Christmas with a Crown

When I watched this move a few months ago, on streaming, I erroneously blamed it on Hallmark. Now it' showing on Lifetime channel Therefore. I owe Hallmark my deepest apologies. Thus clarified, I still find this is, hands down, the worst royal TV movie ever. Save your intellect and watch a rerun of Gilligan' Island. That would be infinitely more entertaining.

Never have I ever given a Hallmark movie a 1 star

This is everything that could possible be poor about a movie - the story is totally ridiculous - not just magical, HEA and a little corny which is total fine but like the Bride of Chucky with a Christmas theme.....

I realise there are late bloomers including some lovely friends of mine but if you are going to cast mature leads is not the least that can happen is they act their age? This pair are acting like teens and if a day under 35 I will eat my hat..... And the romance and chemistry is just not there AT ALL....

Plain awful sorry to report......

This is a no more than serviceable Prince Pretending to be a Commoner in America story. He is visiting a small town trying to discover the true meaning of Christmas, so camouflaged as it is in the palace by meaningless tradition and formality. He goes to the town that a late former friend of his mother lived and that to him embodies the spirit of Christmas via her letters to his mother, the queen. He gets on the wrong side of a woman who is trying to save the local library by reviving her mothers yearly project, the Winter fest. Her mother, it turns out, just happens to be the woman whose letters to his mother has brought him to town.

Terryl Rothery plays the queen, who is pretty unpleasant through almost the whole movie. Marcus Rosner, a Hallmark veteran is good as the square-jawed dimpled prince. He was princely. I actually liked his use of a quasi English accent when in his prince persona and an American accent when in disguise. Unfortunately, the actress who played his love interest was not a good match, in my opinion. For one thing, she seemed too mature and worldly-wise to be a romantic lead for a prince in disguise in small-Town U. S. A.. The character got on my bad side right away by foolishly turning down his enthusiastic offer of help with the saving the library because he was a visitor and not part of the community. Especially since No One in the Actual Community stepped up to the plate.

There is a priceless scene near the end of the movie where Queen Terryl orders Prince Nicolas to kneel before her and pulls out a crown that looks like it was snagged from the Burger King mascot. She **spoiler alert** coronates her son right there in the middle of winter fest. I'm not sure whether this added a star to my rating or subtracted a star. But one thing for sure, Terryl and Marcus looked distinctly uncomfortable.

A romantic, modern day fairy tale that is grounded and perfect for all the family. There were a lot of cute moments and laughs throughout the movie. Enjoyed the Christmas tradition and magic of the film

Typical "Royal Cinderella " story. A prince of Caucasianstan ( my name for mythical land of white people) is unhappy with being rich and good looking until he meets plucky Christmas loving American ( actually Canadian) who has no sense of protocol. His mother the queen hates her. All's well by last 5 minutes.