Mesma Hora, No Próximo Natal

Second chance story in amazing natural scenery. It's not very Christmasy, but full of positive vibes (at least in the first half). The premise is original in terms of holiday movies - two people who fancy each other meet once a year on Christmas vacation, but the timing is never right for them. Of course, there is a love triangle and a big city workaholic boyfriend that is supposed to be unlikable, and one can easily argue that heroes don't know each other that well to be called soulmates by everyone since they only meet for a couple of days and don't stay in touch in the meantime. However, it was nice seeing some fresh faces in the genre, especially The Originals' Charles and Glee's Lea. All in all pleasant movie that can disappoint those looking for a movie filled with typical holiday activities, you won't find them here.

OK. That's it. No more cookie cutter Christmas romances for me. The writings bad, even good actors phone in their performances, and, the romance never plums any depth. I give this film a 4 (poor) out of 10 and abandoned the search for a contemporary Christmas romance. {Christmas Romance}

Just because the film takes place around Christmas time each year over two decades of Christmas's in Hawaii this made for TV film is nothing more than every girls dream of a long range romance that simmers and glimmers for a young girl (Lea Michele) named Olivia Anderson. It's a chick flick plain and simple that young girls and (maybe some) disillusioned wives will most likely feel all kinds of butterflies in their tummies over. Will somebody please gag me with a pine cone.

As a married man who enjoys all film genres I despise when a film has "CHRISTMAS" in the film title to which we assume the film must have something to do with the magic of Christmas but such is not the case with Same Time, Next Christmas. Mrs. Shullivan seemed to enjoy it so maybe I have something to worry about with my own marriage????

I blame the deceptive film title for possibly ruining my marriage, but it won't lessen my spirit for enjoying a real Christmas themed movie like Kurt Russell in the 2018 film The Christmas Chronicles. Look for this aforementioned title instead and don't be fooled by Same Time, Next Christmas, as it is NOT a Christmas film, it is a CHICK FLICK!!!!

I know Lea Michele mainly from "Glee", where she was a mix of appealing an annoying. I liked her character a lot there, and she has had several TV roles since which I didn't enjoy quite as much. Here she is very appealing and still quite pretty. Her acting is good for this sort of movie.

Charles Michael Davis is also quite appealing. I sort of see where he has a different kind of appeal, but I don't really get the full benefit.

Phil Morris does a very good job, but that's to be expected. He was a detective from "The Young and the Restless" and I have seen him in other roles. I do wonder, though, why so many football metaphors when it's baseball he loves.

Bryan Greenberg has a certain appeal and is not a stereotypical bad guy. He just doesn't fit with this group and we know it. His attempt to be one of them is impressive. We just doubt we'll be quite happy with him.

Of course this movie fits a formula. It's a great formula. Sure, there is a little more uncertainty than I would have liked, but the ending is satisfactory. Or maybe it's more than that. I don't want to say too much.

Is this family friendly? I'd like to say so. On ABC it was rated TV-PG-D, and while I don't recall anything of an explicit nature, maybe they were being cautious because there were kids in the cast.

I don't see nearly enough of these movies. Aside from the fact that I don't want to spend the kind of money required to get all the channels, I wouldn't have time for all the movies like this on a certain channel whose name we all know.

But if I had to see just one of these movies this year (and I'm hoping the channels I have will offer more of them later) this is a good one.

As far as Hallmark-y type movies go, and especially holiday ones, this one entertained me! I loved the story and I fell in love with the main characters and their families. The love story felt very realistic in terms of real-life issues coming into play. I gave it an 8 because this is a different scale than Hollywood movies. It is a TV movie of course. And quite a good one.