Christmas in My Heart

Sean's daughter, Katie, has a concert at school, so they hire Beth, a violinist to help her practice for 3 weeks.

At first, I didn't realise this was a HM&M movie, so I was confused about what was going on. You know how their movies tend to be a little more complex. This is no exception. They deal with grief, and something that really surprised me, racial identity. Music is, of course, the main thing going on. And I discovered that Hallmark movies that base their plot around music are not my thing.

In my opinion, it was okay. At the beginning, there is no much going on, and it can be quite boring. The exciting things happen at the end. At the beginning they deal with the topics I mentioned before. I was more interested in the secondary relationships (Beth and Katie, Sean and Katie, Sean and his mother in law, Katie and her grandma) that in the main one. I want to point out one particular scene at the beginning with Katie and her grandma, that just filled my heart with love.

I would love to see Heather in a more cheerful character. But good performances by the whole cast. I do not think there is chemistry between the leads, which is a bummer because I love Luke.

Anyway, not a fave, but it touches very important themes.

I always enjoy it when Hallmark holiday movies include musicians and music. This one stars a country music star (Macfarlane) and classical violinist (Hemmens). There are a few musical numbers, which were terrific. I could have listened to a lot more of that.

Macfarlane also has a daughter he's raising alone, which introduces a nice family vibe to the romance. Grief is a theme as both the country music star and the violinist recently lost someone important. Both main characters are in multi-racial families, and the script actually brought up issues of racial identity (in a very light way) which I appreciated.

A really solid Hallmark movie worth keeping.

One con - Luke Macfarlane has a scene where he sings--there's a reason why he's an actor not a singer. But points to him for putting his heart into it.

Much deeper story than the typical Hallmark fare. I thought the race issues it tackled were done incredibly well and aided the connection between the characters. I appreciated that it was Luke voice and I had no issues with his singing. Lovely story and romance. My only issue at all was with the editing. Note to Hallmark or Dish - the cuts to commercial were the most awkward ever and really distracted from this wonderful movie.

I appreciate Hallmark's efforts to incorporate more diversity into their love stories. But so far they have not tailored the script to even acknowledge the difference in ethnicity or the unique challenges that an interracial relationship might entail. The black (or other) person of color might just as well be played by a white actor. It's been giving a new meaning to "color-blind." They don't in this one either. But they do touch on the complications that a white father might have raising a black daughter. The black mother of his late wife has a talk with her granddaughter while discussing her hairstyle options for a special concert. The young girl, beautifully played by Maria Nash, states that she thinks it would look more "professional" slicked back. The grandmother (Sheryl Lee Ralph) then takes the opportunity to encourage her to be proud of her heritage and her different hair and to be herself. But also, what ever she chooses, she will look beautiful. In another scene, the young daughter confides in her black mentor and her father's love interest that she almost quit playing the violin because she didn't see any other violin players that "looked like me." Also the father, Luke McFarlane, a favorite of mine, is overprotective of his daughter. He is a big country star on a hiatus due to the death of his wife, and although not stated, it is implied that he fears some friction or hostility from social media and the tabloids because of his black daughter. I was curious, and I checked the writers of this. And sure enough, one of the trio of women writers is black.

The love interest, also the product of an interracial marriage, is played with warmth and dignity by Heather Hemmens. I like the way she handled Luke rudely telling her to back off when he finds out his daughter has been confiding in her about the loss of her mother. It was well played. I won't critique the plot. There was a lot going on with Luke and Heather's career prospects and their different tastes in music, as well as their attraction to each other. Luke, who is usually in more comedic roles, is very effective in this more dramatic plot. However, I could do without his singing next time. Luke, I love you, and I suspect it was that god-awful song rather than your performance, but I was as stunned as poor Heather looked during the private audition of his new tune. She handled it with tact and kindness.

I love Luke MacFarlane in many roles but not this one. First, Hallmark should have chosen an actor who could be more convincing with a Southern accent. I'm happy Hallmark is trying to incorporate more diversity, but it still needs to be believable and this was not. There was so much going on in this movie that I found myself distracted by trying to figure out all the relationships. Finally, Luke is not believable as a country star, whereas Heather is brilliant. They seem unequal in that respect.