A Welcome Home Christmas

I watch a lot of Hallmark movies as well as many other types, including romances, and this one leaves a lot to be desired. I'm stunned at the relatively high rating others gave this movie. The storyline is bland, the unfolding of events is overly predictable and the acting is just plain bad with the exception of Jana Kramer who plays Chloe...she is acceptable, though far from supherb. Marquee is too easily "changed," is stiff in his character and has little in the way of chemistry with Chloe. The ending has the potential to be touching, but with the bad acting and predictable nature of events, it was far from moving. I do like light romances, but I also like realistic characters even in a fictional story. These characters are, for the most part, unrealistic. Everyone has a plastic smile, and the sentimental parts are forced. Kramer kept my rating from a 4 or 5, but couldn't go higher than 5.7. One last comment...Hallmark seems to be concerned about "spoilers" but look at the cover on these movies and they basically give away the ending!

Jana Kramer and Brandon Quinn are first rate in this one. Their presence makes the difference here. The movie deals with the issue of military vets transitioning back to civilian life which is certainly a great cause. You will enjoy it!

I must admit, I enjoyed this Christmas movie. It is my 5th Lifetime Christmas movie thus far this season, hands down, the best I have seen. It helps that the story is a touching and welcoming one, which deals with issues around reintegration of military vets after service, i.e. their transition back to civilian life. The script and dialogue were well-written as well. It helps too that the two leads had great chemistry - their kissing scenes at the end (a typical ending in this genre of film) were convincing. I was a fan of One Tree Hill, so I enjoyed seeing Jana Kramer on the screen again. Brandon Quinn too had a strong presence/performance on scene. The supporting cast was a bit mixed. For example, I found Charlene Tilton's performance as Lynn (the mother) a bit...how do I put this...awkward at times, though I warmed up to her by the end. Overall, this is a nice addition to Lifetime's original Christmas movie lineup. Well done. Fans of Hallmark and Lifetime will not be disappointed.

In the past few years there have been a number of touching Christmas movies about veterans or service people and their families. If you haven't seen too many of them, this movie will touch some hearts, and even if you have, it might. I've seen my share, and I saw the predictable climax and ending coming and it still elicited a few tears. When I say predictable, I mean very. Also, there wasn't a lot of tension or potential conflict, which is OK, if you prefer that.

There are also some funny moments and dialogue.

I have loved Jana Kramer since I first saw her in a Christmas movie a couple years ago. She is the most natural of the actors in this. Others are much less natural, especially Santa. He said most of his lines way too deliberately. Between cliché Christmas tropes and unnatural acting, there were many times when things seemed off.

One great moment, however brief, was Jana's Christmas duet with Brandon Quinn supporting her great voice. There was some chemistry between the two, but it didn't stand out. I've seen a couple new movies this season where the chemistry sizzled by comparison but not here.

Lifetime are very variable when it comes to their output, especially their Christmas films, the best being very good and the worst being absolutely awful. While they tend to follow one formula and use it frequently with not much variation, there are times where they have a more mature story with more serious themes meaning that they are very capable with doing things differently to usual. That's the case here with 2020's 'A Welcome Home Christmas'.

On the whole, 'A Welcome Home Christmas' is one of the better Lifetime Christmas films from 2020. It's not great or perfect, but it has a lot done right and handles a mature theme with sincerity and poignancy. To me Hallmark did the mix of military and Christmas theme better, with films like 'Christmas Homecoming', 'Holiday for Heroes' and 'Operation for Heroes', all worth the look as well and are better to me as they have more chemistry and moved me more.

'A Welcome Home Christmas' could have been better. Would have liked more of the extra spark between the two leads, which got there later on but took a while to get to that stage as a result of being initially underwritten. Not all the support acting worked, with Charlene Tilton coming over as quite stiff.

Did not buy the major character change that happens later on, too rushed and too easy. The story is a bit on the slow side to begin with and not all the dialogue seemed very natural.

However, a lot is good here. First and foremost, Jana Kramer's lead performance is deeply felt and very easy to be won over by. Once his character grows, Brandon Quinn becomes more relaxed and charming and once the chemistry between him and Kramer grew they came over as quite genuine together. Tim Reid is always worth watching and LondonRose Sellars is immensely charming and funny. On the most part, the characters did feel like real people and not hard to warm to once their development deepened. Didn't come over as caricatures or one-dimensional, but instead came over as not too perfect or overly flawed real people.

Furthermore, 'A Welcome Home Christmas' is a pleasant looking film with the scenery standing out in particular, while the soundtrack matches the spirit of the holiday and the film's themes very well. The script is neither too corny or over-serious, and doesn't come over as muddled tonally. There are some funny lines and some touching ones, also really liked its sincerity and heart. The story is very heart-warming and moving, its good intentions too admirable, with a tear-jerking if slightly predictable ending.

Summarising, decent if not great. 6/10.