The Christmas Edition

If you want realism, your in the wrong place. Actually, it's pretty easy to ignore the unrealistic parts unless one of them pushes personal buttons. I won't list them, but there's several.

The premise is actually a combination of some other Christmas themes. Jackie goes to Alaska as almost a last job resort. There's never really a deadline, but the idea is still to save Finn's family business (newspaper). The newcomer makes an immediate, somewhat unrealistic impact. A small town changes a city girl.

The story is thin. I thought there was going to be some tension from a certain quarter, but it didn't turn out that way and as a result, the only tension was the future for the newspaper and Jackie. There's no great highs or lows and no real surprises. What might have been a twist was telegraphed clearly before it happened. The ending was pretty typical.

The appeal is a combination of chemistry between Carly Hughes and Rob Mayes plus the small town charm. Most of the cast, if not all, performed well. Movies where residents go out of their way to help their neighbors always appeal to me. Throw in a couple of nice BFF's and I'm hooked. One note about chemistry: the movie diluted Jackie and Finn's screen time with too much of the rest of the story. The time they had was good and there's some interesting activities - not just the formula ones in all Christmas movies.

Hughes sings a beautiful Christmas song, but it's short and embedded in the middle of the movie.

Pet peeve that doesn't affect my review or rating: please make phone texts large enough for anyone who doesn't have great vision or a huge screen. This one may be one of the hardest to read I've ever seen.

The formula is familiar with a new location, job and talking in love. The acting, however, was better than many I have watched. I haven't even finished watching this movie, yet, but I'm pretty certain it will have the familiar happy ending we are accustomed to.

Had potential but really hard to get into. The romance felt way too rushed and acted with over the top dramatic interactions between the two main characters. There's no real flow in the relationship being built so I didn't feel invested in the relationship at all. It was awkward. Also, a lot of the decisions of the character seemed rushed, underprepared and overly impulsive to the point of lacking common sense. Painful to watch and cringeworthy. No thanks

I must admit, this one was a pleasant surprise. It is a fun and festive Christmas movie. The movie touches upon an important issue facing the US today, which is not talked about enough among the general public, that is, the decline and death of independent, local newspapers/news (over the past decade or so). The numbers are quite serious/alarming if you believe in independent, local news. So, it was nice to see some light shined on the issue here in a more entertaining format. I thought the script, the dialogue, was well written for this genre of film (i.e., a made-for-TV Christmas romance movie). I was quite impressed with the performance of Carly Hughes as Jackie. I have never seen her on-screen before, so I did not know what to expect. She had a great performance. Rob Mayes too had a solid performance. The chemistry between the two was good, believable, which is always important for a romance movie. The supporting cast was great. I enjoyed Aloma Wright as Edna, Emily Alabi as Dolores, and Langi Tuifua as Teddy (the latter had sort of a happy, pleasant vibe to him). The scenery, props, and sets are very festive. Well done. Overall, this is a nice new edition to Lifetime's original Christmas movie collection/lineup this season. Well worth the watch.

I haven't cared for Rob Mayes in other movies - but he did a good nob in this one. Carly Hughes was great. Loved her in American Housewife - didn't know she could sing like that. Need more! The best part was the romance grew over time ... not just a few days. It was a fun escape.

Did anyone else notice - in the VERY beginning of the movie - the directional sign? One of the cities/towns was Garland. Shout out to Christmas Under Wraps - which also took place in a fictional Alaska town. Loved that ...