Homemade Christmas

I had to write this review. The actors are wonderful. The dialogues are very good. The DIRECTION is excellent and really evokes the warmth of Christmas. A really fun watch. My special appreciation to the director for making every shot look so good.

I thought this Christmas movie was adorable! I found the main actors to have good chemistry together plus I enjoyed the supporting cast as well. I also enjoyed seeing REAL crisp air as this was filmed in Canada during a colder climate... typically Christmas movies are filmed in the spring or summer and you can tell because the sun is shining bright and of course all the fake snow! I see this flick didn't get rave reviews but as for me, I found it refreshing- well done to the cast and crew!

Far from it in fact, to me it was the complete opposite and had very little to it. The 2020 Lifetime Christmas efforts did vary and often veered between mediocre and slightly above average and were indicative at times of rushed productions. But there were enough of them that were still watchable and more (was pleasantly surprised by some) and were not amateur efforts. Actually think on reflection that the standard was of better quality than 2019's batch.

'Homemade Christmas' though is one of the misfires and one of the worst 2020 Lifetime films. There were a few good things, not massive though, that are sadly outweighed by the flaws, with the worst flaws being absolutely terrible. Is it among the worst that they ever did? Not quite, but it is one of the closest the 2020 output got to being on the same level as the worst of Lifetime's 2019 Christmas output, which is really not a good sign.

Some of the photography was quite nice. Some pleasant moments on the soundtrack.

Michelle Argyris had her charming moments and moments of amusing interaction with Travis Nelson later on.

A lot doesn't work at all, with a big issue being Nelson, who sleepwalks through his role and always looks awkward. Argyris also looks uncertain and stiff in much of the first half of the film, and too much of the chemistry actually looked disconnected and stilted. Especially again in the first half, before getting slightly better later. Also thought that the relationship didn't develop that well at all. It feels rushed and jumps around too much and it felt underwritten as well. The direction at best was routine and the supporting cast did their best but were under-directed and were given very little to do.

This is also one of the few 2020 Lifetime Christmas films to not look very good. Most of the others looked surprisingly professional, but 'Homemade Christmas' clearly looked rushed. Most evident from the very sparse settings that don't look very festive. The music is too low key and not memorable in the least. The dialogue has no flow and has a lot of cheese and over-sentimentality. The story has a pretty terrible first half, which is very dull, contrived and jumpy and even when it gets slightly it is thin and predictable. Didn't care for any of the characters, all either bland or annoying and all not developed at all, Nelson's character is written in a way where it is hard to believe what anybody sees in him.

Overall, very lacklustre with some very poor elements but a few small good things. A generous 4/10.

The premise boils down to consultant-comes-in-to-save-the-business but there's a different flavor to it. For one thing, there's also a Christmas-coach slant to it. And the consultant to save the business isn't really a business consultant, but a Jacqueline of all trades who majors in DIY. The movie didn't cram in all of the usual Christmas devices, but the snowball exchange was a little obvious. There are no big surprises.

Michelle Argyris has chemistry with both of the male leads, but after a bit, Chase turns into the business-focus exec who doesn't really care about people. He's also controlling and not too respectful of women.

Meanwhile Kurt, played by Travis Nelson has obvious connection with Argyris even when they are sparring with each other and it only goes up from there. This is the enjoyable part of the movie watching these two get closer then back away and then repeat.

Megan seems a little too good to be true at least as far as selflessness. She has some insecurities that come out over time, but a really tough façade.

As we've all seen Hallmark and Lifetime have produced some real underwhelming movies for 2020. Less moving moments, really bad snowy scenes, etc. But this one is the worst so far. The acting is incredibly bad, and I mean every single character, horrible. The toy shop guys, wth? How do they have one shop let alone try for more. Never any customers, but fully staffed and no one knows anything! Bare shelves, no decorations, really? Hiring someone to decorate a tree in a toystore is an emergency when you have 4 people in the store doing nothing, with no customers? This one is all over the place, no focus, just cliches. I had to struggle through this in hopes in would get better, it didn't.