Lifetime are very variable when it comes to their output, especially their Christmas films, the best being very good and the worst being absolutely awful. While they tend to follow one formula and use it frequently with not much variation, there are times where they have a more mature story with more serious themes meaning that they are very capable with doing things differently to usual. That's the case here with 2020's 'A Welcome Home Christmas'.
On the whole, 'A Welcome Home Christmas' is one of the better Lifetime Christmas films from 2020. It's not great or perfect, but it has a lot done right and handles a mature theme with sincerity and poignancy. To me Hallmark did the mix of military and Christmas theme better, with films like 'Christmas Homecoming', 'Holiday for Heroes' and 'Operation for Heroes', all worth the look as well and are better to me as they have more chemistry and moved me more.
'A Welcome Home Christmas' could have been better. Would have liked more of the extra spark between the two leads, which got there later on but took a while to get to that stage as a result of being initially underwritten. Not all the support acting worked, with Charlene Tilton coming over as quite stiff.
Did not buy the major character change that happens later on, too rushed and too easy. The story is a bit on the slow side to begin with and not all the dialogue seemed very natural.
However, a lot is good here. First and foremost, Jana Kramer's lead performance is deeply felt and very easy to be won over by. Once his character grows, Brandon Quinn becomes more relaxed and charming and once the chemistry between him and Kramer grew they came over as quite genuine together. Tim Reid is always worth watching and LondonRose Sellars is immensely charming and funny. On the most part, the characters did feel like real people and not hard to warm to once their development deepened. Didn't come over as caricatures or one-dimensional, but instead came over as not too perfect or overly flawed real people.
Furthermore, 'A Welcome Home Christmas' is a pleasant looking film with the scenery standing out in particular, while the soundtrack matches the spirit of the holiday and the film's themes very well. The script is neither too corny or over-serious, and doesn't come over as muddled tonally. There are some funny lines and some touching ones, also really liked its sincerity and heart. The story is very heart-warming and moving, its good intentions too admirable, with a tear-jerking if slightly predictable ending.
Summarising, decent if not great. 6/10.
