Christmas Tree Lane

Nothing original, which isn't unusual I suppose in these movies, but it was like a greatest hits collection of all the favorite tropes. Almost like it was a competition to see how many they could fit into 90 minutes. Good actors doing good work, but just lacking in anything that pulls you into the story because of how obvious the tropes are, and how little romance there actually is. Is this the new standard that the first and only real romance or kiss is at the very last moment right before the credits roll. I guess that would be ok if there were clearly visible sparks earlier on, that were not acted upon for propriety or other credible reasons. This movie had none of that. Oh well.

I think "pleasant" is the key word here. The story is fine, the pace seems fine, the cast is fine, but it lacks any real spark romantically. To me it seems like the leads could be really good friends. What I did really enjoy was Alicia Witt's piano performance, she's the real deal musically and we got a taste of excellence there.

It deserves be better. For the effort of actors,for few real good points - especially the music - , for the potential of a nice friendhip story with reflexes of romantic comedy of 1930 - 1950, with good start point to become romance in authenthic way. But it remains a good try, mixing different pieces, a conflict and an initial war in something acceptable with some indulgence, forced change of intention and a beautiful concert.

To me this looked like the typical Hallmark themed movie but with two of Hallmarks power leads in the main roles they managed to pull it off. I thought they had very good chemistry.

This is also the first time that I can recall that Alcia Witt has gotten to sing in one of her Hallmark movies, Christmas or otherwise, and she has a beautiful voice. That made the movie for me.

I usually really enjoy watching Andrew Walker's Hallmark films; he is a good actor in such roles. He did a decent job in this movie too. But there was no chemistry between him and Alicia Witt, at least, I did not see it. I felt Alicia's performance was rather weak, though, to be honest, I am not a huge fan of her Hallmark films. The supporting cast was great, especially Nate's parents. The movie is enjoyable enough and instills a bit of Christmas spirit. Worth a watch if you are familiar/like Hallmark movies.