Christmas with a Crown - Una corona per Natale

Never have I ever given a Hallmark movie a 1 star

This is everything that could possible be poor about a movie - the story is totally ridiculous - not just magical, HEA and a little corny which is total fine but like the Bride of Chucky with a Christmas theme.....

I realise there are late bloomers including some lovely friends of mine but if you are going to cast mature leads is not the least that can happen is they act their age? This pair are acting like teens and if a day under 35 I will eat my hat..... And the romance and chemistry is just not there AT ALL....

Plain awful sorry to report......

A romantic, modern day fairy tale that is grounded and perfect for all the family. There were a lot of cute moments and laughs throughout the movie. Enjoyed the Christmas tradition and magic of the film

When I watched this move a few months ago, on streaming, I erroneously blamed it on Hallmark. Now it' showing on Lifetime channel Therefore. I owe Hallmark my deepest apologies. Thus clarified, I still find this is, hands down, the worst royal TV movie ever. Save your intellect and watch a rerun of Gilligan' Island. That would be infinitely more entertaining.

This is a pure formula "Royal" movie where the prince maintains his anonymity through most of it. There is the antagonistic confrontation at the beginning. The anonymous prince helps with a Christmas festival. The queen is throwing tantrums, admittedly somewhat mild tantrums. There are so many other formulaic plot lines. There is also some wild rationalizing to work things out to the predictable outcome.

I haven't seen Lisa Durupt as a romantic lead, but in many supporting roles like best friend or sister. Marcus Rosner is a rom/com veteran, many of which with Hallmark. (This movie is Lifetime.) As another reviewer pointed out, Rosner vacillates back and forth into an English accent (obligatory for all Royal movies). I found this distracting. There was some chemistry but it wasn't great.

There is nothing to set this movie apart from the crowd. It won't be on my future viewing list.

Prince of some made-up European country escapes to snowy American town (anonymously, of course) to have a Christmas without tradition and formality. Meets woman on a mission. Rest is par for the course.

It's the really bad English accents that grate. The valet, Arthur, who hot foots it over to America, has an even worse English accent than Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins - it's like listening to nails down a blackboard. I would have expected better from Teryl Rothery but sadly her attempt at Received Pronunciation is also under-trained.

There's enough English actors out there - even in North America - so please just use them!

The set decorators, music, lighting and locations - plus the parts of the father and the librarian (both fighting against a poor script) - deserve far more stars, but the two leads are so mismatched that even they don't look like they're enjoying it, so 1 star it is.

And don't get me started with what happens at the end of the movie in the middle of the road. Good grief.