This rating and some of the review is probably going to sound like it has been written by somebody who hates Christmas and criticises anything Hallmark and festive. Far from the truth on all counts. Have seen some surprisingly good Hallmark films, festive and overall, and have liked some of the Christmas films seen recently from this year because they succeeded in charming the viewer and warming the heart regardless of the cliches and formulaic storytelling.
'A Star for Christmas' is not one of the best of my recent Christmas film viewings seen as such a fan of Christmas and needing some serious distracting from health woes. Neither is it one of the worst. Somewhere in the low middle if anything. It is certainly semi-watchable and much better than the basic plotline looks like on the page, with some things noticeably done quite well. 'A Star for Christmas' is also not a great film either, with some obvious flaws that are as noticeable as the good things. So not a must see but far from a must avoid as well.
Will start with 'A Star for Christmas' good things. It is nicely photographed and has a quite magical atmosphere in its best parts. Always love nostalgic festive soundtracks, and 'A Star for Christmas' is no exception to that. There is nothing mean-spirited about it and there are moments of charm and heart.
Corey Sevier is a likeable male lead and Brooke Burns steals every scene that she is in.
Briana Evigan is significantly less good though, she looked and sounded wrong for her role which needed someone younger to pull it off rather than someone trying too hard and coming over as annoying and affected. The rest of the cast felt overdone too in very cliched and unsubtly written roles. The dialogue has its moments but really could have done with more energy and too much is very forced and cheesy.
Direction tends to be too routine. Predictability is inevitable in festive Hallmark films, but the predictability here was excessive with at times contrived situations and stereotypical characters and the pace was like the dialogue, more energy was needed. The ending is even cheesier than the dialogue and is also incredibly rushed and unrealistic, especially regarding the antagonist.
In summary, pretty mediocre. 4/10.
