Christmas Is You

This was interesting. As a fledgling GAF effort, it got off to a decent start. A former high school couple is reunited when the girl, now working for a management agency is sent to her hometown to recruit her ex, now a major star on the outs with his manager.

I really think actors playing musicians look ridiculous, but Matthew MacCaulley at least appears to know the basic chords, and has a couple of quality (pricey) guitars. He actually does a nice job playing the down-to-earth superstar.

Becca Tobin has toned down the sweet in this movie to good effect, but her character must be the stupidest girl in the world.

They sing a nice duet early on, but the song they perform at the finale is awkward and musically nonsensical. That God for the invisible orchestra!

The supporting cast includes several veterans of Hallmark movies, which helped a lot. This is exactly what GAF needs going forward.

And better writers I'm afraid. This one gets to the easily-avoidable conflict you see coming a mile away and falls apart completely. Well, it's a start.

Childhood loves, Emma Bloom (Becca Tobin) and Tyler Thorn (Matthew MacCaull), reunite in their home town during Christmas. He's a big music star. She works for a record company. Her boss hears that he dropped his agency and tells Emma to sign him. If she can do it, she could be the new partner in the firm.

Her best friend and confidant should be a girlfriend. She needs to do some emotional exposition and dumping but can't be explicit with her brother. She needs a sister. It's not like the actor playing the brother is anything special. The younger couple is cute but they are strictly amateur actors. This is the gentlest of romantic drama. I like the two leads and I've always liked Tobin. This movie is not requiring much from them and that's what they deliver. Maybe if they could turn this more into a musical. It's very bland but that's par for the course in this type of movies.

Christmas Is You (2021) -

Not typically my type, Matthew MacCaul in the lead male role of Tyler, definitely had a certain sexiness about him, although he needed a hair cut and I wasn't sure that I would want to rush out to buy his characters album.

And Casey Menderson was cute too. There was a good chemistry between him and his sister Emma (Becca Tobin) and it would have been easy to see him and her as the leading romantic couple if they hadn't been related. I don't know many siblings that get on quite as well as they did. He always comes over a bit gay though too and actually it might have been better if Tyler had fallen for him instead, because they also had a good chemistry.

Casey as Jett wasn't a good brother however. I could see that his interaction with Emma's boss Rachel was to create a second romance, but there was a lot of underhanded behaviour and interference between them on Emma's behalf. Their interest in each other was a bit of a stretch too, because they barely knew each other.

Honestly though, I hadn't expected to like this one at all. Becca Tobin was horrible in 'Glee' (2009-15) and Matthew seemed like he was going to be slimey, based on the pictures I'd seen and the format seemed very typical too, but even after a few minutes it did appear to be a well made film, which I found interesting and worthy of my attention.

I wonder if the guy playing Mitch (Not listed on IMDB - Matty Finochio) has ever played someone who wasn't a douche bag though? I generally get irritated the moment he turns up on screen and it doesn't help that he's usually playing some pushy idiot. Thank God he never gets the leading roles.

It was a cute romance and I loved the shop setting. I do think that they could have utilised Becca's voice a bit more though and even potentially made it in to a musical.

5.50/10.

I wanted to like this film , against cliches, music as new pretext and crisis of space for significant show of young people.

In part, I was enough lucky to discover its good points , from family spirit and the wise mother, to the provocative tensioned moment when the hope of no nice final was real fresh.

But , sure, romance and Christmas, the return of hero and the feelings from youth more than present are useful details for not ignore the consacrated recipe . And reproches are far to be fair , the acting being decent, the story not boring and the supporting actors , near the romance of young couple working not awful.

So, nice .

And it is just enough - grace to some music, off course.

GAC continues to give very decent entertainment for the Holidays. The story is simple, the actors, Becca Tobin and Matthew MacCaull are unspoiled, down to ground, and work quite well together. All characters feel genuine, never offensive, and not conveying subliminal messages. As seen in other GAC productions, the decor of the interiors is rich in colors and tradition, reminiscent of Norman Rockwell's art. You may like it or not, but it seems distinctive and feels comfy. The stars duet, "Silent Night", sung with no frills, goes straight to the heart. It is done exactly as it was created by Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr in 1818: just simple voices and a guitar. Certainly, one could be critical of this or that detail. Regardless, in my book, simplicity, tradition and kindness go a long way in a Christmas movie.