Christmas at Plumhill Manor

I couldn't get over the filming of the outdoor scenes with roses, hollyhocks and lupins in flower just before Christmas and all the trees in full leaf. It was obviously filmed in the summer.

The snowdrop wasn't a snowdrop and even if it was they are the first sign of spring and do not flower around Christmas.

The main characters had absolutely no chemistry and the plot was so obviously written with an American view of the U. K. If you're looking for a film where you can disengage from reality then I guess it may interest you but I have seen many better and more believable Christmas films. The house was beautiful though.

This film made me laugh a lot! The leads both did well with their insane plot and managed to be quite charming. As soon as she gets to England the mad accents and cliches are just great - the annoying housekeeper(maybe? She seems to do everything in the village) who's insanely scottish despite this being suffolk, the pub scenes, the bell ringing, the xmas pudding class, the hero's pet lamb - all completely mental. Many things make no sense - why focus so much on the gardening when it's all wrong? The "snowdrops" that aren't (they're aquilegias) and it is clearly summer flowers everywhere, and the plastic poinsettias they plant up...plus the "norman" arch that is gothic, a hidden "castle", some really strange ideas about "residential taxes" that don't exist in the UK, no concept of planning laws for historic buildings and yet then a bizarre fantasy about the national trust saving the day (if only that was really possible!). I really enjoyed it! Well worth watching! I can see the manor exterior and gardens is the beautiful Crow's Hall in Suffolk as others have said, but none of the interior scenes look very convincingly old. Just adds to the weirdness! Enjoy!

There are lovely views of Crow's Hall in Suffolk in late Spring - cow parsley, ox-eye daisies and so on, which mysteriously morphs into winter. But so corny! And how could a supposed expert in architecture mistake a gothic arch for a Norman one? Some of it was filmed at Shrublands Park in Suffolk, bits in Ipswich and in a pub I couldn't identify. Clearly the writers know little about British planning regulations, taxes or architecture. A six-storey hotel on a moated 16th century plot? I think not! Property taxes mounting up? No. A castle lurking unsuspected behind a door? You're joking! Sadly I shan't be recommending it... a group of us watched it and managed to last to the end, but it was tough going.

The story seemed disjointed or perhaps what I mean is that it didn't seem to flow real well. Margot's NY life just didn't mix with her English manor life. Maria Menounos seemed to coast through her role as Margot above the fray so to speak. I could easily see this woman being the Lady of the Manor. Or I'm sure she could be a team motivator in high value real estate. What I couldn't see was Menounos fitting in down here with us mortals. Oh she tried and made some brief efforts but still seemed to be above it.

Nor did I see a lot of chemistry with Kyle Pryor.

The very first sequence in the story left me with a bad taste. I started wondering if this movie was going to push the opposite of almost any similar Christmas story - in this case, ditch the historical and replace it with empty glitz.

It takes a while to find out what the catch is in her inheritance. Meanwhile Margot is following clues left to her by Victoria. Are the clues the catch, or do they negate the catch?

This is not a bad movie by any stretch, but I didn't really enjoy it.

Yet another Christmas movie that I had never even heard about. But then again, Christmas movies is not exactly high on my list of interests. But every now and again do I go all in during December and bingewatch far too many Christmas movies. And 2024 turned out to be one such year. And thus, I came upon the 2024 movie "Christmas at Plumhill Manor" from director Brian Herzlinger.

Truth be told, from the movie's cover alone, I figured that I would be in for a rather generic sappy Christmas movie. But I still opted to watch the movie, and let writers Daniel Levin, Megan Henry Herzlinger and Avery Henry-Bailey have the benefit of the doubt; perhaps they would surprise me with something grand here.

The storyline in the movie ultimately failed to entertain me. The contents of the storyline was just not interesting, nor were the characters particularly memorable or likable. So the movie fell short of entertaining me.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. Despite the fact that the storyline wasn't my cup of eggnog, then I will say that the acting performances were indeed fair.

Now, I am sure that there is an audience out there for this movie, especially those hardcore lovers of sappy Christmas movies. I just didn't enjoy the movie, and I will never return to watch it a second time.

My rating of director Brian Herzlinger's 2024 movie "Christmas at Plumhill Manor" lands on a three out of ten stars.