User reviews

'A Christmas Family Reunion' (2021)

Opening thoughts: Decided to see this having recently been on a roll watching Lifetime's 2021 Christmas films, which did vary in quality.'A Christmas Family Reunion' could have been a good deal better than it was though. There are things that are good, but there are too many areas where it is lacking (badly) for me to recommend it. 'A Christmas Family Reunion' is a long way from being one of the worst Christmas films seen recently, where there has been a mixture of good, bad and somewhere in between, but it is also a long way from being one of the best. In ranking, it would be somewhere around lower middle. Lifetime did do some decent Christmas films in 2021, the best surprisingly very well done, but this isn't one of them.

Good things: Did think that some of the acting was better than average. The two leads are charming enough and Vanessa Williams and Wendy Robinson provide some much needed zest.

It looks nice, well shot with lovely scenery. The music is nice and nostalgically festive enough and Asia'h Epperson's song at the end is sweet and beautifully sung, just wish that her role was bigger and played to her strengths.

Bad things: Not all the actors come off well. Some do try too hard and others have bland personalities. The central chemistry is underdeveloped and bland, with the awkwardness being overdone to begin with. The characters are not developed enough and what there is is cliched and over-simple.

Furthermore, the script throughout is weak. It was mostly very stilted and cheesy as well as dreary with too much blandness to have any sentimental value. The story never comes to life, with a very pedestrian pace. And because of doing absolutely nothing different with a premise already done to death is very predictable. It is also very thin, especially early on and the conflict is confused and underdeveloped, when given any explanation too late it felt over-explained. The ending is too neat.

Concluding thoughts: Overall, very lacklustre.

4/10.

Ponderous and dull, with zero chemistry, everyone seems to be trying too hard to generate energy. Sad to say, the script is so feeble that this is like trying to pour water up hill. It's all formula - a bad one. The extra stars in my rating express pity for the actors trapped in this mistake.

The party planning angle is common. It was the vehicle for bringing together Amy and Calvin to develop their relationship. Michelle Argyris and Alonzo B. Slater had chemistry, but the activities that went with their time together were mundane.

The conflict confused me until Kayleigh explained it. What follows immediately after that seemed a little weird, but it was unusual.

Asia'h Epperson performs a song at the end.

I guess I will not be able to review more Lifetime movies. Probably, I will not even begin to watch them. This time I really tried.... but I could not go on and soon turned to another channel, as I could not keep my attention alive.

Felt it was vapid and boring.

This is a cute movie about family Christmas traditions. I enjoyed seeing all the different traditions each family had and how they encompassed all of them at the end. I really didn't see any chemistry between the 2 leads. I thought the Christmas planner was boring and had no personality. The true entertainment comes from Vanessa Williams and Wendy Robinson. I wish we got to hear Asia'h sing more in this movie because she has a beautiful voice. Overall, I enjoyed this movie.

I thought it was a lighthearted way to spend the evening. It was also refreshing to see a Christmas movie in a locale absent of snow... I grew up in Texas and spent many joyful Christmas' in Arkansas or Louisiana with my grandparents. There were no snowflakes to be found and we had a blast.

Not sure why this is getting so many bad reviews. I'm pretty critical and I really enjoyed this. At least I didn't have to sit through a Christmas tree lighting in the town square, baking cookies, caroling and all of the other predictable things found in most of these Christmas movies. In addition, the cast was great.