User reviews

I struggled a bit with this one. I found it difficult to connect with both the story and acting at times. Put simply, it did not pull me in, engage me, like some of the other Lifetime Christmas movies this 2020 season. At the center of this story is Sadie (played by Malone Thomas), who heads home for Christmas to visit her family after her boyfriend blows her off for the holidays. To her surprise, her parents have sold the family Chocolate business to Alex (our other protagonist in this story, played by Jason Burkey). Sadie agrees to teach him everything she knows about chocolate and being a chocolatier, something growing up Sadie always dreamed about becoming. While showing him the ropes, Sadie soon rediscovers her talent and passion for making chocolate while, at the same time, begins to fall in love with Alex. Unfortunately, the story falls flat. The writer could have done a better job of developing the characters in the story; they were quite dull individuals, I'm afraid. Alex, who knows nothing about making chocolate, buys a chocolate business. Really? The backstory we are given for explaining this is rather weak (not very convincing, that is). Indeed, we don't learn very much about Alex in this story, so it is hard to connect with his character, even though he has an adorable daughter. The writer too could have done a better job of developing Sadie's passions for chocolate, for taking over the business. We don't really see this 'rediscovery' develop on screen. Granted, this is partly due to the acting, but also due to a lack of character development in the script. The obsession with the gingerbread houses for the party, which consumed much of the second half of the film, seemed strange and did not help in this regard. That said, I did enjoy the lesson on chocolate truffles, a pity there was not more of this in the movie. The acting, overall, could have been better. Malone Thomas's performance was mixed. There were several scenes where she fell flat; i.e., she wasn't very expressive at times. And I never really felt her passion for chocolate on screen, as I alluded to above. She did have some very good scenes with Francie and Alex. Jason Burkey's performance was decent. For the first 30 minutes or so, I found it difficult to connect with his character. For example, he seemed uninterested in learning about chocolate from Sadie in these earlier scenes, which seemed odd given he was buying the business. I did enjoy the scenes and dialogue with his daughter; his face lit right up in these scenes. I thought the chemistry between the two was mixed; they had some good and not so good moments/scenes/dialogue together. The supporting cast was solid. I thought Patty Lambert (playing Carol, Sadie's mother) had a strong, convincing performance. And Remi Hilson (playing Francie, the daughter) was adorable; she did great, I thought. Finally, the scenery, props, and sets were quite charming and festive. I thought the music was bold at times but good. All in all, the movie is all right. It is not one of Lifetime's best this year nor is it one of their worse. If you are a fan of Lifetime Christmas movies, then it might be worth a watch.

The story is totally based on the formula where mom and dad are selling the business Sadie grew up to love. But it's like the formula got lost in translation from another language. The elements are obvious, but so many things don't flow right. They don't make sense.

It starts out fine. I liked that Sadie not only didn't get fired, but she wasn't under any pressure from her boss. All the pressure was her own disappointment. Immediately her jerk of a boyfriend calls her and tells her he is too busy to join her for Christmas. At that point, Sadie is done with him. Then mom and dad drop the bombshell. And Sadie accidentally runs into Alex, the new owner, without knowing it's him. Then she has to train him. They grow closer together. Sadie meets Francie the daughter and of course they hit it off. And Sadie has to plan a big party on short notice and a snowstorm throws a wrench in her plans. All good. It's totally by the numbers, but it's going as the viewer would expect..

Then things get strange. There's the usual misunderstanding, but that's treated like a tiny blip. The ex-boyfriend comes into play, but why? The way it's done is totally pointless and the screen time would have been better used smoothing out the climax. The climax is a total cluster. The outcome is predictable, but it makes no sense how it gets there. As another reviewer points out, the character development explaining certain things is totally lacking. All of a sudden, the characters are just there. The epilogue is another thing that seems pointless - the way it's done, it's almost pointless. But then maybe it's artsy.

The acting is mostly good. Malone Thomas and Jason Burkey have mixed chemistry, but mostly it's good.

I barely made it through 30 minutes of this movie. This is the second year I've watched all Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies. This is the first one I'm unable to watch. The acting is horrible, the characters are unbelievable and I can't connect to the story. The Hallmark actors/actresses are much better because they've made so many of them. It seems Lifetime finds the most underrated and unknown actors to star in their films. I'm not wasting my DVR space for anymore of these Lifetime Christmas movies. I'm sticking to Hallmark. Sorry not sorry.

Has Malone Thomas taken ANY acting lessons ??? she was just blandly script reading - no passion - no acting - no facial expressions, nothing. The rest of the cast were almost as bad, - long pauses between lines. If this is the best that the casting director can get, even for a minor movie channel then Hollywood really is in trouble.

Please Hallmark, before casting, make sure the actors/actresses are up to a good standard of actual acting !

