Christmas Under the Lights

Liked the actors and the plot well enough, strongly dislike whoever wrote in scenes of 6 pack of beer/ale as a Christmas gift even if it is for a white elephant party, a departure of family values. It's one thing for adults to stand around drinking wine in a glass, thankfully no labels to display, so parents can tell little kids it's just juice but another thing to present can with the word "ale" on it as a Christmas gift on a network that is supposed to have family values. What kind of message does that send to kids who might be watching a Hallmark Christmas movie with Mom and Dad? Hallmark, for Christmas movies stick to your hot cocoa scenes with whipped cream. Otherwise don't claim to be a family channel.

Emily - Heather Hemmins - is called back to her small Washington state town by her brother around Christmas. She's in marketing in Los Angeles and doesn't want to look back. But, her Mother ran a small petting farm and put on a famous Christmas carnival. Now, Mother has passed away and Emily is torn up inside. But, she goes. Driving near the farm, her car almost collides with a new farm worker, Luke - Marco Grazzini. They trade snarls. Yet, as Emily gets involved in the Carnival plans, she begins to see value in Luke's help and presence. She likewise begins to heal from her Mother's death. Will she return to Los Angeles after the Carnival? Hallmark continues to deliver sweet, touching films for holiday romance fans. The two stars, Hemmens and Grazzini, were delightful, charming and good looking. Fans will welcome another heart warming Christmas flick.

This is an example of a Hallmark movie that seems to be made with a low budget so it is just a series of endless scenes where the characters just talk on and on and nothing really happens. Plus, the scenes are very repetitive with the lead character, Emily, constantly agonizing over the loss of her mother. At times, Heather Hemmins, as Emily, even seems bored with the script herself. Usually, a very good actress, Hemmins just appears to get lost in all the word salad. Marco Grazinni, as Emily's love interest, Luke, tries valiantly to breathe some life into the story - but there's little he can salvage from this weak script. Sharon Taylor plays Emily's mother in flashback and she is the most interesting of all of the characters - she manages to add some spark to what is, ultimately, one of the biggest disappointments of this 2024 Christmas season at Hallmark.

Of course I was not familiar with the 2024 Christmas movie "Christmas Under the Lights" from director Lucie Guest, but opted to add it to my 2024 Christmas movie marathon, and thus give the movie a fair chance.

Writers Russell Hainline and Beverley Wood didn't exactly think out of the box when they wrote the script for the movie, as they basically played it safe by putting all their money on generic sappy Christmas tropes, for better or worse. Well, sure, "Christmas Under the Lights" was a watchable movie, don't get me wrong, and you're in for a treat if you enjoy these particularly formulaic sappy Christmas movies that follow the Hallmark-guidebook-of-how-to-make-a-sappy-Christmas-movie.

The only face on the screen that I was familiar with was actor Niall Matter, whom was in the movie for maybe less than a minute. But I've seen sufficiently many Christmas movies to recognize him. The acting performances in "Christmas Under the Lights" were fair.

Hardly a Christmas classic in any way. Nor is it a movie that I will return to watch a second time.

My rating of director Lucie Guest's 2024 movie "Christmas Under the Lights" lands on a five out of ten stars.

The male actor was great, The female actress I was not a fan of She felt dry and whiny. The leads did lack chemistry as far as I could see from a home or perspective Sterling could have been a lot better put together as well. Felt like it was missing a lot. The story had potential and the lead actor was good for it but the female actress just didn't feel right for the roll. For me this was a Hallmark want to miss not something I would care to see again. Was helping for more emotion and story and development and I felt like it was missing a lot of that The co-stars were nice but the lack of development and not feel dry and bored after a A period of repetition.