of Christmas cheer and holiday spirit. Finally, fans will be happy with the ending as it suggests a fourth installment of the Very Country Christmas series.

6.4 stars.

I feel like this third installment of the trilogy is a little better than the first. I never saw the sequel, they won't televise it lately, and I'm not going to look for it or hold my breath. I don't plan on watching it. This one seems a bit more elaborate than the first one, because we are introduced to more variety of artists attempting to convey some country music celebrity attitudes and conflicts. But in the end, It's just more of the same dreary stuff. The lead male is a bit more relaxed this time around, but the lead female is unchanged from the first, lacking most of the emotions on the spectrum, no anger, no happiness, no joy, no excitement, just very laid back sadness and sometimes a bit of contentment maybe, but there is certainly nothing interesting to see here. As I'm watching, the first impression is that the producers have absolutely no interest in the end product of this movie. It's a soulless production with no heart. When a movie has heart,there is energy and life behind it, you get the tingles, you shed a tear, you feel it. It evokes a sense of familiarity and a plethora of good emotions, and sometimes negative ones. 'A Very Country Christmas: Homecoming' has none of that.

If you liked the 1st and 2nd Zane/Jeanette movies, you will probably like this one also. There really isn't very much depth to the storyline, so if you didn't see part 1- A Very Country Christmas 2017 or part 2- A Very Country Wedding 2019, this movie will probably feel like it rambles all over with no point. Some characters from the 2nd movie were given small parts that seemed unnecessary. Though there are some clips from the 1st movies, it would be better to record it and watch them all in order.

I was really looking fwd to it because I love movies with music star themes, I did love the 1st 2, and I like Greyston Holt. The absolute best part of the movie is the Quinn/Zane duet near the end. It was a uniquely beautiful song.

One major point - in my program guide, this movie is listed with the correct title but the date and synopsis from A Country Chrismas. I took a chance that the new movie would air, and luckily it did.