Once Upon a Main Street

This was a decent Lifetime Christmas movie. Two people competing for the same property end up decorating some main street shops for a "Battle of the Main Street" Christmas competition with the neighbouring town. As they are forced to work together, the bickering between the two eventually turns into romance. The movie draws a bit on slapstick humour with several mishaps between the two leads (e.g., one of the leads falling on ice at the start of the film). I did laugh a little, at times. The first half of the film relied mostly on constant bickering and banter between the two leads, Amelia (played by Vanessa Lachey) and Vic (played by Ryan McPartlin). The dialogue here was pretty good. I was not turned off by it as some of the other reviewers on here were. At the same time, it was not as funny as the writers would have liked it to be, I suspect. There are some heartfelt messages in the film too (e.g., it is never too late to make amends with loved ones, especially during the holidays). There are some interesting (and at times, funny) characters in the film, again centred around bickering. The acting overall was good. Both Lachey and McPartlin (aka Captain Awesome, for the 'Chuck' fans reading this) had strong performances. The chemistry between the two was believable, as well. Though, as another reviewer on here suggested, it seemed a bit rushed, underdeveloped. The scenery, props, and sets were pretty good, festive. However, it was a bit strange not seeing many people on Main Street, the main shopping street in town. That felt strange, a bit odd. Overall, it is an entertaining Christmas movie, not one of the best I have seen this season, but certainly not one of the worse.

As far as Christmas movies go, this was just average. Typical storyline of two main characters not liking each other to them falling in love. We must have our happy endings, after all. The premise is they have to work together to decorate houses and a street for the annual contest. Vanessa Lachay wants to have a year round Christmas store. The winner of the grand prize will be able to fulfill his or her dream. I enjoyed watching this movie. It was entertaining enough, with even a couple of laughs. However, I wouldn't out it at the top of my list. It passed the time and somewhat predictable, as these movies are. It's worth watching once.

Actors play a good part in this 4 star rate, Ryan McPartlin is one of my fav B stars, and Vanessa Lachey is always cute and decent. Patrick Duffy is very old here, altough I love him in Step by step, but feel like this has been too much for him. Plot is too predictable, first rivals, then... I don't want to spoil it for you. I liked the bickering of main characters, it was fun. Setting could be beautiful, small town, cute houses, but director chose to over do it with fake snow. I mean, you could literally see fake snow cover blankets everywhere. Also, you get the feeling that this town has only 10 citizens. No people on the street, no people in the cafè... Very noticable. Also, one very confusing detail, the owner of cafè who is Indian, says, before, her grandmother was the owner of all year Christmas store. I mean, you could at least pick some other character to say that.

Then you should certainly watch this movie. You will fall asleep during. Most Christmas movies lately are supposed to be about romance. Girl meets boy, they instantly dislike one another but in the end something happens and they fall in love. In this movie nothing happens. All action is feebly. I believe this is the first time I rate a movie so low, but I honestly cannot find one positive thing to say. Everything screams that this is a low budget film. I am starting to miss the 90;s where all Christmas movies were about Santa. That's all folks.. Really? Still haven't reached the required characters?

This movie is the equivalent of being forced to watch your neighbors, constantly squabbling children on your day off.

The acting is good, but then again, anyone can act like a spoiled 8yr old. By the time the leads inevitably get together, you really couldn't care less.