Jingle Bell Love

I loved it. It has everything you expect from a Christmas movie.

I was totally charmed by the natural beauty of actress Michelle Morgan who plays Jessica, a kind and genuine café owner. Now I wish I had watched Heartland all these years! The movie develops at a good pace and keeps you engaged. The dad is a loving dad, I like that. When things go array, the little girl says: how can we fix this? And this is exactly why I like Christmas movies, they always find a solution to the worst problems. I was having a bad day and this movie made me forget about my own problems. Job well done. Easy does it, honey!

Another Christmas movie that I wasn't familiar with, but I still opted to sit down and watch "Jingle Bell Love" here in 2024, as I am sitting through an extended sappy Christmas movie marathon here in December. And since I wasn't familiar with the movie, I suppose that writers Stefanie Black and Daren Flam and director Anne De Léan had every opportunity to entertain and bedazzle me.

Writers Stefanie Black and Daren Flam put together a fair script and storyline, which proved to be just sappy enough and corny enough to actually be one of those guilty pleasure watchable Christmas movies.

They sure drank a lot of coffees throughout the course of the movie.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with Joey McIntyre, from his singing career not his acting, And of course he had to break out in a song somewhere along the way. And I was also familiar with Michelle Morgan. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

I was actually adequately and genuinely entertained by what director Anne De Léan brought to the screen. Sure, "Jingle Bell Love" is not going to become a returning Christmas classic at my home, but it was actually a nice enough sappy Christmas movie. And if you are a die-hard fan of the sappy Christmas movie genre, then you definitely should check out this movie.

My rating of "Jingle Bell Love" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Look we know what to expect from types of flicks. Low production quality, rushed shooting schedule, filmed during summer in Canada for cost cutting reasons, songs that you don't recognize but are Xmas related, dollar store decorations to make it the holidays, washed up former actors needing a quick paycheck, etc.

But this didn't even have any effort behind it. Clearly nobody was trying and they were just pushing out a product in time for the holiday as lazily as they could.

It's formulaic which is totally fine as long as it's fun and carefree - but this involves a dead wife, an evil wannabe step mother, and a grieving child who acts more like an adult because the writer doesn't know any actual children.

Yawn. Everything is phoned in - even more then the usual hallmark or lifetime fare. Even for free on Roku it's not worth it - watch another and take a chance on it being at least watchable. Because this isn't really.

This is a movie that the whole family can watch! There are no uncomfortable surprises. It's a sweet story about love, family and doing the right thing.

Jack (played by Joey McIntyre) is a bit of a workaholic. Turns out he's dating a woman he works with, but his whip-smart daughter (played by Delia Lisette Chambers) doesn't like her and wishes that he would meet somebody else (nicer)... and without giving the plot away, this is where the journey begins.

There's also a really beautiful new original song from Joey McIntyre called "A Brand New Christmas" and a fun remake of "Jingle Bell Rock"...

I watched it with my niece and we loved it. In these uncertain times, thanks to Roku for making such a sweet holiday movie!

Is it formulaic? Yes.

Is it low-budget? Yes.

Do we watch these formulaic flicks anyway? Also yes.

It's not meant to be a award-winning, critically aclaimed movie. It's meant to be entertaining, and it is entertaining. The actress who plays the young girl does a great, and in my opinion, standout job. The other performers do good as well. I, for one, appreciate a Christmas film that introduces new Christimas songs.

So to the cranky person who gave it 2 stars 5 minutes after the movie was made available on Roku... chill out. Don't take free movies so seriously. Be sure to let us know when you make your own masterpiece film!