Scouting for Christmas

I'm an avid Hallmark movie watcher with my wife. Christmas movies are by far our favorite to watch. After a stressful, busy day, I don't want to be stressed out by the negativity and vulgar junk I see on TV now. This movie was a great way to kick off the Christmas season for us. I enjoy all of the movies Tamera Mowry Housely does, she has a genuine warm demeanor that always comes across in her movies. I think her and the girl who played her daughter had a nice natural chemistry. There were elements that reminded us a little of The Parent Trap and I thought that was really cool. To me it makes it a great movie for the entire family. It has romance.and the fun that kids will also enjoy. We need more movies that bring the family together and remind us of all the Good there's still around us.

I have to say this movie was a breath of fresh air. Pretty much all Hallmark movies are the same and after a while it starts to get boring. I felt this was a sweet and happy movie that just felt good. All the characters meshed well together and the two leads were fantastic. Great chemistry between each other and the rest of the cast. So much negativity out in the real world, I want to escape into a place where good always wins and happily ever after. I would not understand what it is like to be a single mother, so I do feel they did a good job in trying to show the struggles that someone would go through.

I was looking forward to this as I like both Carlos and Tamera, but was sorely disappointed. Tamera and Carlos could not have been more awkward. This really felt like Tamera Mowry was just going through the motions.. She was not invested in any part of this movie. Not one scene. All her scenes felt awkward and forced, even with her "daughter". The scenes with the daughter and the ex-husband were the only scenes that felt genuine. The end scene at the ball with Carlos and Tamera was as awkward as their first scene and the kiss felt forced. It was so painfully obvious they were not into it or each other - at all. Why are these leads cast if they don't like each other? This was painful to watch and I won't be watching it again. I kept waiting for the awkwardness to fade as the characters got to know each other, but it got worse with each scene. The dialogue was stilted and the leads remained awkward throughout. Hopefully, the rest of the Christmas movies this season are better than this mess, or I won't be watching. I used to love watching Hallmark Christmas, but with stuff like this, the past couple years I've been changing the channel a lot more often then stopping to watch.

Tamera's acting was not so good in this movie. For someone playing the mother to a child she'd adopted at 2, she talked to her like she was the babysitter hired to watch a new kid for the day/night. It was awkward. The girl was, what? 10? She talked to her like she was 5. I LOVE Carlo Marks and will watch ANYTHING he's in, but he and Tamera had absolutely zero chemistry. Which has to be her doing, because everything I've seen him in, he's had some kind of spark between him and the main female lead.

I really wanted to like this movie because it represents my household. My daughter, growing up as a mixed child, never saw HER family represented on the Hallmark Channel. Majority of their couples and and/or families are very homogeneous. This movie was a let down.

We really enjoyed the storyline in this movie. This is what Hallmark does Best in my opinion. There's so much negativity that we're fed in the news, social media, and movies, it's nice to watch something that gives you the warm and fuzzies and the whole family can watch without worrying that kids can be exposed to something that isn't appropriate. Watching Tamera Mowry Housely on screen as Angela, and her daughter Brooklyn played by Audrey Wise Alvarez was a great match, the chemistry was natural, they really shined in this movie. We look forward to the Countdown to Christmas movies every year, and will definitely be adding this to our collection, because we watch Christmas movies throughout the year!