I thought this was a fairly good Lifetime original Christmas movie. I have seen now several TV movies where the story revolves around a 'Hollywood star' heading to a small town to direct a local school play, initially for PR purposes. This one falls somewhere near the top of that list. The story is decent, the acting is good, and it does provide a bit of Christmas cheer/spirit. There are a couple of cute and fun scenes too (e.g., Addison's calls to Dylan's manager and the school play). The acting was strong. Cindy Sampson (playing Addison, the principal) had a good performance, a believable one. Steve Byers also did well. His scenes where he was directing the children, more specifically, giving direction to Liam (played by Aidan Vissers) was well done. The chemistry between the two was decent. However, the writers could have done a better job of setting this up. We do not learn anything about their relationship in the past, which would have helped in this regard, for example. About an hour into the film, there is a scene where Addison and Judy (played by Samora Smallwood) are chatting (while drinking a glass of wine) about Dylan. Addison tells Judy that he would give up the part (the acting gig he was recently offered in Bulgaria) if she wanted him to. The idea that he would tell her this seemed rushed, seemed strange, as to that point, it felt like the relationship had not developed enough in the story, on-screen. The supporting cast was great; both Smallwood (as Judy) and Dylan's manager (I can't find his name/credit on the IMDB listing for the film yet) had very good performances, I thought. Overall, it is a decent Christmas movie. Worth a watch, especially if you are a fan of Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas movies.
