Un Noël à New York

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM VERY FARE ABOUT THESE FILMS.

This is a nice little Christmas film that was part of the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production banner. In this film a single father runs a Christmas Tree Farm with his 2 teenage children. Once a year they go to New York City and sell the trees.

Upon the latest Christmas the man gets into a physical fight with his son. The son who is only 16 years old but he is a gifted photographer. After runs away he become homeless but is surviving by getting work at a newspaper. He is the unknown photographer taking pictures in the "LOOK UP CAMPAIGN".

The picture works well. The film has a message that was well worth exploring.

This film however is not for people with no attention span. Men under 40 will hate this. Children will be bored.

My Christmas film viewings over-time have been a very mixed bag. With some surprisingly good hits, where regardless of how predictable they are succeed in being full of charm, warmth and heart so succeeding in being light-hearted and undemanding fun. But also some quite big misses, where the characters are not likeable, everything is forced and shallow with implausibility too in some of the worst cases, the acting and writing being weak and basically with just nothing to them.

Despite being a long way from perfect or being a complete hit, 'Silver Bells' is thankfully closer to the former category if not quite. Certainly not a film to humbug on. As far as the Christmas films seen overtime go, 'Silver Bells' is somewhere around high middle, which is not too bad a position to be in actually. Especially considering how much of a mixed bag some recently seen Christmas film viewings have been. Expectations were mixed, but the execution was better than expected.

'Silver Bells' isn't perfect. Maybe it does take a while to get going and the messaging could have been more subtle, if the truth had been revealed a little earlier than it was that may have made a difference.

There also could have been more development to Christy, who is too much of a jerk, and also didn't like how long it took for Catherine to come out with the truth or how obnoxious the son sometimes is.

However, a lot is good. It pleases visually, lovely festive locations attractively and never drably or garishly shot. The music isn't as intrusive as it tends to be with Hallmark while the direction gets the job done well. The script doesn't get too cheesy or sentimental and does have a more natural flow when it becomes more settled. The story is not too heavy while taking itself seriously and is both warm-hearted and has a light touch when necessary.

On the whole as well it isn't too predictable, there are elements that are different than the usual Hallmark Christmas film and they are elements that feature a lot but not rammed down the throat. Did find later on that the characters were generally worth caring about. Anne Heche and Tate Donovan both give honest committed performances, particularly Heche.

In conclusion, decent if not great. 6/10.

I really didn't like this production. The title sets up a metaphor which signals the "big message". There are two problems with the "big message". First, it's delivered with hammer-like subtlety -- okay, Hallmark is not particularly good with subtlety, but still, why use a metaphor if you're going to hit us over the head with its meaning? The metaphor itself becomes little more than a scavenger hunt to find the (literal) silver bells. Second, the metaphor really doesn't match the plot. The central conflict between father and son is not well developed and doesn't make sense. The inevitable explosion seems completely out of character. I get it, son rebels against Dad's career choice for him, an age-old dilemma. But what happens here is out of character and overwrought. And what does any of this have to do with "silver bells"? The message of the metaphor would not solve the father/son conflict. Add to these issues the fact that there is absolutely no chemistry between Anne Heche and Tate Donovan. Chemistry is critical to the Hallmark formula! In fact, the relationship here is not even at the center of the story, which is a mistake, because Hallmark is all about that relationship. I would just as soon have skipped this one -- and it has to be pretty bad for me to say that!

Danny and Bridget Byrne, who lost their mother several years ago, are being raised by their father Christy, who runs a Christmas tree farm in Nova Scotia. Danny takes pictures for his high school yearbook and he has a deadline, but his father thinks the farm is more important because, after all, it pays the bills, and Danny is to take over someday.

After the harvest, the family delivers trees to New York City and sets up a stand to sell them. As usual, they stay with nice old Mrs. Quinn. As usual, widowed 'museum lady' Catherine O'Meara won't buy a tree. Danny visits her workplace with samples of his photography, and Catherine is impressed.

When the time comes for the family to return home, Danny is missing. A year later, he has been replaced on the farm, and Bridget and Christy return once again to New York City to sell more trees. Rip, one of New York's finest, still does not have good news for Christy, who has returned to the city several times hoping to find his son.

The 'silver bells' of the movie's title refer to a photograph that is part of the museum's 'look up' promotion. The Post is asking people to guess the location of the bells, and if no one does by Christmas, the paper will print the answer. Catherine's boss, a real estate developer, likes the idea, but his son thinks it's a waste of time.

You don't have to be Allison Dubois to figure out the rest. Though there is one unexpected development that could complicate things.

This is a pleasant family movie overall, but nothing really outstanding. It's at least as good as other Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations. I would say it is well-acted with the usual formula feel-good writing, though I like the formula. The only thing that might be considered offensive: a dispute between Danny and his father gets physical, which I found unnecessary.

Anne Heche is pleasant enough and attractive with long hair, though I might have been happier with a different actress.

It's a good film if you like this sort of thing. Which I do.

A Hallmark Hall of Fame production so the quality is definitely above and beyond a normal made-for-Hallmark Channel movie. Released about twice a year to American television, these are usually pretty good movies which would sometimes be able to compete in the theaters. Anne Heche and Tate Donovan were both very good in the lead roles. The story is mostly about a runaway teen but there's surely a nice Christmasy feel here. Other Hallmark Hall of Fame productions have a way of really tugging at the heartstrings but this falls a bit short of that. Still a nice little movie for Christmastime.

--A Kat Pirate Screener