Natale a Nashville

Most of us have seen many takes on the Christmas Carol originally by Dickens. There is nothing that unusual about this one except possibly that it is definitely a romance story.

There are some good songs performed in this mainly by Sara Evans and RaeLynn, including two duets. I think at least one is an original.

Jessy Schram and Wes Brown have chemistry.

Unfortunately for me, I am a huge fan of the energetic and cheerful Jessy Schram. I just couldn't buy into her as a Scrooge. The efforts to make her look like one seemed weak to me. She is just too likeable. Schram has a varied resume, so it is probably just me and my perception. I'm disappointed that she didn't get a chance to feature her singing because she is talented there as well.

This is a pleasant enough rendition of the Christmas Carol but lacking any real tension nor surprises, highs, or lows.

Why was Wes Brown's face, who is one of my favorites in Hallmark movies, so SHINY?!

This is the second leading man during the Covid lockdowns who seemed to be too tan and was very very shiny!

Are the men doing their own makeup?

You can't really go wrong with retalings of Christmas Carol. And the Nashville version was not bad. It had a sass to it and it was fun to watch. Sure, it is cliche and predictable, but the spirit is there at least. However, there must be said that the main couple had luke warm chemistry.

Absolutely love the timeless Charles Dickens classic 'A Christmas Christmas', and reading it and seeing various adaptations of it is an annual Christmas tradition. Jessy Schram is not a favourite of mine but she has always been watchable. Wes Brown has been in his fair share of misfires but has nearly always been one of the best things about them and like Schram he is a very watchable performer. 2020 was a variable year for Hallmark and part of me was not sure what it would do with a premise that has been done to death.

2020's 'A Nashville Christmas Carol' is an above average effort. It is not a great film and doesn't really do anything new with a tried and tested Hallmark formula or anything innovative with a literary classic (only putting a romantic twist on it and even that is not new), but it's engagingly performed and charming enough and sits comfortably in the middle when it comes to Hallmark's 2020 Christmas efforts. Neither one of their best or worst.

Much is good. The production values are very pleasing to look at, nice use of locations slickly shot. The music generally captures the Christmas feel very well and is not near as over-scored or intrusive as too many of a lot of Hallmark films, it also plays a big part in the film and turns out to be one of the pleasures. The songs are very pleasant and sung equally pleasantly. The script can be very corny, but mostly flows nicely and has a light-hearted and sweet tone without being too sugary sweet. It's sympathetically directed without being routine.

Despite being too amiable initially as a Scrooge character, Schram is a very engaging presence and it was great to have Hallmark female Scrooge character that grew as a character rather than being one dimensional all the way through. Brown is subtly charming and confident and their chemistry is genuine and charmingly low key, not coming over as too perfect too soon or taking too long to progress. Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present are performed with a lot of spirit. The story is light hearted and charming enough, despite not being anything exceptional, treating the material seriously enough while not being too obvious.

However, it is very predictable, from doing nothing new with either the Hallmark Christmas formula or 'A Christmas Carol', and takes a little long to get going. The final quarter could have done with more poignancy and comes over as too neat.

While liking the chemistry, it could have featured more as it did feel on the underused side. Too many of the supporting characters are bland, and while Sara Evans and RaeLynn sing very nicely it is agreed their acting leaves a lot to be desired in afterthought-feeling roles. Some of the dialogue is awkward.

Overall, above average if nothing exceptional. 6/10.

I haven't been a fan of the Nashville/Graceland types of movies. They are a mashup of a typical Hallmark type script, which let's face it, aren't Oscar winners to start with, then they try and shoehorn every bit of Nashville they can into it. This one is no different. I'm a big fan of Jessy Schram, but neither her nor Wes Brown could help this sloppy, Dickens inspired story line. There are cute parts played by Kix Brooks and Kimberley Williams-Paisley, and for some reason they chose Wynonna Judd, even though she wasn't likeable when she was at the top of her game, let alone now. The best part is by far the singing. Sara Evans blows the roof off the place out of the gate, then does a couple of fantastic duets with Raelynn towards the end that sound that these two were born to sing together. Not a musical peep out of Schram however, what a missed opportunity.