A Cowboy Christmas Romance

A Cowboy Christmas Romance (2023) -

From the start of this film I didn't really get the Christmas - no tree decorating, cookie making or any of it, but I did like the more realistic feel of things. The characters weren't all sweetness and light and oh so perfect or trying to have the best festive season ever or sulking because it was their dead husbands favourite time of year, but it's not the same without him.

It's not that I don't like the Christmas element, I actually only tune in to the seasonal Lifetime and Hallmark stuff, but I would like to see a bit more realism around the behaviour of the characters and less of the silliness.

People do get frisky on a first date and also hold grudges. These films are technically aimed at adults so why not make them adult. I'm not talking an 18 or X Rating, but just don't make it all snowballs and hot cocoa. Give them some grit!

This film achieved that, but unfortunately missed the Christmas element and I definitely do find it harder to feel the festivity when the films are full of sunshine and lacking the coats, hats, gloves and scarves.

In this one Lexie (Jana Kramer) reluctantly returned home after 10 years away intent on getting a rancher to sell up his land. But Coby (Adam Senn) did not want to sell, especially to Lex's estranged Father Harry (Bruce Thomas) and Brother Walton (Sterling Jones).

It was all a matter of pride and it all fell out as I had expected, even to the point that I saw the twist and the risky moment coming.

I liked the two leads a lot though, they were attractive physically (Especially when Adam Senn was in just his undies) and they worked well together. It was a partnership that I could get behind and wanted to succeed, because even if their relationship was a slow burner in some ways, the realism of their first meeting and so on showed the compatibility and tension between them.

It was also easy to feel sorry for Jack (Max Ehrich) who was the other Brother that Lexie had left behind. He was torn by the whole family. I felt the emotion with this element having had estrangement in my past too and because he delivered his part well.

I did struggle to believe that Coby's Daughter Abby (Reagan Marum) was 11 years old though. She seemed at least 15! So her hopes for Santa Claus and her wise head on young shoulders were a stretch of reality. He actually sang a lullaby down the phone to her before she was seen on screen, so it was a shock to see such a mature child when she did appear.

When things did finally come to a head with Lexie's family I thought that Daddy's reasoning for pushing her away was stupid. And I was pretty sure that he wouldn't have been happy with her final solution to keep everyone happy too.

But what I did like was the fact that the romance wasn't set in stone at the end. There was no marriage proposal or suggestion that she would give up everything to move back, but a sensible, REAL idea that showed the potential for things to grow between them and a genuine business proposition, although that element might have been slightly fairytale in its credibility.

In general the other elements that go in to making a film were all there and nobody gave a duff performance. I liked the story and the delivery, I just needed it to feel a bit more like it was December and that there was an age appropriate kid excited about the big day.

7.12/10.

I absolutely ADORE Jana Kramer and try to catch everything she is in. I will say, even if I didn't know who she was..this would STILL be a new favorite Christmas movie. The storyline of the film was a good story. It also wasn't cheesy like most Hallmark/Lifetime movies. It made the characters actually seem like real people!! Thank goodness we finally got kissing scenes besides one peck at the end. Their chemistry was great, you could tell they actually tired to make the characters have a relationship & not just acting. An all around wonderful movie! I hope they come up with a sequel some how!!

A noted departure for this season's multiple Christmas movies. The Arizona locale was different (regardless of where it was actually filmed) and the family issues were also much different than normal plot lines in these Christmas movies. I liked the focus on ranch work and the reality that it's not everyone's favorite way of making a living.

The "sensual" scene was quick (lots left to your imagination as it should be for a Christmas movie) but contributed to the raw feelings at the end that had to be resolved. Along with Hallmark's "The Royal Nanny" and its connection with MI5 I find the unusual plot lines of these types of Christmas movies interesting and worth watching again.

Some who are critical are so because it IS a rom com. The rating should be made among not just rom coms - and there are better - but among Christmas rom coms and there are VERY few that can match this one. The plot is actually fresh, albeit as I read the previews I thought this was going just another person returning to their home town at Christmas to broker a deal. It turns out that was the start and the storyline took a nice turn. Roles are well written and well played. The storyline has NO cookie baking, Christmas tree shopping, snowball fights. This is fresh for a Christmas rom com. In fact with the realistic romantic scene it is fresh among all rom coms this year and in all past years. Wake up Hallmark; grow up.

This family is messed up. But it almost makes sense how they got this way. And this movie is a little edgy for a Christmas movie. It is also a little complicated for the average Christmas movie.

The story starts out like so many, but Lexi is not at all likeable in the beginning. Lexi is a successful business woman. She closes deals. That's code for she manipulates people into the outcome she wants. The next deal which might interfere with Christmas vacation requires her to go home or at least to her hometown. Lexi hates her hometown and she is very very angry at her father. She hasn't been home in ten years and hasn't communicated with her family either. We get clues as to why along the way but it isn't totally spelled out until late in the story.

The title has Romance in it, but I think that the romance is half or less than half of the story. It is also rushed because of everything else in the story. And then there is the sex scene. Oh what a big deal. Lifetime TV's first sex scene in a Christmas movie. Oh gee. I thought it was underwhelming even for what might be called borderline family TV. There is nothing close to nudity except a shirtless man, also seen from far away in his boxers, and glimpses of a woman in her bra. The sex itself is passed over, as the Trivia on this site says, in a fade to black way.

Like many Christmas movies, the ending wraps everything up for everyone, maybe too nicely. There was at least one twist, but not completely unpredictable.

I give this movie a semi-positive rating (7 is my default for good but not great). It kept me interested. But it won't be the first thing I watch a second time.