I thought the male lead was quite good in this. Sure his part didn't make any sense at all, but I watched it all the way through because he was such a consistently believable nice guy. The little girl was cute, a decent actress for that age, and her singing was nice.

The female lead, on the other hand, was booooooring. Wow. She wasn't given much of a script to work with, but it's like she didn't even try. Also, the script had her be mean one minute and then nice the next minute, not interested and then super interested, acting like an adult then a teen. And she was passive aggressive and had no communication skills. It's just not believable that the male lead is interested in her at all once she does a few of her intense mood swings. He'd be running the other way!

The actors are fine but the detail of the script could be better - it isn't realistic that there's so few staff in the store, or that the new owner could manage by himself within a fortnight. Also the cross-generational dialogue is realistic but uncomfortable to watch at times - patronising and even arrogant occasionally. The background stories are good, but it is irritating that the main lead basically keeps destroying things in life that aren't perfect etc - although again it is realistic as that's what she's grown up with in the store.

Oh, and are so many Christmas carols crammed into the soundtrack that I felt I'd seen a whole pageant!

As many people have already stated, the leading lady was...painful to watch. Not sure how this particular actress got the part but I'm convinced a piece of wood would have been more convincing. (Maybe that's why she's so pouty/mopey throughout). The leading man met typical hallmark standard, though given the ability of his love interest chemistry would have been more convincing with said piece of wood. The little girl who played his daughter - well, I'm not going to be mean but it was not great. Was she cute? Yeah. Apparently that was the only requirement.

Typical hallmark plot, entirely predictable but somehow still unpleasant.

My family and I love watching these Lifetime films, and this one was no exception! In typical Lifetime fashion, Sadie's parents are selling their candy shop to a handsome young man, and she's not happy about it... but maybe there's something between them. Malone Thomas & Jason Burkey were fun to watch as romance unfolds in this sweet holiday film.

I managed to make it through 14 minutes through this movie before hysterically shutting it off.

Start your season off right and watch a different movie. I managed this stomach Netflix's Santa Girl, but I couldn't make it through this one.

Who ever made the choice decision to have music in every moment of this movie made a terrible decision. It overtakes each scene to the point where I couldn't easily hear or remember what the characters were talking about. The acting is very monotone which does a great job in highlighting the music as well.

If you're into listening to ambient holiday music, log onto Spotify and throw on a random holiday playlist. The ad breaks are much less aggravating than this movie's audio balance.

It's a Christmas movie that's suppose to be a casual one time watch anyway. The thing that disappointed me was the Main Actress who is the protagonist is a pretty stoic face. That's all she is. I mean the acting was so bad. She's pretty and all but that's not enough for a good movie. The best friend of the main actress was more appealing to me. Anyhow it's worse than a throwaway movie. The 'conflict' was meh and the whole movie ended up being meh thereafter.

I am an hour into this movie. I can't watch any longer. Where does Lifetime find these actors? Off the street? I bet I could be less stiff and more believable than these people.

Bottom line: bad storyline, bad acting, unlikable characters ... DONE with Lifetime! Not sure how they can do good movies like Christmas Harmony, Christmas Pen Pals, Mistletoe and Menorahs - and then put out this drivel. Must have run out of money ...

This was an odd movie. The lead female character was unlikable. She was spoiled, pouts, and is very sore loser, who changed her major in college because she did not win a contest. She did not seem interested in the store or chocolate until her boyfriends stands her up and she goes home and discovers her parents are selling the store they have owned for 40 years, without even consulting their spoiled only child. This whole plot was sloppy and full of holes and awkward. Also why does Lifetime constantly list their movies under different titles? To hide the bad ones from people? This is the 5th movie I have looked up in their 2020 catalog that has a different title then the final title they run it under.

I'm going to quit recording these movies showing after Dec 20th. Every one has been lame. They must save the worst for last. This one makes no sense.

Why are the negativity?? I don't know why people are giving it a bad review. It may not be the best quality, but certainly WAY better than most I've seen this year. I don't think I've ever seen that actress before but I think she did a better job than most of the movies I've watched this year-family safe and no cable.. It was fun to watch all the chocolate making, but the only part I thought it was a bit ridiculous was them trying to make individual gingerbread houses for all their guests. This movie was also called chocolate covered Christmas. On the Roku app it said it was rated TV14, but it is definitely barely PG.

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime, Hallmark and UPTV. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. 'My Sweet Holiday' in all honesty didn't appeal and did sound like one of the latter category films when reading the premise.

Lifetime's 2020 Christmas output didn't wow me and was a very mixed bag, but there were some surprisingly good films and the overall standard considering the circumstances could have been a lot worse. There were still misfires though (i.e. 'Christmas in the Highlands', 'Christmas Listing'/'Christmas Inn Farmstead'), and sadly 'My Sweet Holiday' is on the whole one of those misfires. It has good things, it takes a lot for me to say that anything film or television related has no redeeming merits, but there are also a lot of flaws and unfortunately the issues are big.

