Due cuori a Natale

"The Jinglebell Jubilee" (2023) GFAM

Erin Agostino and Marshall Williams star in this Christmas movie. Both have done several romance movies so you may have seen them before. I really like Agostino. I think she is very good, and it doesn't hurt that she is lovely. Williams is a good as well. I admit it took seeing a couple of his movies for him to grow on me, but he is actually a pretty good actor.

The story here is a new one, and the twists and turns make for a pleasant watching experience. There are basically four friends--the stars, plus Kristian Jordan and Samantha Kendrick, all playing ring around the romance, and we are not sure how things will fall out until late in the film...but that's what makes it interesting.

I really had no problems with this movie. I thought it was entertaining and enjoyable. Give it a look, you'll probably like it, too.

It's probably because I've got a soft spot in my heart for sweet, little girls like Erin Agostino, but I was able to get to the end without yawning or eye-rolling.

The story here involves a a city manager who returns to his hometown and encounters an old school mate when he registers his son for school. She's now a schoolteacher who has invented a way for students to regift presents to people in need.

As there is a shortage of donations to the city's charity gift-giving program, the two devise a plan to take her program city-wide.

The story moves along at a reasonable pace. There is a plotline that each of them dates other people before realizing the obvious.

This is not a front line movie, but if you're looking for something to watch, there's worse choices.

This is another Christmas movie like so many others this time of year on half dozen or more channels. There is definitely a feel of writers trying to check all the boxes.

I can say two things right away but even though they are obvious, they don't really make the movie exceptional in any way. First, like so many on this network, there is almost no tension, unless you count awkward tension. The writers try to manufacture some by the mayor's constant concern about the success of the Jubilee, but this is overdone and Nate isn't going to drop the ball. Second, yes as other reviewers have pointed out, Hope is so self-deprecating, it detracts from what is obviously a sweet and attractive young lady. Not just modest, but over the top.

Several things in the movie are clumsy. I was floored by the commercial break while Hope and Nate were in the mayor's office. Hope was just gearing up her pitch and they cut away. Then agan another break when Andy was winding up to ask Hope something. Another thing was how much Hope was trying to push Allison on Nate while Nate was being obviously polite but uninterested. At the tree lot, Andy's conversation toward that end was also awkward.

The acting in general is fair to poor. So much of it seemed like community theatre people reading their lines. That might not be surprising given how lame much of the dialogue was. Some of it made me cringe. I think Kristian Jordan's Andy is supposed to be funny, but I didn't laugh.

Then there is Regiftmas. This concept just didn't grab me. I think the term regifting has become too negative and even the rebranding of it in the story just didn't work.

Every rom/com or Christmas romance needs a conflict before the climax. The conflict, if you would even call it that - maybe call it an obstacle - was the least conflictive one I can remember, and I've watch several hundred of these TV movies.

Note to self - you do not want to watch this again.

He was the only reason to watch this movie. The script was ok, but the acting from everyone else was horrible!

Absolutely ZERO chemistry between the two leads, and don't get me started on the awkward supposed "chemistry " between him and the other girl.

Execution of lines from the other actors was on the same level of my grade 9 high school play.

The facial expressions of the female lead was way too distracting. Constantly looking confused, spaced out, frustrated and bewildered all at once. The scene when her and Marshall almost kissed made me laugh out loud. She looked absolutely frightened and he looked like when you're about to bump into a stranger on a sidewalk and you are trying to move out of each other's way!

I kept it on in the background as it was ok to listen too, but to sit and watch this mess, absolutely not!

The Jinglebell Jubilee (2023) -

This one was all very basic and a tad nauseating with how sweet it was but it was at least a bit of a different tack with the fact that the relationship was a sort of Love "Square" to start with. Even if it was incredibly obvious how that would fall out in the end.

It was very cheesey and that wasn't helped by Andy's (Kristian Jordan) awkwardness, which was too much.

Leading man Marshall Williams as Nate was the more natural of them all, but still a tad too exaggerated.

And I wasn't sure that leading lady Erin Agostino as Hope was the right person for the role. I did like Allison played by Samantha Kendrick however, although I could see why she didn't get the starring role - she lacked a bit of presence here.

As for "The Jubilee" itself, it wasn't as amazing as I had expected. I thought it would have been a carnival or a one day special with a ball or something instead of just some booths at City Hall.

And they certainly didn't hire enough extras for the dance that did happen. They could have at least shot it differently to make it look busier.

The script was a bit jumbled and clumsy too. I couldn't tell what they were thinking a lot of the time because of it. And the climactic conversation was so bleurgh and saccharin.

With all that said, it definitely wasn't the worst of these films that I've seen. In his position of City Manager trying to fix the Jubilee, Marshall's Nate character was charming in general, even if he made some terrible choices regarding his love life. And Hope's regifting idea, which saved the event, bringing them together, was nice. I did feel that Allison and Andy's connection might have made a cuter story though.

It probably won't be one that I'll revisit in a hurry, but mostly because there are so many more to see and the list of good ones that I definitely want to watch again is getting longer every year. As it was it did the standard job you'd expect.

6.12/10.