Jingle Bell Run

This is one of my favorite movies now. I enjoyed every moment of it. Jingle Bell Run is comical and awesome. And has an amazing cast. Ashley and Andrew have great chemistry, and make a awesome team. I like how Wes and Avery. Became close! And form a unbreakable bond. Also! I was so happy to see Brad in this movie. He is an amazing actor. Hallmark is making some great Christmas movies this year. Keep up the great work! Seeing Avery and Wes. Going across the world was epic. It was a adventure of a lifetime. This movie deserves nothing but positive reviews. Instead of hate! Hallmark rocks. Always!

This Hallmark holiday rom-com stars Ashley Williams as Avery, an elementary school teacher, and Andrew W. Walker as Wes, a former pro hockey player.

Wes signs up for a holiday-themed, cross-country reality competition that begins in Chicago. Avery had no intention of joining the competition, but she decides to compete anyway to inspire her students. They are both chagrined when they learn they are paired as a team, but they make the best of it, and discover that their complementary talents make them a formidable twosome.

The two stars have good chemistry, though the story downplays the romantic side of things. But the ending is predictable. And so is the obligatory relationship "hiccup" that must be overcome in the final ten minutes.

Andrew Walker and Ashley Williams are two standards of Hallmark Christmas movies for more than a decade. Walker's first was in 2012, and Williams in 2011, and they've both appeared in MANY of these Christmas movies over the years.

The only issue I have with Ashley is that she tends to smile ALL the time, even in some situations where a smile isn't called for. However, that's a small gripe, because she does always bring a lot of life to her roles. (And why is it I always initially confuse her with Kimberly Sustad LOL).

The movie starts out with a bit of a silly episode to extablish an antithetical romance, then they wind up teamed--without their choice--in the Amazing Race style contest. The antithetical element quickly disappears after that.

The movie spent plenty of time in relationship building, making their growing regard for each other believable, and as Amazing Race fans, we enjoyed that element of the plot.

Recommended.

Initially when I sat down to watch the 2024 Christmas movie "Jingle Bell Run", I have to admit that I harbored no expectations. Why? Well, the movie's cover isn't exactly enticing, nor does it have a particular sappy Christmas feel to it. But since I had never heard about it, of course I opted to give the movie a fair chance and thus added it to my December Christmas movie marathon.

Writers Tom McCurrie and Stephanie Sourapas churned out a script and storyline that definitely put the movie's cover and initial presentation to shame. The storyline was actually rather enjoyable and well-written. It was a script that sort of broke the formulaic theme of sappy Christmas movies, yet at the same time still managing to remain a sappy Christmas movie. Thumbs up to the writers for that accomplishment.

The only familiar faces on the screen for me were actress Ashley Williams and actor David James Lewis. The acting performances in the movie were good, and leading actress Ashley Williams and leading actor Andrew W. Walker had great on-screen chemistry and made the movie work nicely.

I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of the movie. And if you enjoy sappy Christmas movies, then you certainly should sit down and watch "Jingle Bell Run".

This is actually a Christmas movie that I will say is worth sitting down and watching, as it deviates from the standard archetypical formula of sappy Christmas movies.

My rating of director Lucie Guest's 2024 Christmas movie "Jingle Bell Run" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Despite featuring new era Hallmark royalty, this Amazing Race style ripoff fails to capture any semblance of Christmas magic and manages to force a relationship upon us-and the lead characters-that no one wants.

Much like a half marathon that seemed like a good idea when I signed up, I had no interest in finishing the race or this movie. Alas, I trudged through every beautiful, but unremarkable scene.

You know from the beginning that this movie has a bigger budget than a normal Hallmark movie based on the graphics, superior lighting and multiple locations (all though they all look a little like basic Canada). So my hopes were high, but it did not last more than five minutes into the movie.

Our lead, Ashley Williams, is an elementary school teacher whose only personality trait is that she likes to teach kids how to read. Andrew Walker is a shell of a former athlete who doesn't know what to do after retiring from hockey. They both end up participating in a holiday themed game show where they race across the US (not Canada) to answer one question and complete one simple task at each place before magically moving onto the next city for another paint by numbers game show scene. They usually have time to sit by a fire too, and help you nod off.

The driving force behind this movie is the contest they are participating in, but as you would expect, the "will they or won't they" theme is needlessly thrust upon us. These two don't need partners to have fulfilling lives. Honestly, they seem pretty good single. Why mess up a good thing?

From the promotions, I expected this movie to be funny, like the Santa Summit, or Haul out the Holly, but it fails at every turn. Pass on this one.

Questions I still have: Why is the movie called Jingle Bell Run, when the show is The Great Holiday Dash? And they never once say "Jingle Bell Run." Trademark issue? Major issue here.

Why are there never any cameras filming them doing anything? There is a hot hockey guy painting a picture from scratch? Nope. No camera guy caught that for the show! It's small, but the Amazing Race producers must have been choking on their eggnog.

Measuring Christmas Magic: none, despite being focused on a game show that features only holiday traditions.

Cast kudos: none. Don't watch this movie.

Alternative movie titles: The Great Holiday Dash (duh); Forced to Be on a Game Show; finally-Help my friend signed me up for this and I never met the producers until day 1 of filming (ok, that one may be too long, yet no less accurate.)