Project Christmas Wish

Hallmark movies are pleasant and entertaining because they all have similar themes. In this one two attractive and single 40-ish people, a lady and a man, meet when the man's 10-yr-old daughter gets involved in the "Christmas Wish" festivities. They get attracted to each other, something gets in the way, but before the movie ends they work to achieve a resolution. And everyone lives happily ever after.

My wife and I enjoyed it at home on DVD from our public library, just a basic DVD, no previews, no language selections, no subtitles, no extras. Which is fine for this type of movie, not much different from watching it on broadcast TV except with no commercials.

My curious observation, in movies years ago the parents of adults were mostly depicted as older people, sometimes older than they needed to be. In this movie the parents of the 40-ish characters don't seem much older, more like 15 years or so older. Curious casting.

I liked this Hallmark Christmas movie. It was a pleasant surprise, as I didn't know what to expect going into this one. The story revolves around Lucy (played by Amanda Schull), who has been granting wishes for her community for years, and who 'believes in the power of a wish'. This year's Project Christmas Wish of the season is from a little girl named Max who simply wants Christmas to 'be like it used to be' for her and her father Lucas (our other protagonist in this story, played by Travis Van Winkle). As Lucy goes about granting Max's Christmas wish(es), she and Lucas begin to develop a connection, a relationship, which gets Lucy thinking about her wishes in life. As another reviewer here has pointed out, the storyline in this one is like another of this year's Hallmark premieres, The Angel Tree. Likewise, this movie had a sweet and warm feel to it. Moreover, the story is an engaging one and pulls on all the right strings from Max's touching wish to Lucy's heartwarming nature. I found myself pulled in from the start. The script also has some pretty good dialogue between Lucy and Lucas, though it never goes too deep, which I thought worked well here. There is also some appealing banter between the two early in the film, which I enjoyed. I even had a couple of chuckles to boot. What makes all this work, of course, is the acting, which was, overall, brilliant. Schull had a very convincing performance, which I found easy to connect with from the start. Van Winkle too had a great performance. I did not know what to expect, as the last time I saw him on screen was in the Friday the 13th reboot 10 years ago. As others here have pointed out, the chemistry between the two was great; it was quite convincing on screen, I felt. The supporting cast was strong. For example, Averie Peters makes her debut in this one with a lovely performance as Max (a very cute speech at the end, e.g.). Finally, the scenery, props, and sets were charming and festive. The movie too had a nice Christmas atmosphere to it with the usual Christmas activities. This included the building of a very large gingerbread house for Max, while we got to listen to a song from Love Actually (the one Bill Nighy sang as Billy Mack, the former rock star trying to make a comeback in his old age). All in all, it was a wonderful way to end Hallmark's Movies & Mysteries 2020 Christmas season. I highly recommend it.

This one surprised me because the two leads haven't been on my radar, at least not positively, until now. Amanda Schull and Travis Van Winkle had great chemistry. Averie Peters, as Max, also clicked with the two romantic leads.

The premise is similar to movies with themes of Christmas miracles or Angel Tree. In this case, the prime mover for the wishes is front and center, not anonymous. We get a lot of the usual Christmas tropes like baking cookies or picking and decorating a tree. Like one other movie, the gingerbread house was giant. A cute little girl almost always pulls me in.

But there was also something totally different about this movie. For one thing, I laughed out loud several times. This is not a silly comedy. The laughs come from clever lines or situations. I especially liked Max's last line followed by Lucy's. I could just see what they were thinking.

This movie is a little like another favorite of mine - Two Turtle Doves. It deals with grief and sadness at Christmas but it doesn't go quite as deep.

The outcome is inevitable as always with Hallmark but I thought there were a couple of surprises getting there. Surprises and predictable things mixed together. The important thing is that it was put together nicely.

This one starts out with a Meet Cute that is anything but. In what Hallmark seems to insist, the Hero is a jerk to the Heroine the first time they meet, for no apparent reason. But of course, they wind up having to spend an inordinate amount of time together, and she realizes his cranky veneer is merely masking the pain he feels from a great personal tragedy. Inevitably, they fall in love and everything works out for everyone. A little predictable, but Amanda Schull's performance in particular was enjoyable and lifted this above many of the others in the Hallmark library.

Have said many times about my love of Christmas and getting a lot of pleasure out of in particular watching films, cartoons and specials during this period, something that most years has been much needed. Wanted to see some more festive films that were more recent, lower in budget and were not childhood favourites, so in a way to broaden my horizons and have been doing so since November 2019. The idea of the film did sound predictable and similar to other hotel etc-set Lifetime/Hallmark films.

The 2020 output from Hallmark did vary in quality but was not near as bad or wildly uneven as it could have been. None of the films from the batch were really terrible, and a small handful of them were actually very good. One of the best, maybe a strong contender for the best, was 'Project Christmas Wish'. The setting and basic scenario sounded quite familiar, but 'Project Christmas Wish' actually managed to be one of the few Christmas films in recent years to do something different to the usual.

'Project Christmas Wish' for my tastes did drag a little in the final quarter and was a little sugary sweet in spots.

Did also find Lucy on the manipulative side on occasions.

However, there is a lot to like here. It looks lovely, have nearly always loved the scenery in Hallmark films (especially their Christmas output) and it is beautiful here and filmed very lovingly. The music is appropriately festive and doesn't come over as intrusive or overdone, which is not the case with many other Hallmark films.

Was very surprised at how good the script was. It was not cheesy. It was not too sentimental or over-schmaltzy, while having touching well intended moments. It also doesn't sound forced, with the conflict being much better written than most conflicts for Hallmark. What surprised me was the comedy, it was a big surprise that there was any but it was even more of a surprise that the comedy was actually funny and at its best hilarious. As far as Hallmark films go, 'Project Christmas Wish' is one of the funniest and in a way that always feels natural and not strained.

Also liked that the story was a lot less predictable or formulaic than most Hallmark Christmas films, especially the conflict which is not forced or easily telegraphed too much. There is a good deal going on, but it doesn't feel too much, almost all the subplots work and the chemistry (especially the central romance) is genuine all round. It is also very heart-warming and never comes over as too heavy, with plenty of light heart. Great to see characters that were interesting and worth caring for. It's well acted all round, Amanda Schull being immensely appealing.

In summary, very well done. 8/10.