Dear Christmas

I enjoyed this Lifetime Christmas movie; it is one of their better films this year thus far. The story was unique in a way (a bit different than many of the generic Christmas movies I have seen this season), and it had a pretty good script to boot (especially the dialogue and banter between the couples). I grew up watching 90210, so it was great seeing Jason Priestley as Chris on screen. He had a pretty good performance, I thought, a Priestly performance. I enjoyed his scenes and interactions with Melissa Joan Hart (playing Natalie). He is not the most expressive actor, but in this film, I think his performance worked nicely. About 28-minutes into the movie, he starts playing the guitar and singing a Christmas song...or was he? There was a bit of lip-syncing going on here, I suspect, as the voice singing did not sound like Jason's voice. Hart had a very good, convincing performance in this one. Her exchanges and interactions with her family and Chris were great. She performs well in this genre of film. The chemistry between the two was not bad. Again, Jason is not the most expressive actor, but I felt it worked, that is, it was believable. There were several scenes with some nice banter between the two (e.g., when they decorated the house together). The supporting cast was great. For example, Natalie's father (played by Ed Begley Jr.) and mother (played by Faith Prince) were brilliant; they had several cute and fun lines/scenes together. Fans of One Tree Hill are in for a treat, as two of the show's cast make a special appearance on Natalie's laptop. Finally, the scenery, props, and sets were pretty good, quite festive (not a fan of white Christmas trees though). I had a little laugh in the scene where Chis (aka Priestley) is carrying an axe to cut down the Christmas tree as opposed to a saw. The former looked good but the latter, of course, is a bit more practical. Was that a real Christmas tree they brought home (Natalie and Chris)? I thought it looked fake. You have got to love those Christmas sweaters (Priestley's worked well with the scene, by the way). I also thought the inclusion of the read glass hearts in the script/movie (in support of the first responders during the pandemic) was a timely and welcomed part of the story. I enjoyed too the glassblowing scene where Chris showed Natalie how these were made. Overall, this is a fun, warm, and sweet movie, a nice new edition to Lifetime's original Christmas movie lineup this 2020 season.

I really enjoyed this movie. A few scenes made me laugh out loud even after multiple viewings. The sets are beautiful, the family's cute and the storyline isn't the usual "save the family business/defeat the local Scrooge" type so prevalent in made for TV movies. I'm not sure why there is such confusion regarding Natalie's podcast. If, like me, you've read the other reviews for this movie you'll notice a theme. What is the name of Natalie's podcast? Why do they keep switching from one title to another? (sigh) if you pay attention it isn't complicated. The podcast is titled Holiday Love. The episode she is working on in the movie is called Dear Christmas. I assume there is an episode or two for each holiday. The wonderful Melissa Joan Hart never ceases to entertain and is joined by a super cast playing her family and her love interest. I honestly didn't even notice the lack of extras until another reviewer mentioned it. Personally, 50 or 60 shoppers wandering a small town Main St was always annoying to me. It's just not realistic. Natalie speaks about true love in her podcasts but not from personal experience. She goes home for Christmas and meets a man from her childhood. She ends up in various situations with him, spending most every day doing something together. As Christmas approaches she begins to question her feelings for him. You'll just have to watch to see what happens next. I rewatch movies that show situations I would like to be in, houses and families I would enjoy spending Christmas with, because that's pretty much what we're doing, right? I'm looking forward to adding this movie to my holiday dvd collection 🎄

As what seems to be a trademark of any mother/daughter Hart production this movie is sub par ... It was difficult to pay attention to the actual story line, just kept waiting for the botox to ware off Mellissa's forehead and finally see some facial expression. Movie was okay, not at the Hallmark level, but when there was nothing else left in the PVR to watch.... eventually made it through.

This movie is full of music that is so loud that you can hardly hear what they're saying. Especially at the end, when I'm trying to hear if they're going to make it work, I had to put the closed caption on just to read the words. This shouldn't be the case.

I love the actors in this movie, particularly Jason P, so I thought this movie would be good. Oh dear, how wrong I was. The acting was not great and the dialogue stilted and awkward. I felt so bad for the actors being in such a disappointing movie, that I couldn't continue watching their humiliation. BTW I don't think it is the actors' fault at all. This is all on Lifetime and their Director etc Really poor job!

I hate to say this but Lifetime really needs to up their game. Currently, most of their movies only rival the worst of Hallmark's movies. Even without seeing the opening credits of a movie, I can guess whether it is Hallmark or Lifetime, just by the quality and the style.