A Carol for Two

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.

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.

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.

I don't like liars but there can be times when characters get caught up in it. No problem. But that guy made me cringe every time he appeared on screen. He actually spoiled the movie for me.

I think the annoying guy was supposed to be funny as well. Epic fail there.

The idea for the movie was great and many of the singers were very good. I imagine the acting world is as cynical as it appeared but that was a bit hard to take too. What was with being mean to the customers in the restaurant? Is that supposed to be a New York thing?

So it was a valiant effort and the two main characters were fantastic. Because of that, I feel a little bad rating it so low. And so I added a star for the great number at the end.

I liked the music and singing. The 2 Broadway stars have beautiful voices and it was enjoyable to watch them.

Unfortunately, the cousin was in most of the movie and was so annoying I didn't know if I could finish watching. The script really didn't have to make him so unsympathetic. He was very flamboyant, also. Just didn't fit well as a potential date for Violette. His character was immature and he'd be better off with someone younger. Like college age. Just way, way over the top. I guess it was supposed to be funny. It wasn't.

The final song was lovely. These are 2 talented people and it would be nice to see them together in another movie. Without the clown.