Christmas in Tahoe

6/10 - I will admit to really enjoying the trope where one of the exes has made it big and is now super famous and this certainly captured the heart of that trope which made it stand out ever so slightly among the rest of the 2021 holiday movies.

First of all, how do you NOT lead with George Lopez? He's not even mentioned in the trailer. Believe me, I would have watched this sooner had I known he was in it.

The best acting performances in the movie were by Lopez, Pat Monahan, and comedienne Alex Gullason. The other performances seemed to be from the Hallmark school of acting: pleasant, sincere, but without the authenticity of the great supporting players.

Given Monahan's involvement in the project, I take at face value the behind-the-scene workings of the music industry (if not the timeline). It was harder to accept Kyle Selig as a rock star. But then, this is a Hallmark movie and we're used to suspending disbelief.

It's worth watching "Christmas in Tahoe" for the great supporting cast.

Gaslighting booking agent, clinging fans, paparazzi, meddling mothers, unappreciative father, overly persistent guest. Isn't this fun. Don't forget schemes to get past security. Actually, some of those were vehicles for humor, but annoying isn't funny to me. Then there are the three top acts that cancel at the last minute. (What no broken pipes?) It does get better in the last half.

Beyond all the efforts to sign up acts, the story is pretty much the usual stuff. Finally after a while, Kyle Selig and Laura Osnes get a chance to show some chemistry.

There are a few musical numbers here and there, mostly in the closing show. I was disappointed that Osnes wasn't one of the performers.

Such odd casting! Pat Monaghan from Train..... George Lopez in a very small role as a bellboy. I agree with the others regarding the leads. The "rock star" was miscast and not a lot of chemistry. Oh and let's not say Lake Tahoe when it obviously is not.

There is some real life reality in this film where personal careers and goals temporarily take priority over Ryan (Kyle Selig) and Claire's (Laura Osnes) own relationship. The Christmas period is that magical time when forgiveness is on everyone's mind and reconciliation between estranged family and friends occurs more often than anytime of the year.

The supporting cast was just that, very supportive in their respective roles and to have the lead singer of Train, Pat Monahan, play Jackson, an administration assistant to Claire was a Christmas gift for all of us.

The only knock against this made for TV film was the producers and film editor decided to insert that irritating musical "bing bong Christmas tingle" interlude through most of the films conversation and I for one just get tired of hearing that cheesy bing bong twinkle background sound throughout. Never the less, I would recommend the film to both romantics and Christmas film lovers. I give it a respectable 6 out of 10 IMDb rating.