Following Yonder Star

This is "famous actress finds love in small town but has to leave for career" movie number 386, so there aren't any surprises at all here.

For #386, it's nice. The reason she flees to a small town is amusing, as she has a meltdown video go viral and it mildly threatens her next role.

Of course, she becomes involved with a widowed father with an adorable daughter and gets involved with the kid's Christmas show, lending her professional acting talents to make the performances better, and spending lots of time with the widowed father, who owns the inn where she's staying.

And of course, her agent almost spoils things for everyone at the end as he pushes things to benefit her career.

One redeeming feature, the father never addresses his daughter as "kiddo".

It's a nice watch, and we like D'Orsay from all the way back to Royal Pains, but with nothing new in the story, it's a one-time watch for us.

Finally Hallmark nailed it! This movie was so enjoyable to watch. I loved BD & JB as the leads, they were cute together and I also enjoyed the ensemble cast as well. The Inn was festive and joyful. I absolutely loved they incorporated God into the script, after all, Jesus is the reason for the season. Brooke is always beautiful to watch, her acting chops are fantastic and her male counterpart is adorable. As a whole, i thoroughly enjoyed the movie and before I knew it, two hours flew by. I never rolled my eyes or drifted off once. The little girl who played the daughter was cute as a button. I would definitely watch this movie again. Thank you Hallmark, you hit the mark on this one! Congratulations to the entire cast and crew for a job well done.

Following Yonder Star is a beautiful story of love and faith. Brook D'Orsay and Jon Brotherton had wonderful on screen chemistry and I really enjoyed them as a couple! Their characters were funny, likeable, and seeking something better in life. Watching their journey was the focus of the movie.

The young actress who played the daughter of Jon's character did a great job without being over sugary. (Some of the children in Hallmark movies are a little too perfect.) I loved the interaction between her and Abby, and also with her dad. All of the kids in the movie were very good.

FYS made me feel good and I will watch it again!

7.8 stars.

While this film is following the Hallmark blueprint right down to the last cross of the t and dotted i, it still brings much emotion.

Brooke is amazing in this role. I've seen her do a few amazing performances, this is one of those. I've seen her do some blah, and a below average performances is too, in fact it seems that she's improving over time. She moves up a few slots every time I see her in a new film. I love her transformation into a much more effective and passionate performer.

The male lead is great as a blubbering fan, at first. He's too authentic at portraying an awkward admirer. This detracts from the romantic aspects of the film for the first hour, but eventually his character becomes more comfortable as her friend and eventual boyfriend.

The story is formulaic, so I won't bother to explain the plot. But I must say that it's engineered to entertain and it absolutely achieves that goal.

If you don't mind formulaic, watch this one. It's a classic.

This is an interesting film and very well acted. It involves an actress coping with getting vilified by social media during the Christmas season - a unique premise. For the first time, we enjoyed Brooke D'Orsay's acting. We usually find her movies to be mediocre and her acting sort of robotic, probably because the scripts are so routine. But, here, she is given a good story and the opportunity to act with nice subtlety and expression. At times, she says nothing, but it is her face and movements that convey her feelings and emotions. Very nicely done. And John Brotherton is excellent - just as good as he was with Kimberley Sustad in "Lights! Camera! Christmas!".

His character is sort of a Nervous Nellie and it is endearing how he has feelings for D'Orsay's character.

Brotherton is a very multi-faceted actor - you can check him out in two episodes of the "911" series that aired earlier this year - in a performance that is stunningly evil.

But, here, he demonstrates just how diverse he is because this character is caring and sweet natured.

D'Orsay and Brotherton work well together and they make this movie fine and watchable holiday entertainment.