Confessions of a Christmas Letter

4.9 stars.

I don't understand what is going on here. It's the story of a middle aged woman who has failed to win a Christmas letter contest for many years. She hires a famous novelist to write it for her. Already, you can see a debacle in the workings.

Her family is in on the scheme, relatives and friends are visiting their home over the holidays. This writer she hires comes from Puerto Rico. He has what appears to be a gay father or grandfather with a gay lover living with him there. I am not sure if they are gay, but they act like it. I'm just curious about that part.

The matriarch's son is gay and married, then we are introduced to strange and competitive neighbors and friends and the rest of the story is a cacophonous smattering of activities and planning and running in circles during the holidays.

Failed romance, no drama, no comedy. It's a shame when a film attempts to resemble classics like 'National Lampoon...' and nobody can do it.

The acting in Confessions of a Christmas Letter was rough, the poor writing didn't help. Hallmark is really struggling this year with the Holiday movies. They need to do better or other options on Netflix and Amazon are going to run them out of the market. The herky jerky physical comedy was lacking, none of which was funny. The woman from the Office is basically playing the same character. It's hard to watch something where you can't root for anyone. The story is really about jealousy and longing for neighborhood adulation. From a person, who cuts her down at every turn no less. Instead of being funny, it just rang sad. Others said it was hard to get through, I could not agree more. Save time and skip this one.

I must admit I get hooked on Hallmark Christmas movies despite their formula, predictable, corny format. This movie though, I had to turn off shortly in. I tried to watch it again and yes, I made it further, but it is the worst Hallmark movie of all time. The acting, I guess I will call it that, is beyond awful, the premise is ridiculous and there is nothing about the characters that makes you have the slightest bit of interest in them. I really like Angela Kinsey (The Office) and Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas), but what were they thinking taking on roles in this horrible movie!!! I would definitely recommend giving this one a pass.

I almost clicked away from this Hallmark Holiday film because the beginning is frenzied and crazy...and I thought it was about to focus on representation vs story, but I am thrilled that I stayed till the very end and really appreciated the ultimate message.

This film stars two former Office actors...Angela and Kevin. Angela Kinsey Plays Settie Rose, a mom who is a little Christmas crazy and for years has been trying to win the best local Christmas Letter of the year. She has been continually beat out by her vicious neighbor and HOA leader Sue. She has gotten so creative in her efforts to win that she has gone so far as to make up careers and sculpture classes for her kids to teach. This year determined to win and told by the postman that her letters lack prose...she is inspired by her husband volunteering to write this year's letter to hire a professional. The professional she picks ends up being new Puerto Rican author Juan (Alec Santos). Settie's email to Juan is intercepted by his abuela and Tio, who know Juan is suffering from writers block...and after a conversation about the film Misery being set in Main...they decide sending Juan to Main for this "job" for Christmas might be the perfect trick to get his creative juices flowing.

Unfortunately, Juan doesn't realize that the job is to write a family Christmas letter, a custom he is unfamiliar with, until he arrives from the airport in a ride share with Settie flaky wannabe actress daughter Lily. Once he gets the lay of the land and determines it's a family Christmas letter he has been hired to write, Juan almost quits and walks out...but then he encounters Sue (the usual winner) and her snooty, rude, arrogant attitude and his competitive spirit kicks in. Juan proceeds to take his job seriously, interviewing each family member, which includes getting rid of their cheat sheets provided by Settie, all while pretending to be Lily's new fiancé thanks to a misunderstanding by Sue.

There is some great comedy in this after the initial ridiculous frenzy...but more importantly is this "perfectly imperfect" message about what makes families special and about how often women don't get to enjoy the holidays because they are too caught up in trying to make it perfect for everyone else. I loved that Settie's son said he didn't want to be in any more Christmas letters...so the whole family had to not mention him until Juan finally picks up on a reference to Jack! I also loved that one of Juan's conditions was his own onesie that hadn't been worn by anyone else.

I really appreciated that I thought I was going to hate this film in the beginning but grew to love it because of its heartfelt message. I loved the reading of the night before Christmas in Spanish and some of the Puerto Rican flair scattered throughout, but mostly I loved the message that perfectly imperfect is not only ok, but good. What happens with the final letter was absolutely perfect.

I confess I have nearly stopped writing TV movies reviews. They seem to get dumber every year: are scriptwriters running out of ideas? Hallmark Christmas movies, this year, seem to have engaged the perilous slope of the farce. Almost all, so far. Somebody there must be confusing the concept of intimate joy with epidermic silliness. This one is barely saved by the final attempt to give it a more serious, constructive moral. Unfortunately, the basis for the plot is preposterous and idiotic, the acting is amateurish and frantic, the gags are juvenile at best, all through the movie. I wonder if at Hallmark all goes to the direction of a farce because they have lost the ability to take Christmas seriously. The results are that most of their dramas are a laugh and their comedies make me cry.