Lonestar Christmas

Like some of the other reviewers on here, I struggled to get thru this Lifetime Christmas movie, especially the first 30 minutes or so. The story centers around Erin (played by Stephanie Bennett), a widowed mother of two daughters, who (thru some encouragement from a friend/family) decides to spend Christmas with her estranged father on his Texas ranch. In addition to working thru her troubles and issues with her father, Erin meets Mateo (our other protagonist in this story, played by Marco Grazzini), a local Mexican restaurant owner. Are forgiveness and love on the cards for Erin this Christmas? The premise of the story is a warm and heartfelt one. Unfortunately, the script is rather weak at times. The sub-plot set around Erin and her father (played by Brent Stait) is the weak link in this story. The script/dialogue here is not very convincing, and the writers don't spend enough time setting up the difficulties between the two for the viewer. As a result, this sub-plot is quite dull and difficult to believe overall. Granted, it is challenging to do everything in a TV movie of only 85 minutes. What makes this sub-plot even more problematic is the quality of the acting (which I discuss below). That said, the story does start to improve about 40 minutes into the film, beginning with the scene immediately after the fruitcake at Erin's parents' place (the one where the two have dialogue in front of the house). In the second half of the film, the dialogue between the two, Erin and Mateo, and the development of their relationship is what keeps this movie afloat, I felt. More specifically, it was the performance of Grazzini (as Mateo) that shines thru in this movie. He had a strong performance, I thought. He had a warm and gentle vibe to his performance, which made for good chemistry. The chemistry between him and Bennett (as Erin) was pretty good, quite believable, I felt. The strongest scenes in the film were the dialogue and exchanges between the two and the ones with the kids as well. However, Bennett had a mixed performance, as her dialogue with her father was often awkward and not very convincing on screen, unfortunately. Stait too was quite weak/awkward in these scenes. They should have given more lines to BJ Harrison; she was quite good. Finally, the movie does provide some holiday cheer and Christmas spirit in the latter half of the film. The music is also quite good, with some nice country (or country like) music. All in all, it is not a very good Christmas movie. However, if you can get thru the first 40 minutes or so, the second half is decent.

Christmas Forgiveness/Lonestar Christmas (2020)-

It's a very simple story and that's not a bad thing. It's done well although there are a few too many "Y'all's" and "Howdy's" trying too hard to let you know that they're cowboys and therefore they all sound a bit forced.

Marco Grazzini has got such an easy smile that shines from his eyes and a lovely face to back it up, which makes him easy to watch, but he just seems a bit out of place. With that said, I've never been to the lone-star state to know who belongs there. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't like me.

I have my own daddy issues, so I can connect with the character of Erin, I've always felt that my Dad was absent even before he died and I'd like to be able to talk to him now for some closure. At least she can still confront hers about the way she feels and she should definitely appreciate that, however, she is an arsey cow who enjoys wallowing in her misery.

She doesn't actually have an issue, it's all on her. She's the one that can't move on and is holding herself and, as a result, her kids back, where the Dad is keen to build bridges and do whatever he can, so I didn't like her or think her good enough for Marco's character Mateo.

I didn't need the singing and the young girls are not brilliant actors either.

Basically she's got issues and he's cute. And at least it's a slightly different tale and not badly produced.

6.30ish/10.

It is a Christmas film sustained by good intentions and by Marco Grazzini. And, in some measure, it is enough for a Hallmark movie . The try of supporting actors is not so bad, the steps of reconciliation father - daughter remains a sketch with unrealistic result but the film is real good intentioned and this saves some of it.

The problem is the hole between first and second part and the improvised solutions for final.

But, sure, it is only/ just Hallmark. Easy, nice intentioned and around romance. So, difficult ( and unfair ) to be very critic about it when the expectations, before the start credits.

I found the first half of this movie to be slow and boring. The female lead's story was that of a spoiled brat. I had a hard time dealing with her whining and pity party. The lead actor pretty much carried the movie for me and the ending was good.

I taped this movie to watch later. Having a hard time watching even fast forwarding through a lot of it. Mateo always grins like a silly school boy from the start. No chemistry between the actors. It's just plain painful to watch.