Christmas at Plumhill Manor

This film made me laugh a lot! The leads both did well with their insane plot and managed to be quite charming. As soon as she gets to England the mad accents and cliches are just great - the annoying housekeeper(maybe? She seems to do everything in the village) who's insanely scottish despite this being suffolk, the pub scenes, the bell ringing, the xmas pudding class, the hero's pet lamb - all completely mental. Many things make no sense - why focus so much on the gardening when it's all wrong? The "snowdrops" that aren't (they're aquilegias) and it is clearly summer flowers everywhere, and the plastic poinsettias they plant up...plus the "norman" arch that is gothic, a hidden "castle", some really strange ideas about "residential taxes" that don't exist in the UK, no concept of planning laws for historic buildings and yet then a bizarre fantasy about the national trust saving the day (if only that was really possible!). I really enjoyed it! Well worth watching! I can see the manor exterior and gardens is the beautiful Crow's Hall in Suffolk as others have said, but none of the interior scenes look very convincingly old. Just adds to the weirdness! Enjoy!

Yet another Christmas movie that I had never even heard about. But then again, Christmas movies is not exactly high on my list of interests. But every now and again do I go all in during December and bingewatch far too many Christmas movies. And 2024 turned out to be one such year. And thus, I came upon the 2024 movie "Christmas at Plumhill Manor" from director Brian Herzlinger.

Truth be told, from the movie's cover alone, I figured that I would be in for a rather generic sappy Christmas movie. But I still opted to watch the movie, and let writers Daniel Levin, Megan Henry Herzlinger and Avery Henry-Bailey have the benefit of the doubt; perhaps they would surprise me with something grand here.

The storyline in the movie ultimately failed to entertain me. The contents of the storyline was just not interesting, nor were the characters particularly memorable or likable. So the movie fell short of entertaining me.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. Despite the fact that the storyline wasn't my cup of eggnog, then I will say that the acting performances were indeed fair.

Now, I am sure that there is an audience out there for this movie, especially those hardcore lovers of sappy Christmas movies. I just didn't enjoy the movie, and I will never return to watch it a second time.

My rating of director Brian Herzlinger's 2024 movie "Christmas at Plumhill Manor" lands on a three out of ten stars.

I liked this movie. The lead actress is brilliant, the manor house pretty and the scene stealer is cute kid Beatrice who is one to watch. She was perfect despite a limited role and the total lack of any other children at all to bounce off.

The filming should have taken place in winter and aside from some of Ipswich in Christmas lights this was mostly achieved with a filter over summer flowers - if you're a gardener it will grate that the poinsettias being repotted are clearly plastic ones and the beautiful snowdrops are actually white aquilegia.

The ensemble had fun making it and didn't take themselves too seriously, and norshould you. Switch off your brain, be thankful for a budget movie with the sole aim of bringing wish fulfilment and good cheer for all it's many flaws it was filmed in Suffolk and people from here will recognise that. The black horse pub in Ipswich you can visit if ever you're at the New Wolsey theatre. Support the arts in UK and in Suffolk and enjoy!

The story seemed disjointed or perhaps what I mean is that it didn't seem to flow real well. Margot's NY life just didn't mix with her English manor life. Maria Menounos seemed to coast through her role as Margot above the fray so to speak. I could easily see this woman being the Lady of the Manor. Or I'm sure she could be a team motivator in high value real estate. What I couldn't see was Menounos fitting in down here with us mortals. Oh she tried and made some brief efforts but still seemed to be above it.

Nor did I see a lot of chemistry with Kyle Pryor.

The very first sequence in the story left me with a bad taste. I started wondering if this movie was going to push the opposite of almost any similar Christmas story - in this case, ditch the historical and replace it with empty glitz.

It takes a while to find out what the catch is in her inheritance. Meanwhile Margot is following clues left to her by Victoria. Are the clues the catch, or do they negate the catch?

This is not a bad movie by any stretch, but I didn't really enjoy it.

This is the first Christmas movie I couldn't make it through this season. I only lasted until the first pub scene.

The redubbing of Margot's lines near the beginning was painfully obvious. The words just didn't match the mouth. And she just seemed so harsh and unlikable.

What finally drove me out was the annoying character of Jackie. Her over the top cheerfulness and overacting was really grating. I couldn't understand half of what she was saying. And those giant teeth were very distracting.

I obviously can't comment on the rest of the movie but I'm sure there was some kind of misunderstanding with 20 minutes left that threatens to blow everything apart. Followed by the "follow your heart" speech and a kiss with one minute left. Just going on on a limb there.

Skip this one.