The Christmas Ring

Not all Hallmark's Christmas films in my view are bad, just to get that out of the way now. Was actually pleasantly surprised, and still have been, by a fair share while understanding why they won't be everybody's cup of tea. The premise for 2020's 'The Christmas Ring' wasn't that appealing to be honest, very same old, same old, but Kazumi Evans in support is always worthwhile and have liked David Alpay in other things. Also Christmas films with touches of mystery have been good mixes before.

2020 was a bit of a mixed bag for Hallmark (though surprisingly not too bad all things considered with the circumstances), and 'The Christmas Ring' is one of the weaker films in the batch. Hallmark have definitely done far worse and there are certainly worse Christmas films about, but 'The Christmas Ring' just wasn't my cup of tea sad to say. There are good things, very few Hallmark films are irredeemable, but they are outweighed by the more glaring flaws.

'The Christmas Ring' has good things. The best aspect is the production values. The scenery is truly lovely, magical even at its best, and appropriately festive. Makes one want to go there and definitely at Christmas. The photography complements them beautifully.

There are moments of affectionate nostalgia in the soundtrack, with sprinklings of Christmas song favourites. Kazumi Evans is a welcome zesty presence, while Coleen Wheeler is also committed without making a cliched kind of character too much of a stereotype.

Nazneen Contractor, interesting to see an unfamiliar name for female lead, on the other hand is far too stiff and also bland, on paper her character is likeable as she has well intentioned goals but the character in the film doesn't really grow and is almost too naive. Alpay also doesn't work, his character is very detached and uptight (neither of which are softened enough, even when the very sudden signs of change happens) and Alpay's acting is very cold and aloof. There is no chemistry between them, they look uncomfortable together and seem too mismatched and the romance is not very well developed. The conflict is contrived and predictable, it takes a while for anything to progress and any development comes out of nowhere and is rushed through. Casey Manderson is annoying.

Generally the characters do not come over like real people and instead like too perfect or excessively negative caricatures. Evans and Wheeler have the characters that have the most spark and that is mainly down to their ability to do a lot with their material. Furthermore, the story is dull as dishwater from being way too thin and excessively predictable from being the same formula as with most Hallmark films with all the long well worn out cliches done to tired effect. Some of it is very repetitive too, the final act is contrived and lacking in realism and the ending is too neat and can be seen from miles away, Hallmark really do need to get some new ideas. The script is very stilted and is full of cheese and sugar to the point that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Most of the music is too overbearing and lacks any kind of subtlety.

In conclusion, mediocre. 4/10.

There were so many things that appealed to me about this Christmas story.

The story starts with a plucky internet reporter, Kendra, who works for some on-line magazine whose specialty is quizzes like which reindeer do you most resemble? She has been dying to write more serious articles to take their on-line magazine in another direction. Kendra's mother passed away and her father had been holding on to her mother's wedding ring which had been passed down to four generations...but since his passing a couple years ago the ring has gone missing. It has become Kenra's practice to check in antique shops looking for her mom's ring. This is what she is doing when she finds a very similarly styled ring to her mom's, but this one has an inscription that says "Forever My Christmas Love 1948". She learns from the shop owner that you can track the maker of a ring by the jewelry mark...which she does to a small town. The mystery and story behind this inscription intrigues Kendra and she makes a pitch to her boss to write a human interest story about the ring...the boss who just wants to sell advertising thinks the quizzes and celebrity gossip get more eyeballs on the page, so she categorically says no. Kendra decides to take a few days off to do her own sleuthing convinced that she can write an article that will be good enough for her boss to change her mind. Once in the small town she discovers the jeweler has passed away, but that his son is running a bakery out of the same location. The baker is very friendly and is able to find the receipt ledger, which by description and date lead to the purchaser of the ring. Meanwhile in said small town she keeps bumping in to the same handsome but slightly grumpy and suspicious guy...who turns out to be the grandson of the purchaser of the ring and coincidentally the biggest celebrity gossip of the moment. When Michael finds out she is a reporter he becomes even more suspicious that she is really there to do an article on him...and of course when her boss finds out he is involved with the ring story through eavesdropping...red lights her article as long as he is mentioned or featured. "You are the most effectual person I have ever met"

The real story becomes solving the mystery of the ring and the back story of Michael's grandparents, William and Pearl, who ran the small town's general store which was at the heart of the town and a big deal at Christmas. Struggling to keep it operational Michael's brother and he are considering selling the store...which leads to them having one more last big Christmas at the store, including doing all of the Christmas traditions that their grandparents did.

Together Michael and Kendra piece together the story of the ring... "Even though you were looking for your mother's ring, I'm glad you found my grandmother's." "My mom would have loved Pinegrove." "You made me believe you were writing a story about true love. About how love takes sacrifice and risk." Of course there is a misunderstanding...and it ends with a suspenseful moment...will our protagonist finally get together in the end, it was sweet and thoughtful and involved two people striking out on their own to do the work they were meant to do, which may be risky but they will be able to sleep at night, and of course it involves the ring. ...taking buildings of the past and updating them for the future. I am always intrigued by stories from the past...I love trolling antique shops and finding treasures. This was so much fun to follow the inscription to the heart of the story and have it be one of true love. "You're a part of the story now." The actress who played Kendra was a little different than Hallmark's usual lead and I for one liked her, she was gorgeous, independent, self-assured and maybe a little sassy. She and the male lead played well together...but the big star was the mystery of the ring.

The story itself was intriguing to me. A woman searching for the history of an old ring she came across and it leads her to a small town. I liked seeing a different lead actress, but I will say I'm not quite sure she was the right fit for this role. Her acting was a bit stiff. I enjoyed finding out about the story behind the ring, but the movie itself was a tad boring at times for me. Not a bad film, but not great either.

It is the star of this film. Unfortunately, maybe the only one. Because the chemistry is missing, the story is flat, the good intentions are just support for cliches. Sure, the charme of few scenes , more as result of not the impressive artistic skills of Nazneen Contractor is just precious and David Alpay saves what can be saved. But the sketch of jewell, the hypothesis around it, the old jeweler memory, yes, each is crumb of the soul of this film , nice when you see you, rotten after some time after you viewed it.

The story didn't start out to be writer sent to do hit piece, but it turned into that. Cliché after cliché was added to the story so that by half way, any viewer could write the detail outline for the rest of the movie. And to make it all worse, the climax was even more cliché than the rest of the movie and had no emotional impact for me whatsoever. The actors in the very final scene even looked like they were almost listlessly going along just to finish it out. The story had no big highs or lows, or surprises. The dialogue was flat.

About half way through, characters kept asking, "what happened to the ring?" And I kept answering them with the as yet unrevealed, but totally obvious answer.

Nazneen Contractor and David Alpay started out with the obligatory animosity. Michael had a chip on his shoulder so big I'm surprised he could stand up. Then all of a sudden, the chip magically disappeared and the two actors started to build a little bit of chemistry. Unfortunately, I don't think that survived the conflict (which was just as predictable as the ring's fate). I already mentioned that the last scene lacked any passion.

All these movies that have the reporter-premise make the reporters out to be so idealistic, which usually means also naïve. Kendra ranks up there for naïve. And you don't scheme with your coworker by video chat (without ear buds) where everyone in the entire office can hear what you are talking about.

If you haven't watched several hundred Christmas movies, or even more than a dozen or so, the story might be worth watching.