Ensemble à Noël

Pretty weak for a Rachel Boston movie, but rarely do I rate any Hallmark movie less than 5. The story line was so thin, the whole cast, but especially the two leads, seemed to be more consumed with explaining the movie and pushing it ahead, rather than actually talking like real people do. Not much in the way of chemistry among anyone; look for just about any other movie she or he have been in and it's a good bet it will be better than this.

I've watched many Hallmark movies. Sure they all have the same formula but some do better with that formula than others. This is one of those. I'm not sure what one of the reviewers was talking about stating that Rachel Boston and Wes Brown didn't have chemistry. I thought they had great chemistry. Loved the plot line of the feuding families. I loved this one because it made me laugh. So many of the Hallmark ones this season are so serious. I needed to laugh and this one did it for me. I wish they'd do a part 2 to this one.

It seems like the writers for this movie took a whole bunch of previous scripts and pulled out all the themes and put them into this one. Some of them are: save-the-family-inn, I'm-up-for-promotion-in-far-away=city, family-feud-keeps-us-apart, and traditional-town-Christmas-celebration, and small-town-values-beats-big-corporation. What was slightly unusual about this movie was combining the family feud with save-the-inns so that it was two inns to save instead of one.

The romance between Ryan and Julia takes a distant back seat to the family competition and business threat. As a result, it was a struggle for the leads to demonstrate chemistry together. Their relationship was more like peacemakers than romantic partners. I think the actors felt this and it showed a little in their performances. I say this with some disappointment because I am a huge fan of Rachel Boston.

I think the ending was pretty obvious and as usual for Hallmark, it tied up to many lose ends too neatly.

How did that happen? He's front and center a lot in this film.

For a story that's supposed to concern rivel/feuding innkeepers, there is virtually no tension whatsoever in this story. The one scene that's "sort of" an argument is trite and forced.

Most of the plot involves the typical "big company takes over small town" cliche. This is expressed mildly in a few scenes with vaguely worried expressions ... one of which occurs just before a commercial break -- soap opera style.

This isn't as insipid as some of the Hallmark movies have been this season, but at the 90 minutes mark my wife was ready to stop watching -- only continuing because there was only 30 minutes left.

I went into this expecting very little. I thought Rachel Boston would overact and play another overly cutesy quirky character and Wes Brown would underact and be wooden and awkward. I was pleasantly surprised because I actually really loved their chemistry and their characters. They seemed natural together and they balanced each other and played off each other very well. Wes Brown was fun and confident and just seemed comfortable in the role. Sexy even, which although he is a very good looking man, I just didn't find him attractive before this movie. He has never fully won me over in the past. I've found him a bit dull and he has looked a bit uncomfortable in past films, like he didn't want to be there. Which is why I was surprised at how great and appealing he was in this movie. He needs more characters like this where he can show a confident, playful and witty side that comes off much more natural. Rachel Boston played a mature woman finally and came off as appealing, coy and flirty instead of her usual immature-and-trying-hard-to-seem-young-and-adorable choice of acting. Don't get me wrong, I have watched her movies for many years and have liked most of them, but after so long playing the same personality in character after character, it becomes less cute and at some point you've got to grow. This movie gave her a chance to shine and I really enjoyed her in this and look forward to future movies. In case my review didn't express it well, I loved this movie so much that I will watch it again before winter is over.