A Nashville Christmas Carol

A new take on the Christmas carol. Half on target and the rest flies off into fluff land. Good music numbers but not as fun as the best alternate version take Scrooge.

It felt kind off sappy and syrupy watching this alternate version.

Okay,but not really inspiring.

I agree with another reviewer on here about the Nashville and Graceland Hallmark movies. They are not my favorites (though they are not bad either). I do not understand why the producers cast singer/songwriters if they can't act. Sara Evans (as Belinda) and RaeLynn (as Alexis) were unimpressive (they are not good actors...hmm...where was the direction, the director?); I would have preferred some better acting as opposed to a few minutes of their singing. Don't get me wrong, they sounded good, but the writers/producers could have worked them into the script to (just) sing and cast some actors in their roles to actually do some acting. I thought the story was fun and cute. It is, of course, unoriginal and predictable, but I do not come to Hallmark movies for those things (i.e., originality and unpredictability). I like watching Jessy Schram (as Vivian) on screen; she does a good job in such roles. I found her performance engaging. Wes Brown (as Gavin) also did a decent job, though he might want to tone down on the use of tanning lotion (kidding, of course). The chemistry between the two was pretty good, believable; they had some nice interactions together. The Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present were fun too. Overall, it was a cute and fun movie. Not at the top of my list this season, but an entertaining movie, nonetheless.

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.

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?

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.