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.

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.

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.

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.

I might have only stuck with this one for Wes Brown if I'm honest. He's no Brendan Penny or Luke Macfarlane, but he does have a certain roguish charm and quality about him.

The 'Christmas Carol' idea has been done so many times and not always well. I actually prefer the traditional versions myself (The Muppets/George C Scott). This isn't a great example of the theme and I think it would have been better if they had stuck more to the standard story with the three ghosts, Etc. Although I understand why they were trying to shake it up a little, the message was a bit watered down and may have been lost on people that don't know of the Dickens classic, you know, the people that died before it was written.

You could tell the singers from the actors, because the singers couldn't act, but at least they could sing, which isn't always the case in these films. It was also nice to recognise the leading lady, who did a good job, from something other than appearing in Christmas romances for a change (One of the blondes from Pitch Perfect that isn't Rebel Wilson). As a Brit, I don't really know who most of the casts in these TV movies are, having not seen the US TV shows that they've all been in, so their fame is lost on me.

Not the worst, not the best.