The Christmas House

Listen, if you're watching Hallmark Christmas movies expecting them to be Citizen Kane, you need to stop watching. BUT, when they get it right, they are fun, idyllic and take you away from reality for a couple of hours. Of course they're formulaic. The Christmas House is fun, and formulaic. However, finally, Hallmark has shown that all families do not look the same. It is so nice to see the LGBTQ community represented, and not in a funny best friend way. Rather, as it should be, just like everyone else. It made me so happy to see this, and I applaud Hallmark for realizing the importance of representation. Is it my favorite Hallmark Christmas movie? Nope, but, I will remember it nonetheless. Well done.

Wow. This is a wonderful Hallmark Christmas movie. I am impressed. I mean, I like Hallmark films, but this is above and beyond what I have seen thus far during the 2020 Christmas movie season. It is a fun, warm and heartfelt story. The script is great. It is tough developing a story in 80 minutes. But the writers here have done an excellent job. The sub-plots were all engaging: Mike and Andi's romance, the development of Mike and Noah's relationship (teaching magic), the mother and father's marriage troubles, and Brandon and Jake's adoption. The writers do a good job too with the dialogue and interaction between the characters, the family members. Sure, it is a predictable plot, but it is a made-for-television Christmas movie (in a very predictable genre of film to boot). The more important element here for me is: did it pull me in, did it engage me? It did, from the start. Moreover, I found myself laughing out loud a little thru-out the film, which is a different experience for me when watching Hallmark movies; from the 'Handsom Justice' opening clip, father jokes, the competition between the sons, the advertisement Mike and Noah made, to the closing scene of the deodorant commercial, it was a rather funny/fun Christmas movie. The acting, overall, was excellent for this genre of film. Robert Buckley (as Mike) had an impressive performance. It is nice seeing him on screen again, as I liked his character in One Tree Hill. Treat Williams (as Bill), Sharon Lawrence (as Phylis), and Jonathan Bennett (as Brandon) all had strong performances. The remaining supporting cast was great, especially Noah and the magician. Finally, there was plenty of Christmas cheer; the scenery, props and sets were all very festive. Overall, a very good Christmas movie by Hallmark this year. It is well worth a watch.

Sweet and cute Hallmark movie, one of the better ones in the recent past. The cast is very good and Robert Buckley is so likeable in the lead and he co-wrote the story!

I was excited to watch the first Hallmark Christmas movie with gay couple (though I recall a lesbian couple in a recent one...). This is a feel good family movie with various subplots. The newly retired parents have grown apart, the actor son has career issues, and the younger, gay son and his husband are trying to adopt a baby. They all converge to put on a crazy, over-decorated house that's open to the public like they did years ago. Nice, feel good movie. I really enjoyed the inclusion of an LGBT storyline and that the couple was just a normal part of the family. Well done, Hallmark!

Not the usual Hallmark movie, it's refreshing. Kudos to the writing and teleplay teams and the great casting. The usual Hallmark is a formulaic focus on a single woman who finds romance, it's soapy and can be sickly sweet. This is about a family, actually three families, a house and cultures and real life. Kudos to Hallmark.