The Art of Christmas

Cute although predictable story, spoiled by choppy, clunky dialogue, no chemistry between the leads, and odd fashion choices - a sleeveless tank dress in the middle of winter, Flashdance-esque casual wear, and plenty of deep cleavage-revealing formal wear. There is a solid message to be found about authenticity and finding your authentic self although the best parts of this movie were really the characters of Tricia, Reggie, and Brit. Frankly, the quick wit and singing talent of Darin Brook (Reggie) and natural chemistry with Kelly Kruger (Brit) were the real highlights of this movie, along with the beautiful voice of Ariella Cannon (Tricia).

7.2 stars.

The theme is mundane. It's about a female artist who finds her true passion for art and children once she is able to find herself. We can't forget there is a man and a lonely little girl in the story who enable her to do just that.

This is an okay movie, nothing really special if I'm being honest, but I've certainly seen much worse. I wasn't disappointed, because my expectations were already pretty limited. Why limited? The low rating for one, and I don't have the time to watch everything these days, so I've been avoiding any movie below 6.2 stars, but some of the reviews got my attention. I thought maybe this will be engaging and fun and I'm trying to see if these really low level films are as bad as people say. When a movie falls below 6.2 stars, it tends to be lackluster, but this is not always the case. Once in a while one of these will surprise you. Unfortunately, 'The Art of Christmas' is not one, however it's also not that bad. Like I said, I've seen a lot worse, so not a total waste of time.

Storyline had some potential for a holiday Christmas romance but that's almost all the movie had going for it.

The lead actress is beautiful and the dresses were gorgeous. The young girl that's getting bullied is a phenomenal singer (if it's really her & not voiceover). That's where the positives end for me.

The acting, while not the worst I've ever seen, fell completely flat. I didn't feel an ounce of chemistry between any of the characters. It felt like they were just saying their lines without any real connection or emotion behind them. The movie was just....boring.

I've been trying to give GAC a chance with their movie lineups but the quality of their content is lacking any appeal for me.

... but the acting just wasn't there. Both female mains acted like it was their first time out, rushing their lines and speaking with that nervous throaty voice you hear from new actors. Bridgette Kingsley has no excuse for that, she's been around for a LONG time.

Her "first boyfriend" is 49 and they obviously wanted him to play much younger, so they caked makeup on him to the point his face looks plastic in every scene.

Our male romantic lead, also in his late 40s, acted like maybe he had Asperger's ... just really odd deliveries of his lines and often looking off into space as he delivered them. Maybe he felt self-conscious staring down Bridgette's cleavage as often as they displayed it ... which was a plus from my point of view. LOL (And about the only one).

On top of the above, most of the dialogue was either trite or just bad.

In our book, this is yet another GAF misfire this year, and indications are they've had some issues, with one planned movie not showing up at all, and last minute scheduling swaps on others. Maybe the rushed line delivery isn't the actors', but post-production sound problems? Regardless of which it is, it distracts from the story and makes some conversations hard to follow.

For the completist only ... otherwise safe to skip.

I almost didn't watch this because of the negative reviews, but I'm glad I finally did. I thought it was charming. I didn't have any expectations going in, and I found it to be on par with most of the movies of its genre on these networks. Predictable? Yes. But I thought the acting was good and that the characters did have chemistry. Their facial expressions, especially those of Joe Towne, the leading man, were quite effective. Darin Brooks made the character of Reggie fun, and it was interesting to know that he and "Brit" (Kelly Kruger) are a couple in real life. If you want to see a movie about how helping others can help you follow your heart and find your way, then give this a try.