A Carol for Two

The story of aspiring singers hoping for Broadway roles isn't that inventive, but the male and female leads are attractive and nice in their roles. Separately, their singing is very fine, and it was nice to hear some real Christmas carols with religious overtones, since Christmas is ... as often seems to be forgotten in these films ... a religious holiday.

Unfortunately, in their duets, the leads can't seem to find just one key to agree on. Their duet on "The Christmas Song" was downright painful in places. Ginna Mason could never find the key Jordan Litz played and sang, and they both hit a couple of clangers along the way. Hard to believe they couldn't tell that and correct it in post, at least.

However, the BIG problem with this film is Gino Anania, the second male lead. His part was poorly written, making the character a annoyance with every appearance. And Gino overplayed the role to make it double or triple as annoying as it might otherwise have been, making me tempted to just bag this thing a few times. I'm not sure why, but we managed to stick it out, wasting two hours of our lives.

I confess I didn't see the whole movie - I found it while flipping channels. At first, I didn't think that the leads were all that appealing, but as I watched I felt a good chemistry between them. Ginna has a real girl next door vibe and, well, Jordan was kind of dorky in a Clark Kent way. They grew on me, though.

Then they started to sing. Wow. This is not a classical musical in the way that the characters spontaneously break into song, but where the singers are characters doing their jobs. Doesn't matter, they have great voices and I hope that Hallmark casts them into similar roles in the future.

I see some of the other reviews complaining about the 3rd corner of the triangle, and I can't disagree, but it makes more sense than the many Hallmark movies where a (usually female) character dumps a long term, perfectly nice partner for a guy she's just met. I thought that Gino's character was just annoying enough to deserve the dumping but appealing enough not to appear actively evil or mean.

I love Christmas movies! However, I could not finish watching this movie. I could deal with the lead, Alex. He was beginning to show different levels so he had promise. The HUGE stumbling block was the over-the-top cousin, Brad. He was soooo bad; obnoxious and creepy. I couldn't take it anymore. I rarely quit a movie in the middle very often, this was the second one in as many days. It seems this year, Hallmark is striking out more than it's succeeding with inane scripts and subpar acting, or just doesn't have much of an acting pool of talent to choose from. I would recommend passing this movie by and finding an older Hallmark movie to watch.

I caught the last few minutes of this rom-com and was mesmerized by a catchy duet - Who Knew It'd Be You This Christmas? I liked the song so much I played it again a few times, then found the full movie on Peacock.

The two leads have amazing voices, but they haven't been in many movies, in fact, I didn't see any for him. Quick Google search, they've both had leads in Wicked! She's played Galinda and he's the current Fiyero on Broadway. Blew my mind! My favorite musical!

Their stage presence translates really well to this film and they have good chemistry together. Throw in a handful of classic Christmas songs, some great New York street scenes and you've got a great little movie. Time very well spent!

Just this morning, I thought it was too soon to hear Christmas songs on the radio. After this movie, chock-full of Christmas songs, I'm in the holiday spirit. And the movie theme's of singing wait staff prompted me to look and see if that themed Manhattan restaurant with the Broadway singing wait staff, Ellen's Stardust Diner, is still open. Google says yes! Need to go back there soon.

"Who knew, who knew it'd be you this Christmas?"

A final singing number, which is quite catchy and fun, was not enough to save this Broadway dud from getting cancelled from my theater list. Our leads, Violette (Ginna Claire Mason) and Alex (Jordan Litz) work at as singing servers in New York. They have dreams of making it big on Broadway and we're supposed to be rooting for them.

The trouble is the Cyrano de Bergerac storyline where Alex feeds his cousin Brad (Gino Anania) all the info on Violette and somehow almost wins her over with his yule log (don't ask, it ain't sexy). As expected, it all comes crashing down.

Not to put too fine a point on this whole thing, but Brad is the worst. We could have had a helpless in love guy in this part, but he's made to be an absolute fool and a pure annoyance to everyone who knows him. Not loveable, but quite creepy. This character rips a star or two off this movie.

I enjoyed Mason in A Holiday Spectacular (2022, 6 stars) and the under appreciated A Heidelberg Holiday (2023, 7 stars). When she sings the final song, it's magic, but when she's made to sing public domain holiday songs, it's a waste.

Litz too, is better than the material he's given. Let the man sing! I see leading man for many years to come, if given the right material.

Cast Kudos: Hallmark veteran John B. Lowe in a cameo as the glitzy producer. Love that guy.

Alternate titles: Christmas comes to Broadway. Cast for Christmas. Singing for supper.

Originally aired on Hallmark Nov. 1, 2024. Watched Nov. 2, 2024.