Spotlight on Christmas

Where to start? Amanda Holden, surely it's her, goes back to visit her family for Christmas. Her Mum is about 15 years older than her and her sister is a good 25 years younger. Work that one out. Her Dad is dead so her Mum has hooked up with Dad MK2, played by somebidy gayer than an entire Brighton Pride parade, unless my gaydar is off (it's not) He tries to play it straight but just can't keep it going long enough to last a scene.. She meets Jim Bob Walton (probably) who has about as much fashion sense as your local Jehovah's witnesses visitors and inexplicably falls in love. A reporter is on her trail - actually played by the woman who wrote the script - can't act but I guess it saved on costs. Anyway, Amanda doesn't want the tabloids to know she's about so offers to teach the local school drama group. Well you would, wouldn't you. I mean none of them will recognise an action film actress and be on Insta or anything *rolls eyes*. Nothing much happens for the next 45 minutes, so you can fast forward that. No spoilers so I won't give away the end but you won't need to be psychic to guess..

Good movie- simple story quite well done even if it is somewhat predictable.

interesting choice of Janet Kidder as the mother of Tori Anderson as she is only 16 years older.

There is a cute story here but it's buried under a ton of meandering dialogue. I love Tori Anderson's character, and She and Victor Zinck Jr do a great job and have good chemistry together. To me it just seems like the story is underdeveloped without interesting subplots, so I found myself multitasking during the movie, and that's never a good sign. I still think it's worth watching and if you have a fast forward button, even more so.

I agree with some of the other reviews here: this one was a bit dull, a bit too ordinary, at times. That said, I found the messaging of the movie to be warm and heartfelt (as another reviewer pointed out). The story revolves around Olivia O'Hara (played by Tori Anderson), a Hollywood actor who finds her love life on the front pages of the tabloids after a recent break-up with her former fiancé Ryan Wrangler (played by Matthew James Dowden). To get away from the press/paparazzi, she decides to (secretly) visit her hometown during the Christmas holiday, something she has avoided since the passing of her father. While home, she runs into a former high school classmate Casey (our other protagonist in this story, played by Victor Zinck Jr.), who now is a teacher at the school. The chance meeting sparks an old connection, and so, the romance begins in this slow but sweet Christmas movie. I have seen now several Hallmark, Lifetime, and/or other TV movies where the story revolves around a 'Hollywood star' or a 'Rockstar' who heads home (to a small town) and ends up helping teach/direct the local school (Christmas) play/choir. In fact, 'A Christmas Break', another of Lifetime's Christmas movies this year, has a similar story. This one is somewhere in the middle of the pack. The script, I felt dragged a bit, and the dialogue was sometimes unremarkable. I found myself disengaging with the film on a couple of occasions, having to stop myself from using an iPad. As I alluded to above, there are some good underlining messages in the story; for example, the giving nature of Olivia's sister Janey (played by Lia Frankland) and the advice/support Olivia gives to Jack (played by Matthew Nelson-Mahood). The acting was pretty good, overall. Like another reviewer, I know Anderson from watching Blindspot, and I have recently seen her in Hallmark's Love Under the Olive Tree (which was fairly good). She does well in this genre of film; she has the potential to become a Hallmark regular, for example (I mean that in a good way). In this one, she had a lovely performance, I thought. However, I agree with another reviewer, she could have shown some more emotion, for example, around the set-up by her Ex. Zinck Jr. too had a solid performance, yet I thought he could have also shown a tad more emotion (and facial expressions) at times. The chemistry between the two worked well on screen, I felt. It was believable. The supporting cast was a bit mixed. There was something a bit off with a couple of the more minor characters in the movie. Janet Kidder's performance as Olivia's mother seemed odd early on, but her performance was much stronger after the first couple of scenes. As I alluded to above, Frankland had a very cute performance as Janey. Finally, the movie has a pretty decent Christmas vibe to it, and the music and music editing was fine (which has not been the case with several Lifetime movies this season). All in all, it is a decent Christmas movie. It drags a bit, but if you stay the course, it is worth a watch.

2020 was very variable when it came to Lifetime's Christmas films, and there was definitely the sense that the films were made in a rush with not a lot of preparation time. Yet enough of them were far from amateur-hour efforts and were still watchable all things considered. Lifetime just have done a lot better in previous years, although their festive output is very hit and miss it should not be dismissed outright as enough have left me pleasantly surprised.

'Spotlight on Christmas' was though more or less what was expected, which was a watchable enough film with good moments and better than expected acting. But also one that is nothing extraordinary and does nothing new with pretty familiar plot tropes. Lifetime did a lot better than 'Spotlight on Christmas', but also worse than what is a somewhat middling effort for them. Considering the difficult circumstances though, it did make do perhaps.

Am going to start with the good. The best thing about 'Spotlight on Christmas' is the acting. Tori Anderson is a very charming lead and performs with a lot of spirit and sincerity. Lia Frankland is cute without being sickly and a natural in front of the camera. Victor Zinck Jr is not quite as strong in the likeability factor, but he has a natural and engaging presence and never overdoes it or underacts. His chemistry with Anderson is genuine and endears, it also doesn't move too fast while not taking too long.

The film also at least looks professional, with lovely scenery in particular. The music doesn't intrude and doesn't feel overused, also it has a festive sound to it. Too often not the case with Lifetime. The messaging is very honest and doesn't get laid on too thick or feel treacly or sentimental.

However, 'Spotlight on Christmas' is not an all round success sad to say. The story never properly grabbed me, as well as being very predictable it is very thin on the ground and drags a lot from too much stretched padding and an uncertain feel most of the time. There isn't enough of an emotional core or charm which made the film come over as bland and lacking in substance too. The direction is competent in some parts but is disorganised and hesitant in others.

Furthermore, the script on the most part is too verbose and the flow is very stilted, had a feeling of it being written in haste and that it had not been proof read. The conflict completely lacks tension and it didn't actually feel like there was much at stake with the indifferent and too hasty way it's written in. A lot of ingredients in the story that are done very little with. Janet Kidder is a bit too hammy for my tastes, especially in the early portions.

Overall, watchable if not great. 5/10.