Un Noël qui répare les blessures

Very good opening and ending, the unoriginal and by the numbers middle definitely hamper the film but it's still a film I enjoyed.

'Christmas Everlasting' does feature a fair amount of heart, I cared for the main character - Tatyana Ali's Lucy. It's a good story, one that isn't all that usual for these festive television films. Unfortunately, as noted, is does hit the beats that those aforementioned productions would during the middle part - which is slow and uneventful.

Ali, as well as Dondré T. Whitfield & Dennis Haysbert and a few others, are pleasant to watch though - which stops the film from falling down the rankings. The trio of characters, spearheaded by Amanda Brooks, are strangely written, I will say.

All in all, it's worth a watch.

Rarely does a Hallmark Christmas movie involve a death that occurs during the course of the movie. Usually, the viewer is told that grandma or dad died last month or last year or whenever. But here, the death is an intricate part of the plot line and it is done in a manner that is quite interesting. The actors play their roles intelligently and realistically, particularly Ali who delivers a sincere, emotive, and multi-faceted performance.The only distraction is Patti LaBelle, but that doesn't happen until the last half hour of the movie. In a small role with only a couple of scenes, the part was obviously given to her because of her name value and not any acting talent. She adds nothing to the story and, when she walks into the dining room carrying the big Christmas ham, you think, "Oh look - there's the ham carrying the ham !" Otherwise, the dialogue is well-written, the story is rather unique for Hallmark, the sets are attractive, and the main cast carries the movie off very effectively.

Hallmark has some black characters in lead roles. And the music is much better than every other Hallmark movie I have seen this season. Why in the world would I want to subscribe to the new Hallmark station and listen to it all of the time.? However, it is still a story for and about rich people. Hallmark use to do Hall of Fame movies about regular people. They were much better movies. What happened?

Totally predictable but watchable under the right circumstances. All performances average; Tatyana Ali sometimes rising slightly above.

A real beautiful Christmas film. For Dennis Haysbery, for portrait of family, friendship and comunity, for the cat and for blankets and, no doubt, for romance. Short, just beautiful.