Where Are You, Christmas?

It is difficult to find truly new themes for these Christmas movies. It was a good effort borrowing the main idea from Pleasantville to give us a new angle for this Christmas movie. But when it comes down to it, there were still many of the usual Christmas movie subplots. Addy living in big city Chicago comes home for Christmas. Like many of the leads in Christmas movies, she hasn't been home in a while and there is family resentment. And even Addy is having trouble finding her Christmas spirit. It gets so bad that she wishes Christmas away completely.

The rest of the movie is Addy trying to restore the color of Christmas, first to those around her and ultimately to herself. She quickly teams up with her romantic opposite, Hunter.

I usually consider Michael Rady to be one of Hallmark's go-to actors, but I was disappointed this time. He and Lyndsy Fonseca didn't have much chemistry and the inevitable love affair between the characters lacked credibility. Part of this was because Addy was the center of the story until later in the story and until then Hunter was secondary. Another reason for lack of chemistry was the attitude of Hunter. His wish to stay out of the spotlight came off as him wanting to be a victim.

I thought the vehicle for Addy's restoration was obvious until it wasn't. I was mostly wrong leaving the movie with a cliche ending.

Still, give the movie points for a new take on losing the Christmas spirit. My interest was maintained to the end despite my preferring a slightly different ending.

First, nice story, very typical Hallmark (with can be a good thing). The two leads had great chem and were nice to watch together. Lyndsy was funny on her own and a better actor than some of the other Hallmark Heroines.

But there were too many problems to overcome for me to like this more.

1) Dad's constant passive aggressiveness toward his daughter. No wonder she doesn't come back more often. I know I wouldn't if I had face that barrage of attacks.

2) The green screen effects for a bunch of the fake backgrounds (in color or BW) were so cheap, I thought they were done with an iPhone. I guess if they had to blow their budget on the BW -> Color stuff, something else was going to suffer

3) Dad DOESN'T get his color after the heartfelt convo with daughter, but only when the rest of the town sings his praises... self-centered much?

4) Too much of a rip off of Pleasantville. My wife and I often play the "guess the movie it's based on", but this wasn't even subtle.

Good people in a less than good movie.

I have to confess, I am a big component of no Christmas until after Thanksgiving (and my husband and I are huge fans of Christmas music...so there is a big restraint not fa la la la-ing early). So, I have been resistant to watching Christmas movies when we haven't even celebrated Halloween yet...but I allowed a few to creep up on our to watch list and I have to say Hallmark is actually succeeding in getting me in the mood. My toes were dragging, but they have lifted my spirits and put a smile on my pumpkin spice chai latte self.

I really enjoyed this new twist on a Hallmark holiday romance. I don't know how they did the mixed black and white and color...but it was a fun concept and definitely one I hadn't seen before (the closest thing to it that I have seen visually is WandaVision).

The premise is busy achiever Addy comes home to her Christmas obsessed home town of Red Lake Falls only because her brother is going to propose to his girlfriend...otherwise she usually skips it and goes to a tropical island. She had been selling Christmas commercially and this year has just launched a Santa app for your phone. All these years Christmas has lost it's true meaning for Addy and in a moment she wishes Christmas away...only to have that work everyone and everything (including Addy) are black and white. No one, not even her very Christmas-centric father, knows or remembers what Christmas is. In fact they not only thing Addy is crazy, but that she is s trouble maker for bringing it up!

It starts with the local mechanic Hunter, who is a bit of a hermit, but slowly Addy brings color and Christmas back to Red Lake Falls.

"You got caught up in your stress and made a mistake."

Coming together and pitching in...that is what Christmas is about. I was initially concerned when they started to say that Christmas was about forgiving and healing what's inside you...but they brought it back to coming together, pitching in and family, which I really appreciated.

"It's like one of those Christmas movies...now we just need someone to fall in love and kiss"-mayor.

Trapped in the town of Red Lake Falls and unable to leave. I can't believe Addy doesn't figure out the answer sooner. I appreciated that it could poke a little fun of the genre itself and have some good current messages.

"Sometime speeding through life is a way of keeping people at arms distance."-dad

The life you want to or the life you are supposed to.

The message I appreciated the most though was one of ditching the phone and enjoying the moment.

Best line... "I have never, Kiss scared someone out of town."-Hunter

This is a recommendation to anyone who enjoys a good Christmas movie, especially the hallmark romance variety. Have patience through the beginning...you will enjoy it in the end.

I love Lyndsy Fonseca and have since her turn in Nikita. It's great to see her doing another Christmas movie, and this one is good. It feels oddly similar to Next Stop, Christmas back in 2021. But it doesn't take away from this being a good movie and her giving a good performance. The whole cast is good, and the setting has that small-town Christmas charm these movies love to showcase.

The message of finding your Christmas spirit, which is so prevalent in Christmas movies, is handled very well. It doesn't seem too forced or outrageous, and the whole premise seems very grounded in the hustle and bustle of today.

This one is a keeper and worth watching,

Great hallmark movie. Yes it's cheesy but it's great and gets you into the Christmas spirit with whimsy and magic. It is a movie that brings joy, but also inspires. Michael Rady is a great actor and really makes you believe in the magic of Christmas and brings joy. Even though it's in true hallmark fashion of wild and far fetched but guess what it's a fictional story that just captivates if you allow yourself to be taken in. Take it in and enjoy the ride. You will not regret it if you allow yourself to enjoy it and give it a chance. It can easily be taken into reflect on life and how easy it can be to forget the meaning of Christmas.