Cranberry Christmas

This is the 5th Hallmark movie I have seen of the 2020 Christmas movie season. Hands down, the best movie thus far. Nikki Deloach was excellent; she has always performed great in Hallmark movies. Benjamin Ayres was pretty good too. And the supporting cast was great. The storyline/plot was a bit outside the norm for Hallmark, which I really liked here: the focus was on a troubled marriage as opposed to two people meeting and falling in love. I think this worked well; it touched on some important issues in this regard. I love Hallmark movies because of their Christmas spirit and festive atmosphere. You will not be disappointed: this movie provides all of this. Overall, well worth the watch, especially if you are a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies (as I am).

This film, with a great cast, is more interesting than the usual romcom that we're so accustomed to on at least three Christmas channels on cable and one other service.

I'm a huge fan of Nikki DeLoach. She usually does movies for Hallmark that have a little more depth than all the fluff out there.

There are plenty of rekindling romance movies., Like at least one other reviewer, they are not my favorite. My enjoyment is in new developing relationships. This was a little different than most of the rekindling ones in that it involved two married people who had been together since they were very young. And it didn't involve a time travel, alternate universe, or dream reset. Nikki did one a little like this a couple of Christmases ago.

Nikki does her usual good job reaching down below the surface to pull up the feelings that are most important for her character and ones that most of us value. Benjamin Ayres plays well opposite her. There is chemistry, but it's quiet because that's what the setting requires.

The problem is there just isn't anything that makes the movie stand out like I usually expect from Nikki. That's more because of the story than anything. No great highs or lows. No surprises. The only tension is the future of their relationship. There is a little secret Gabe is holding until "the right time", but it was disappointingly trivial. There were some clues. "The right time" turns out to be about half way through.

This movie was a little slow, but the cast was so good. I enjoyed it but wouldn't go out of my way to watch again.

Nobody should watch Hallmark films with massively high expectations, their Christmas output particularly. If a Hallmark fan or wanting to see as many Christmas films as possible, expectations would understandably be higher. They are very formulaic with most of them being more of the same narratively and structurally, apart from sporadic attempts at changes of pace. There are a fair share of them though that are surprisingly above average and even good amidst the many average and less ones.

The 2020 output from Hallmark did vary in quality but was not near as bad or wildly uneven as it could have been. None of the films from the batch were really terrible, and a small handful of them were actually very good. Along with 'Five Star Christmas', 'Cranberry Christmas' is one of the very good ones and benefits from trying to do something outside the norm and the presence of the reliable Niki Deloach in the female lead role. 'Cranberry Christmas' is a fine example of why Hallmark's Christmas output or even Hallmark in general should not be immediately scorned at.

It drags a little early on where the film takes a little time to get going.

Did think too that the grandmother could have been written and played with more subtlety as she did jar slightly with everything else.

'Cranberry Christmas' succeeds very well everywhere else though. It is visually pleasing and has a professional look. The appropriately festive locations especially. Enough of the soundtrack is nostalgic and pleasant enough. The direction is accomodating while not going through the motions. Nikki DeLoach and Benjamin Ayres don't overplay, any mannerisms not overdone, and neither do they hold back too much. Deloach especially is very good and the main reason to see the film. Their likeability shines through and their chemistry charms, personally actually thought it was there.

Moreover, the dialogue is tighter and less stilted than a lot of Hallmark Christmas films and the cheese and sentiment isn't as much. The story raises some important relevant issues in a tactful manner, making the film heartfelt at points, it also engaged me and was charming and heart-warming while not taking itself too seriously. Did appreciate too that there was more to usual. The characters may be well worn cliches, but they came over to me as likeable enough and any negative character traits didn't come over as over the top like can be the case in Hallmark Christmas films. Actually cared for these characters, not the case with a lot of recently seen Christmas films.

In conclusion, very well done and even very good. One of the best 2020 Hallmark Christmas films easily and one of the few highly recommended. 8/10.