Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing

Some people like the 'Christmas in Evergreen' film series. Others don't. With me, the four films are a bit mixed, was conflicted on the original, didn't care for 'Letters to Santa' and sort of liked but not loved 'Tidings of Joy'. Despite mixed to negative reviews, 'Bells are Ringing' was still seen anyway for curiosity as Hallmark have made some well above average sequels and because of having liked Rukiya Bernard, Hollie Robinson Peete and Barbara Niven in other things.

'Christmas in Evergreen: Bells are Ringing' was for me rather underwhelming and my easy vote for the weakest of the series. It is not a complete loss and has its good things, it takes a lot for me to call a film etc irredeemable (which is usually reserved for SyFy and Asylum mockbusters). But 'Christmas in Evergreen: Bells are Ringing' just didn't come together for me and didn't work. 2020 was a very variable year for Hallmark, and this is among the weakest of the batch.

Am going to begin with the good things. The best thing about it is Bernard, who has a charming warmth and sass. Actually thought that most of the acting was quite good, if more from the female cast than the male. Robinson Peete and Marci House coming off best. Niven was quite convincing too, but she has had better written and less derivative characters elsewhere.

The producion values are lovely, all the Hallmark Christmas films from 2020 delivered on the scenery and the scenery is picture perfect beauty photographed with love. Low budget or rushed production is not obvious. Some pleasant moments in the soundtrack and the marriage delay subplot was quite nice and relatable, the only one that works properly.

However, Antonio Cayonne and Colin Lawrence have nowhere near the same amount of sparkle, Lawrence especially is a bland blank in a nothing role. Cayonne's character is underwritten and his chemistry with Bernard is barely low key and is practically lost by everything else going on in the story. Which really hampers 'Christmas in Evergreen: Bells are Ringing' severely, it tries to include too many plotlines and characters and does too little with most, both Hannah's subplots are badly under-explored. The bells subplot felt like needless padding. There could have been less time on the Scrooge character and that character is very one dimensional and not fleshed out enough.

Like a lot of Hallmark films, the film includes a major change of heart and again like too many of those films the film doesn't do a good job with it. It is much too rushed and too suddenly introduced with too little build up, which was the same with the also too pat ending. Absolutely agree that the first half an hour was forced and unintentionally surreal. The dialogue is very awkward and over the top in this part particularly and is nothing to write about throughout the film.

Overall, didn't come together. 4/10.

Hallmark took a swing at creating a more diverse movie and ended up with kind of a hot mess. They had great leads with Rukiya Bernard, Antonio Cayonne, Holly Robinson Peete and Colin Lawrence. Instead of fully concentrating on their storylines Hallmark threw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix. It felt as if Hallmark didn't trust that these four actors could carry the weight of an entire movie. That's a shame for two reasons. If Hallmark really felt that way they should have had the guts to use actors they felt could cut it. Secondly, those four actors have proven time and again over the last several years that they can indeed carry a movie all by themselves and they will appeal to a wide range of people because they are engaging and believable. Instead of making a movie that showcases their talents they ended up, once again, as supporting players to everybody else's drama. I still enjoyed the movie and I especially love it when they use cast members from previous Evergreen movies. I just wish they had done this one justice.

6/10 - another simply okay addition to this Hallmark franchise

Well, it's about time we got to see Hannah's story, but I still think that if you haven't seen the first three films that there is a lot you might be miffed about, as they reflect back on it a lot.

And miracle of miracles, Zoe is back in this one, unfortunately, Brat that she is, but at least she's not in it much. Ryan is still noticeable for his absence however.

I like the story of Hannah, who is a lovely character, striving to find her purpose in Evergreen, but I still think it would be more interesting if the lead decided that they would leave the town or if they decided that they didn't need someone else to make them happy, just for a change.

It's not the best of the series so far, but I did feel for Hannah and her situation. I will be curious to see if 2021 brings another episode of an Evergreen Christmas, as although the stories are only so-so, you do find yourself getting involved in the little town and it's residents.

I was looking forward to this new instalment of the Christmas in Evergreen movie series. My favourite was the second instalment starring Jill Wagner and Mark Deklin (some great acting). I thought last year's instalment was very good too and remember enjoying Rukiya Bernard (playing Hannah) and Antonio Cayonne's (playing Elliot) sub-plot, which partly explains why I was looking forward to seeing this new edition to the series. I am afraid to say, I was a bit disappointed with this one. I think the writers spread themselves too thin this time around, not focusing enough attention on the two main storylines revolving around Hannah Turner (i.e., her romance with Elliot and her new job at the museum). For example, the storyline about the bells could have been cut to free up space; I don't think it added anything to the movie. As a result, I simply was not pulled in by the movie (pulled in by these two storylines), I did not connect with it, as I did with the previous ones. For example, the fight that the writers try to develop between the couple seemed rather weak and unconvincing, as a result. The one storyline that I really enjoyed was Michelle's marriage delay; the acting by Holly Robinson Peete (playing Michelle) and Marci House (playing Sonya, she was great, by the way) was very strong; I wish they had more lines/scenes too for Colin Lawrence (playing Thomas). The acting overall was good. That said, is it me or was the first 20 minutes or so of acting a bit over the top regarding how happy everyone was? It seemed forced, surreal at one point, even for the Evergreen movie series. A good example of this thru-out the film was the performance of Chris Cope as Ezra. The smiling and lines were simply too much, over the top. The scenery, props, and sets were, of course, well-polished and very festive. The music and music editing were good too. All in all, it is a pretty good Christmas movie, but not nearly as good as the first three instalments of the Evergreen series, unfortunately. Another reviewer on here describes this one as the subplots plotting to steal the production. I laughed at this, as I had not thought about it in those terms, but it does sound about right.