Ms. Christmas Comes to Town

The start of this movie is fun and has a few surprises before the leads in this film start their christmassy tour on wheels. The actors are talented and it is impossible not to have high hopes for this film. However the story takes a turn for the worse, it becomes sappy and unrealistic as the bus moves from town to town. The storyline is rather bland and the cast despite their long experience and acting skills cannot make this holiday movie anything but a wreck. That said, the leads got a cool and down-to-earth way of being. I would love to see all three of them in a different Christmas film as soon as possible!

Ohhh I liked this movie a lot.

I really liked the plot line - it produced all the feels and I liked that the romance wasn't the main story.

I have only ever seen Barbara Niven as a support actress (of which she excels every time) so it was lovely to see her take a lead role, and she is such a dote in this that you really can't help but care for her character.

I really like Brennan Elliott and Erica Durance individually so this pairing was a win for me. They had this easy natural rapport which made the romance inevitable. I will say though the movie could have done with exploring Travis' backstory a bit more. His character wasn't developed enough for me.

All in all even though there was a serious element to this I thought it was a nice light watch.

For the record let me say with each passing year I watch less and less Christmas movies not because I don't want to but because most of them follow the same repurposed plot lines over and over again. Well hello Ms. Christmas!! From beginning to end I wasn't bored, I didn't roll my eyes, and I didn't fall asleep! I thought Barbara Niven acted her role perfectly, she was believable, beautiful and cute as a button, nevermind she's 70, she looks fantastic. I also enjoyed BE & ED, I liked the fact they hit it off right away in the beginning of the movie instead of a build up to one small predictable kiss at the end. I say a job well done to all involved with this project and I truly hope Hallmark will not be quite so lazy when it comes to Christmas movies.... more originality like this one will keep me coming back each year. Kudos.

What makes this movie work so well is the three lead performers. It is about a successful television personality, Gale Storm aka Ms. Christmas, who is on her final televised Christmas tour before her retirement. Amanda is her successor and Travis is her undercover aide/nurse. Erica Durance as Amanda and Brennan Elliott as Travis cement their reputations as two of the best of Hallmark's actors here, giving performances that are sincere, natural, and heartfelt.. Their eventual attraction to each other is quite believable.

It is nice to see Hallmark present a film that highlights an "older" character as much as it does here - that doesn't happen very often. And Barbara Niven as Gale is just wonderful. Her character, as written, could have been played with a lot of histrionics and over-the-top emotions.

But, Niven, always one of Hallmark's best supporting actresses, plays Gale with intelligence, humility, and sincerity. So much so that her performance is very real and believable.

Basically, it's about three people who, through no making of their own, become a family for each other at a critical time. And these three - Niven, Durance, and Elliott, pull it off perfectly with the writer's good and fairly unique script as their guide.

At the same time, there is much here to put you in the Christmas spirit, and in that regard, it succeeds as well.

The only drawback is that sometimes some of the indoor sets are a little cheesy, but these three performers make sure that is not a distraction.

For trivia buffs : By naming Niven's character Gale Storm, the writer, intentionally or not, delivers a nice tribute to the real Gale Storm, a television pioneer who had a couple of successful TV series in the early 1950's. Much like Niven's performance here, she was always a delightful and sincere personality.

One last thing : How many films have you seen where the character is in a hospital bed for treatment and she is wearing full make-up ? It happens regularly, but not here.

Nivens is so professional and realistic, that she strips it off for her hospital scenes - which only adds to the authenticity of her performance.

This could end up being one of Hallmark's best Christmas entries for the 2023 season.

8.1 stars.

Occasionally Hallmark does a traveling theme as a major part of the story, whether it's flying: flight attendant interaction, or someone is stuck in an airport...driving: cross country with strangers, or from here to there, stuck in bad weather (usually snow), stranded while traveling...and they all have a common element: strangers on an adventure end up falling in love.

This one is a bit different than all the rest as far as I can recall, because it's about a celebrity and her workers traveling in an RV. There aren't many RV centered movies by Hallmark that I'm aware of.

Ms. Christmas and her entourage are driving across Washington State for her final tour as the Christmas matriarch of a TV shopping network. My first impression after reading this brief synopsis would be: this is a dead end script, snooze-fest, no way am I going to waste my time, I will put it on the back burner. I would be gravely mistaken if I followed my gut instinct, however, I delayed watching it for a few weeks for that very reason. I am surprised at how wrong I was.

This is another one of those uncommon "it speaks for itself", just give it a moment, movies from Hallmark. It's inventive, cutting edge, hilarious, bleak, emotional...I don't know how they did it, but this story is alive in a magical way, ranging from thoroughly entertaining and fun to endearing and romantic. I will watch this more than once.