O Acampamento de Natal

Aspiring writer Peyton (Tori Anderson) works at a publishing company as an assistant. Her boss says that she has no personal connections to her writing. Her parents are retiring and giving up their summer camp. They would like Peyton to take over, but she is desperate to be a writer. The camp is throwing one last Christmas in July for the alumni. Peyton is surprised to see her former flame Thomas (Corbin Bleu) attending. She decides to write about the camp.

It's another Hallmark Christmas in July. Tori Anderson is fine as the leading lady with issues. I don't know what happened to Corbin Bleu. He seems to have lost his mojo after cutting his hair. None of the other side characters really popped. The story is bland. The camp itself is a little too clean. It's well-manicured family cottages. A rustic camp is much more charming cinematically and visually. This is Hallmark at its most average.

• It was actually a bit funny, especially parts of the first half. Unlike other reviewers, I actually liked the premise (however well trodden as it may be). But it fell into the Hallmark trap of leaning too much on sentimentality.

• Speaking of which, in order to feel sentimental you have to feel something towards the characters. This didn't work in this movie for two reasons: 1) not enough time getting to know and care about them and 2) there was little chemistry between them. The two leads were miscast.

• I couldn't figure out why the female lead would be so torn up over the male lead. And it isn't just because of looks; his personality was pretty wooden too.

-Other reviewers have commented on the overacting, but I honestly could have used more theatrics from the cast.

I actually wasn't that interested in this one from the previews, but wound up watching it since i liked the cast and was really surprised. The acting came together well, the storyline was not a cheesy as I thought, and I genuinely laughed throughout. It was fun while not coming across as too much.

I like the premise, but this could have been much better because the acting was particularly good. I like the male lead but not with Tori so again, Hallmark casting is horrific. I will give them a bonus for the side characters because i thought that worked well but the male lead with Tori seemed unbelievable. Maybe i should have gotten into casting because i think the reason Comedy and Romance can't make a comeback is because we don't have a Tom Hanks currently so to speak. Casting is a lost art especially with Hallmark type movies.

I would like to start by saying, two of the reviews clearly didn't actually pay attention to the movie. It has a beautiful back story that is opened up to the viewer throughout the whole film. It is explained why "Christmas in July" and it is a reunion for campers from years past.

That being said, now my opinion: I felt that this movie hit the mark for the "season". I appreciated that unlike most Hallmark movies (which I also love, what can I say), there was no committed relationship in the big city that was abandoned at the reminder of young love. It was fully about the main character and their hopes and dreams. This movie serves as a great reminder to never give up on your dreams, no matter how many people stand in your way.