A Not So Royal Christmas

Here we have there reverse of the typical falling in love with royalty story. Here our heroine falls in love with royalty, but he's only pretend royalty ... pressed into service on the spur of the moment to attract tourism to a small European city where a Count is supposed to live. The real "Count" abdicated for love with a beach babe he met in Daytona.

Will Kemp is charming as the ne'er do well whom a journalist mistakenly takes for the missing Count in her mission to get a tabloid story about him. Brooke D'Orsay is the journalist who falls for the Count.

There isn't nearly as much real relationship building and personality as I'd like to see, but the different sort of plot carries the movie, and we enjoyed it. Not one we'd schedule for repeat showings, I don't think, but it worked for one evening.

Brooke D'Orsay (Charlotte)'s green dress at the end was gorgeous and I thought she and Will Kemp (Adam) played off of each other very well.

Adam has returned home for a short term position as gardener at the home of the Count in the fake land of Sorhagen, Nordin. There he is mistaken by the Royal gossip columnist Charlotte as the Count of Sorhagen. The Royal advisers ask Adam to play along as the real count abdicated his title six months prior...and they haven't figured out what to do yet and are worried about how it will hurt the local economy. Charlotte also lies claiming to be from a more legitimate publication instead of her gossip rag in order to secure an exclusive interview with the very reclusive count.

Will both their lies come out? And will their burgeoning feelings hold up to the truth?

I love Will Kemp and thought he was great. Both he and Brooke D'Orsay played well off of each other. My only real complaint is that there are so many real places, with real royalty...it is a shame that they are still using fake kingdoms and customs when the real ones are infinitely interesting. I liked it, but I think I would place it on a mid tier of the Hallmark Holiday films, a watch and delete.

This is probably the best role that I've ever seen Brooke D'Orsay in. It allowed her the widest range of situations and emotions that she portrayed perfectly without being forced to portray a two-dimensional character. This was also a wonderful screenplay for the other actors. The fake counts mother, and several of the other performers had excellent roles for revealing performances. I'd mention their names but their names aren't currently available. The plot is unusual, So don't expect it to be totally predictable. But it is Hallmark and it will leave you feeling good. So kudos to a really great cast performance.

Well, it was a clever movie and the opposite of the Prince and the Pauper. It liked something. I don't know if it was chemistry, costuming, writing, or the sets. But it was lacking something and all I could focus on at the ball scene was that that green dress was begging for a necklace!!!

Their costuming department is seriously lacking, I've seen that multiple times in multiple movies. Give the women some proper respectable jewelry!

I do enjoy these Hallmark movies because they are so predictable and therefore easy on my anxiety as they always have a good ending but as I said, previously, this one lacked something. Creativity maybe? I'm not sure.

I adore the leads, Will Kemp and Brooke D'Orsay, just didn't think this one worked. I DVR'd this and unfortunately found myself fast forwarding through many parts.

It didn't delve into the community, except for his mum's cafe. To be honest Brooke's character really got on my nerves, even Will behaved a bit like a moron.

The scenery in parts was quite magnificent and while the story seemed to be a little different, it was in the end boringly the same.

It's not the worst, but certainly not one of the best. Thankfully no prerequisite snowball fights that erupt out of nowhere. Good for a watch if you haven't yet seen. But not one I'll watch again.