Christmas Beneath the Stars

Every ounce of joy and energy is sapped from this deeply substandard TV movie. It's fifteen minutes of script hyperextended into a feature-length TV movie, each scene a molasses trickle. It feels like a Hallmark movie that was left out in the sun to bleach and dry up. The actors take deep breaths between each line of dialog and repeat plot points (scant as they are) over and over. The two leads are obviously under heavy sedation. The main character's aunt reads every line as catty. Even the actors' hairstyles (or wigs?) are strange. The acclaimed local cafe serves what appear to be Hungry Man turkey frozen dinners with a side of cocoa. The father and son at the heart of the story seem to be estranged at the start of the film for reasons never explained and evidently instantly resolved. WHAT EVEN IS THIS.

The story is very much like Christmas Land all the way through. I think there's another also but can't think of it.

The climatic double secret is clumsy on both ends.

The acting is barely fair. There might have been a little chemistry between the leads.

Even though the place was supposed to be a little run down, the sets and props were obviously budget. For instance, the town Christmas tree was pretty small.

Oh my word! No words can describe how unimpressed I was with the scenery. The movie is supposedly set in Alaska. I could be wrong but have always assumed most if not all of Alaska has snow on the ground during the Christmas season. I am almost certain the trees, unless evergreens, do not have green leaves. In the movie, there was minimal snow, fake or otherwise, no pretense of the weather being cold and green leaves on trees. The actual story line was very similar to most "romantic" movies ... girl meets boy, girl is not interested in boy, boy likes girl, girl and boy have misunderstanding and in the end, after only a few days / weeks, girl and boy are madly in love.

This movie was extraordinarily painful to watch. Worse than any of the bad Hallmark movies I've seen. Its the combination of a bad script and very poor acting. The lack of feeling in the delivery of some of the lines made me cringe! The actors certainly didn't believe the script anymore than I did. Also, the budget was too tight to make the drab hotel, they were trying to transform, into anything families would want to spend their holidays at. Skip this one!

Setting is all-important when supposedly in the bush of Alaska. Where's the darkness? When there is light, there is no Aurora. I loved how the horse tripped over the cotton blob of snow. I feel for the actors having to pretend it's winter when there's obviously no signs of winter, but then again, the acting was as mediocre as the fake Alaska. Oh yeah, open windows in winter while they're sitting around a table? And who drinks hot chocolate when it's warm? Someone should have actually visited Alaska before releasing this sad and laughable movie. Hannah and her aunt should have stayed in Sacramento.