Am going to begin with the good things. It is a pleasant looking film, a lot of care and effort went into the photography and the festive decor and the scenery is more than easy on the eye. The music also has the right amount of festive spirit and is pleasant to listen to without being exceptional, it doesn't sound over-scored like Lifetime films can be.

'My Sweet Holiday' is a case of the supporting cast being much better than the leads. Patty Lambert and Remi Hilson gave very engaging, honest performances, just loved the warm hearted and adorable father and daughter scenes between Hilson and Jason Burkey. Burkey's performance is uneven, but he is incredibly charming in the family scenes.

It did take a bit of time to warm to him properly, for most of the first act he seemed too cold and uptight. He is certainly much better than Malone Thomas, who is just awful in a very wooden and expressionless performance and calling it either of those things is actually generous. It was like she had done the film for a favour and had started to regret it when it was too late, so decided not to try. She and Burkey have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever, one never feels the love and the passion for chocolate is not believable on either end because both looked so unenthusiastic about it. The only chemistry that rang believable in the film was between Burkey and Hilson.

Really didn't care for most of the characters, who are typical Lifetime cliche ciphers on the most part. Hilson's is the one with the most heart, but Burkey's took time to warm to when it took time for Burkey to ease into the role and Thomas' had no personality. Found the boyfriend character very unnecessary and his role in the story forced in rushed in development, also not making sense later on. The film could have done a much better job fleshing out of character motivations, which aren't really fleshed out at all. Any attempts are vague at best, introduced too suddenly and only touched upon too briefly, some of them in the latter stages don't make sense. Which was a major problem with the too unrealistically pat and fantasy land-like ending, while the coda is sickly and tacked on.

The script is far too cheesy and schmaltzy and doesn't flow very well at all, not feeling like everyday conversation. The story is severely under-baked, especially in the final act, and is dully paced and with very little emotional connection. Also found that it jumped about structurally, with too many things happening where one questions why has this happened which gave the impression that things that were meant to be in the film were left on the editing room floor. Not to mention the excessive predictability, very familiar scenarios executed in such a mundane been there done that with no originality way.

In conclusion, very lacklustre. 4/10.

Cute and a good concept but very one noted. Actors weren't awful but they had no emotions the whole movie. Sadie felt depressed the whole movie, which gave the whole movie a very depressed feeling all over. It was a downer and as a Christmas movie I assumed it would be more uplifting and positive regardless of the past or current unhappy circumstances. Just meh overall. I wanted to love Alex, him and Francie were adorable and that was probably the highlight of the movie. But he felt just as one noted as Sadie. I needed more emotion and feeling. Had so much potential but I wanted more than what they gave.

Chocolate Covered Christmas/My Sweet Holiday (2020) -

Surely there have got to be some new stories out there somewhere (I have actually seen a couple), because I'm getting tired of these b!tches coming in from the big city and judging these guys before they even get to known them.

Malone Thomas in the role of Sadie was such a know it all and she got so wound up so quickly and easily.

She also had no interest in Alex played by Jason Burkey at all, even when she said those three magic words it was totally emotionless.

I didn't think that there was enough interaction between Sadie and Alex' kid either, certainly not for it to be such a thing for them or for them to be so pally.

Jason looked like an older Jake Gyllenhaal and he was way more charming than Malone was, but he did also have a sort of sinister element about him. There was just something off that I couldn't put my finger on and because of that I couldn't connect with him either.

It was also unclear why Alex had decided to buy a chocolate shop with no experience in sweet making or even baking.

I miss real chocolate shops, I can't find decent truffles anywhere, but I wouldn't want some random, with no idea, fobbing me off with any old crap. I can get that in the supermarkets.

It seemed that his interest in the shop was purely the writers vehicle for him to find Sadie and fall in love, without it actually making sense, because he didn't really have the passion for the confectionery or even retail.

As for Sadie's attempts to organise a big party for her parent's retirement, it was hard to believe that she could pull it all off in the few days she had, especially with the amount of time that she wasted flirting with Alex and procrastinating about anything and everything.

But it all fell together for the event and for them as a couple far too easily and it was a bit convenient.

However, if you're going to make a film that's supposed to have a massive function, you need the massive crowd to fill the hall too.

And the choir was a bit much! Talk about hyperactive and there's always one soprano that really goes for it.

The story in general was a bit clichéd and twee, with constant conclusion jumping that was annoying too. Instead of asking what was happening they just assumed everything in the negative, which would have worked fine as a one off, but not as the entire structure of the films back and forth.

I'm not likely to return to this one, the premise was just too daft and I didn't get on with the leading actors. Perhaps opposite different performers they might work individually, but they weren't right together.

4/10.