Staging Christmas

Lead actress is over acting - happy - merry - disappointed - whatever the mood. Lead actor is lacking expression.

I understand it's suppose to be a corny Christmas movie, but the acting is so poor. George and the other girl, from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, are good actors. So it was so surprising that they fell flat. There just wasn't chemistry or a spark between them. The little girl was the best actor out of the entire movie.

It just didn't play on my heartstrings as much as I expected it to be. The eye contact and connection seemed forced and not real.

I love George Stults, but this is getting deleted from my DVR.

A Christmas stager uses the house of a widower and his little girl. Romance ensues. Not that much story and the stars are a little detached and uncharismatic. Below Hallmark standards.

I don't think I've ever seen a move with less chemistry between the leads. I have nothing positive to say about this one at all. I give it two stars, because - believe it or not - I've seen even worse movies, and I need to save the 1-star rating for those. Oh, the puppy was adorable, but that's the only positive thing about this.

Just to say now, in my view not all Lifetime's Christmas offerings are bad. Actually was pleasantly surprised by some, which has been true of my film viewings of Hallmark/Lifetime etc Christmas films in general over-time. Actually really liked the concept here for 'Staging Christmas', it sounded so sweet and poignant, but whether it was going to work was all going to be dependent on the likeability of the characters and two leads, their interaction and how the story would be executed.

All are executed underwhelmingly sadly here in 'Staging Christmas'. There are far worse films about and far worse Christmas films overall, but 'Staging Christmas' is not an example of a Lifetime Christmas film being surprisingly good and nearly everything that a few of my friends dislikes about Lifetime's films is present. For anybody iffy about any of previously seen Lifetime's Christmas offerings, this will do next to nothing to change your mind and might reinforce it.

'Staging Christmas' is lovingly shot and has suitably picturesque scenery. There are some pleasant moments in the soundtrack, emphasis though on some.

Mia Clark is adorable and is the film's most rootable character. The chemistry between her and George Stults has some charm.

Which is something that the two leads don't have. Stults looks stiff and unemotive and Soleil Moon Frye has the opposite problem of overacting, when the character is happy it looks so affected and too fixed. Instead of likeable, she came over as annoying. The two have no chemistry with each other and seem so distant. The pedestrian direction doesn't help them. Neither does the cliched character writing, that gives the characters like one or two character traits and not much else, or the soggy and corny script that really overdoes the sentiment to saccharine degrees.

The story sounded so charming on paper, but ended up being dull, over-sentimental and running out of ideas-like. The ending can be seen from a mile away and left me cold rather than moved. The music tends to be too constant and too loud.

In conclusion, quite lacking in most areas. 3/10