Following Yonder Star

Following Yonder Star is a wonderful movie. I'm a very big fan of Hallmark movies and this one in particular shines brightly. The story of a well-known actress who sees just how easily things can be misconstrued in the press and particularly social media, she heads to Vermont and meets a wonderful Inn keeper and his daughter. The cast is absolutely fantastic. Brooke D'Orsay in particular is outstanding. She's a fan favorite and for good reason. John Brotherton is wonderful as the Inn keeper and he too is a natural. Both of the leads come across with good chemistry and feel natural. The storyline is fantastic. The setting is beautiful. This is a really good one. I hope that Hallmark makes more like Following Yonder Star and that they cast Brooke D'Orsay and John Brotherton in more movies, because they're great! Hope you'll enjoy this one as much as we did!

7.8 stars.

While this film is following the Hallmark blueprint right down to the last cross of the t and dotted i, it still brings much emotion.

Brooke is amazing in this role. I've seen her do a few amazing performances, this is one of those. I've seen her do some blah, and a below average performances is too, in fact it seems that she's improving over time. She moves up a few slots every time I see her in a new film. I love her transformation into a much more effective and passionate performer.

The male lead is great as a blubbering fan, at first. He's too authentic at portraying an awkward admirer. This detracts from the romantic aspects of the film for the first hour, but eventually his character becomes more comfortable as her friend and eventual boyfriend.

The story is formulaic, so I won't bother to explain the plot. But I must say that it's engineered to entertain and it absolutely achieves that goal.

If you don't mind formulaic, watch this one. It's a classic.

This is "famous actress finds love in small town but has to leave for career" movie number 386, so there aren't any surprises at all here.

For #386, it's nice. The reason she flees to a small town is amusing, as she has a meltdown video go viral and it mildly threatens her next role.

Of course, she becomes involved with a widowed father with an adorable daughter and gets involved with the kid's Christmas show, lending her professional acting talents to make the performances better, and spending lots of time with the widowed father, who owns the inn where she's staying.

And of course, her agent almost spoils things for everyone at the end as he pushes things to benefit her career.

One redeeming feature, the father never addresses his daughter as "kiddo".

It's a nice watch, and we like D'Orsay from all the way back to Royal Pains, but with nothing new in the story, it's a one-time watch for us.

Following Yonder Star is the story of a popular actress who discovers that everyone is the press in the social media age when a minor run-in with a store clerk blows up into a big scandal.

Brooke D'Orsay as Abby retreats to Vermont to let it blow over and winds up in a bed and breakfast run by John Brotherton as Tom.

He, among other things, is directing a children's Christmas play that includes his young daughter, but he is out of his element. Abby offers to help.

Commence bonding and all the usual Hallmark stuff.

D'Orsay is her usual sweet, vulnerable self. Brotherton has a nervous energy, totally appropriate for the part, but it made me uncomfortable.

Supporting cast is good, and as always, I really appreciate the inclusion of faith and the Nativity story in these movies.

Jack was right about the Astronomical stuff, that was silly. Made me laugh, Jack.

All in all, not the greatest ever, but very watchable.

Seven.

This is an interesting film and very well acted. It involves an actress coping with getting vilified by social media during the Christmas season - a unique premise. For the first time, we enjoyed Brooke D'Orsay's acting. We usually find her movies to be mediocre and her acting sort of robotic, probably because the scripts are so routine. But, here, she is given a good story and the opportunity to act with nice subtlety and expression. At times, she says nothing, but it is her face and movements that convey her feelings and emotions. Very nicely done. And John Brotherton is excellent - just as good as he was with Kimberley Sustad in "Lights! Camera! Christmas!".

His character is sort of a Nervous Nellie and it is endearing how he has feelings for D'Orsay's character.

Brotherton is a very multi-faceted actor - you can check him out in two episodes of the "911" series that aired earlier this year - in a performance that is stunningly evil.

But, here, he demonstrates just how diverse he is because this character is caring and sweet natured.

D'Orsay and Brotherton work well together and they make this movie fine and watchable holiday entertainment.