La Star de Noël

Yes everything about this movie is predictable, but so is every Hallmark movie. I miss Hallmark's regular scheduled late at night program during the holidays and I don't care for most of the Christmas movies, but this one is one of my favorites.

There's just something about it. From the second the movie starts, Chris and his kids are people you want to be happy. You can tell he's a great dad who doesn't have much happiness in his life since his wife died. Even Shannon Elizabeth's character Nikki is someone you want good things for. There's just something about reconnecting with your high school sweetheart. This doesn't have many good reviews on IMDb but I think it's great.

I picked this movie to watch because I recognised the main actress and wanted to also cross off another Christmas movie from my challenge.

I enjoyed the movie. It had a nice story to it and as a dad myself, I kinda related to how he wanted the best for his kids. It was sweet.

Although I enjoyed it, im not sure if its one of them movies where I would watch again. Maybe.

This now takes my Christmas movies to 28 out of 100.

Nikki Crandon (Shannon Elizabeth) is a pop superstar. Chris Marshall (Steve Byers) is a widower with two kids. The kids find out that their father used to date Nikki in high school. They set off on a quest to bring them together.

The kids are cute enough. It's a Hallmark movie. Shannon Elizabeth may be a better singer than I expected although her singing may be dubbed. I don't know if it's her voice or not. It's not fair but a real singer would not face the same issue. The role needs a real former pop star. It needs Debbie Gibson but younger. As for the story, it's a little clunky. I expected more with the kids since they're so cute. I don't like the overblown fight at the restaurant. A better way to do the needed conflict would be a paparazzi pushing over one of the kids. That's a better reason for him to end the relationship. Quite frankly, I expected her to say "I'm just a girl..." in her big speech. This is fine.

Whether it is easy to not take 'Catch a Christmas Star' and similar films seriously is dependent on whether the good things outweigh the bad and vice versa. Dependent on how many flaws there are and how big they are. And dependent on how well the film executed its good things. In some cases it is easy to not take it too seriously. In other cases it is very distracting when there are so many annoyances and done to an incompetent level.

'Catch a Christmas Star' is not one of those films. It does have things wrong with it, then again when has a Hallmark festive film been perfect, and the flaws are a few of the usual ones. 'Catch a Christmas Star' does achieve its aims though at being undemanding light-hearted entertainment that has charm and heart and has a lot of good things, ones that are essential to get right if a film is to be halfway watchable. My festive Hallmark film viewings have been hit and miss, 'Catch a Christmas Star' is closer to being one of the hits while not being one of them.

Sure, it is very, very predictable and some real suspension of disbelief is needed with some turns in the plot being pretty unrealistic to a dumbfounding degree.

Didn't think that the character of Carmine was particularly necessary and he comes over as an annoying caricature, overplayed rather horribly by Christopher Jacot. There is some very cheesy dialogue here and there too and the romance is very underused and underdeveloped which does affect the chemistry at times.

However, Steve Byers is a very likeable and easy going leading man, also having the more likeable character who doesn't come over as too perfect, and personally didn't have much issue with Shannon Elizabeth, the egotistical character trait is overwritten at times but Elizabeth's commitment is never in question (she also sings beautifully). The daughter isn't too cute or bratty and Byers and Elizabeth do have some chemistry even if it doesn't quite ignite fully. The character writing is flawed but a long way from disastrous, with only Carmine's being an outright failure.

The direction is always competent and in control of the material while not phoning in. The production values are great, with it being nicely and slickly shot. The scenery is very easy on the eyes. The script on the whole doesn't come over as corny or schmaltzy, and flows naturally. Although the story is far from perfect with the predictability and ridiculousness being overkill, it is light-hearted enough, succeeds in not taking itself too seriously and is charming.

Concluding, above average if not great. 6/10.

I liked the movie. Steve Byers as the lead guy was great. He also played in Christmas Cure (2017) which I rated low as a 6. Also liked the girl who played his daughter. We had a few good songs like I hear the bells on Christmas day. Story had some depth to it. Remember the quote by the lead Shannon Elizabeth "Being famous hasn't changed who I am but it has changed how everyone treats me". Thought her performance was adequate if that was her singing- I liked that. I did not like the part of her male assistant Carmine in this movie. A strange character who was attracted to the Steve Byers character along with our female lead. Why put this character in the movie unless this is a part of stardom. It did not distract too much and wasn't so obvious as to discourage watching with our children.