Throughout my whole Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas film completest quest undertaken namely late-2019 onwards, an interesting quest but very mixed one, there was never the mentality of expecting a classic or the film in question to be flawless. Something that was never managed with Hallmark's output. There was always the expectation of seeing a film where one can see at least some effort rather than merely cash-in level. One could see that with most of Lifetime's output but not all.
2020 was a variable year for the Lifetime Christmas output, though it could actually have been a lot worse than it turned out. 'The Christmas High Note' is not one of the best or one of the worst. Personally put it in the middling category, and consider it a film that started off well but peters out. Which is actually the opposite of some of the Lifetime Christmas films (and also Hallmark, UPTV etc) seen recently, which started not so good but improved.
Of course there are things that are good. The best thing about it is the acting, which is in general much better than average. Jamie Luner and Johnny Messner are very appealing leads, while William Katt is a dignified father figure. Madeline Grace gives a lot of heart to the film and has the film's most likeable character, really empathised with her and didn't find her too cute. Loved her chemistry with Messner and the father and daughter dynamic was charming and heartfelt.
Furthermore, it looks nice as a film, especially the scenery. The music has a nostalgic festive atmosphere generally. It starts off very light hearted and heart-warming and has a lot of charm. Did care for the characters on the whole.
With one exception, which was ex-boyfriend Brad. Lifetime did not have a particularly good track record when it came to the ex-boyfriend cliche, and the jerkish-ness was very overdone here. To the point where Luner's character's too naive and forgiving manner in the latter stages started to frustrate me. While the chemistry between Luner and Messner was there in the first half, it lost sparkle in the final third which was where the relationship is neglected too much. The ending is too neat and with such forced and tired conflict beforehand it felt too out of the blue as well.
Quite a lot of the dialogue has awkwardness and the story in general is nothing special. A tried and tested formula with little variation, especially the conflict.
Summing up, a bit mixed here. 5/10.
