Ms. Christmas Comes to Town

I was happy to see Erica Durance join the Hallmark lineup a few years back. I've always liked Brennan Elliott. So I was off to a good start before the first scene.

There are two romance stories here. Of course you knew as soon as James actually appeared that he would be part of the story.

The premise is a little different, but the story develops like many Christmas movies do but with the additional thread of Gale's illness. Travis and Amanda have an interesting meet cute and then get thrown together on the road trip and, oh my, on stage! Elliott and Durance have chemistry and watching their relationship is enjoyable.

The movie goes a little deeper than some with Gale's illness, but her secret becomes another plot device like so many others that throws a temporary obstacle between Travis and Amanda.

I agree with the reviewer that said that Travis' backstory was underdeveloped.

Wow! I actually loved this Hallmark holiday film. Every time I see Barbara Niven, I forget how much I love her...this film was her show and she was fantastic. She plays the lead Gale, aka Ms. Christmas the famous and wildly popular holiday host of the HSC (Home Shopping Channel). Unfortunately, she receives the bad news that she has a glioblastoma (a terminal brain cancer) with at the most 2 years to live. She tells her friend and studio executive boss, Elizabeth about her diagnosis and her wishes to do one more Christmas road show without anyone being the wiser to her condition. Her compassionate friend and boss agrees, but on one condition...she travel with a personal nurse in tow. The cover story for nurse Travis (Brennan Elliott), becomes that he is Elizabeth's godson and going on tour with Ms. Christmas to learn the ropes.

Ms. Christmas' contract allows her to pick her successor, for which she has wanted her longtime friend and assistant (the daughter of her deceased best friend) Amanda (Erica Durance). The plan is to bring Amanda on to set for this Christmas' road-trip as Ms. Holiday, Ms. Christmas' apprentice as she spreads cheer across small towns in Washington state (only as a Washington state native, born and raised...I can tell you it wasn't, I wish it was). A slight wrinkle ends up being that Amanda has already met Travis...sort of, when she mistakes him for her blind date. The two really have chemistry and Ms. Christmas brings Travis on camera to join them after a Christmas makeover as Mr. Winter.

I loved all of the Christmas details in this holiday film...like the addition of new animated Christmas sun-catchers to their tour bus dash in each new town by their cheery tour bus driver, Murray and the Christmas cookie decorations, and the great Christmas wardrobe.

But the big story is Ms. Christmas' last tour and making it the best ever as her staff and colleagues have become her family over the years since she prioritized her career, sacrificing her own family. When out of the blue a blast from her past shows up...and as much as she pushes him away, he doesn't take no for an answer.

Brennen Elliot and Erica Durance are fantastic independently and together and paired with Barbara Niven...the three of them are fire. They really complement one another. And the story line was great. I loved the handling of a terminal condition, with compassion and kindness. I loved how important it was to Gale to not just pass her role off to Amanda...but to really help her succeed, not just with encouraging words...but by also being with her, in her ear piece for her first solo on screen performance. It was nice to see how people should be treating each other. There were no villains in this story and there was no miracle cure...making this more true to life than a lot of stories I have seen brought to the holiday screen. I highly recommend this film to Hallmark fans, fans of Barbara Niven and fans of Christmas.

(I did have a slight issue with the commercial aspect of the film, and am not a proponent of the home shopping network...but I am aware it exists and has a huge following. I also think that they handled the story in a way to not emphasize the gross commercialism and focus more on the beauty of Christmas and the Christmas spirit.)

The start of this movie is fun and has a few surprises before the leads in this film start their christmassy tour on wheels. The actors are talented and it is impossible not to have high hopes for this film. However the story takes a turn for the worse, it becomes sappy and unrealistic as the bus moves from town to town. The storyline is rather bland and the cast despite their long experience and acting skills cannot make this holiday movie anything but a wreck. That said, the leads got a cool and down-to-earth way of being. I would love to see all three of them in a different Christmas film as soon as possible!

This production caught my attention when I saw Brennan Elliott (virtually guarantees a 7+ rating, just due to his professionalism and relaxed posture on film). Then you mix in two more seasoned actresses, Barbara Niven (Chesapeake Shores) and Erica Durance, the movie had am emotional maturity (not just by age) that has been lacking in this season's movie offerings. Again, the storyline is only a small twist from a lot of Hallmark's formulae, ie. Travelling to small towns for the holidays. What makes this story gratifying is the interaction of the 3 central characters. It is believable, onscreen, how they care for one another, and the romance that develops between Ms. Holiday and Mr. Winter is quite conceivable, despite a very short backstory. The kiss is definitely warranted. Ms. Christmas is elegant, and earnest. She thinks of Ms. Holiday as her own daughter, and doesn't dump the dire news of her impending death on her or her high school sweetheart, who floats into the story as the secondary romance. The Christmas traditions are rolled into the screenplay, and fit in here (not forcibly), as a means of deepening the attraction of Ms. Holiday and Mr. Winter. All-in-all one of the best, so far, this year in strengthening your belief in the good of humanity (heartwarming). The movie closes, cleverly, by wishing us in the audience a Happy Holidays!

8.1 stars.

Occasionally Hallmark does a traveling theme as a major part of the story, whether it's flying: flight attendant interaction, or someone is stuck in an airport...driving: cross country with strangers, or from here to there, stuck in bad weather (usually snow), stranded while traveling...and they all have a common element: strangers on an adventure end up falling in love.

This one is a bit different than all the rest as far as I can recall, because it's about a celebrity and her workers traveling in an RV. There aren't many RV centered movies by Hallmark that I'm aware of.

Ms. Christmas and her entourage are driving across Washington State for her final tour as the Christmas matriarch of a TV shopping network. My first impression after reading this brief synopsis would be: this is a dead end script, snooze-fest, no way am I going to waste my time, I will put it on the back burner. I would be gravely mistaken if I followed my gut instinct, however, I delayed watching it for a few weeks for that very reason. I am surprised at how wrong I was.

This is another one of those uncommon "it speaks for itself", just give it a moment, movies from Hallmark. It's inventive, cutting edge, hilarious, bleak, emotional...I don't know how they did it, but this story is alive in a magical way, ranging from thoroughly entertaining and fun to endearing and romantic. I will watch this more than once.