Coup de foudre au bal de Noël

Yet another run of the mill Christmas plot with bland dialog. The main characters are likable but unconvincing as a couple. Yep, a ho hum Lifetime Christmas movie. Please, can we have quality instead of quantity?

Hallmark's new trend towards diversity. This movie has a romance between white woman and a black man. Pretty Jessica Lowndes and BJ Britt star. The decorating process isn't that interesting. The romance isn't terribly convincing they don't seem to fall in love - just become friends. She sings a bit here and that's nice.

It's was pretty boring. I feel like I've already watched two or three Christmas Lifetime movies where the main character designs department store windows. Hey Lifetime, can you pick a different career for you main characters? Why are they always in advertising, marketing or event planners?

I have been saying over and over, including posting on the movie twitter sites, that I want more Christmas movies where some of the many musically talented actors sing whether it be some carols, or an original song. There have been some, and yet there have been missed opportunities in other cases. This was an excellent performance by Jessica Lowndes.

The story is more of the same stuff being churned out by the writers. A festival or a ball or a pageant is in jeopardy and the movie's star (from a big city) has to fix it and to do so she has to work with someone she doesn't like (yet). Meanwhile there is a crisis in her day job and a promotion at stake. I just described 100 Christmas movies just this decade and probably a lot more than that. This one didn't seem to have much to set it apart and therefore, we have to hope for an interesting relationship between the leads along with possibly some humor and good dialogue. Again I say, I didn't really see anything to set it apart in any of those regards.

I think I'm being generous with the rating thanks to Jessica's singing. Otherwise the movie isn't awful, but it isn't great and there are a lot better ones out there, even with the same basic premise.

BTW: I'm going to say it because so many people do, but it isn't a factor in my rating. Do people really hold balls or wedding in barns? Is there heat? Jessica walks in from the outside with snow falling behind her with bare shoulders, and the two wide barn doors are open to the outside. Don't get me wrong. She and the vision are beautiful, but maybe our Christmas movie culture needs to get over the white Christmas thing.

This is Lifetime, not Hallmark.

Maybe we're just uber critical ... or just from the wrong generation. But Jessica, Jessica, Jessica. Lose the vocal fry. It sounds like you're constantly gargling with frogs. We switched over to watch Attenborough. He's someone who knows real frogs.