Christmas at the Holly Hotel

The rating according to Amazon Prime was 3 out of 5 stars. Not exactly sure why though. This movie had a cute story line, and the cast was picked well enough I guess. The acting was a bit plain as they seemed to be just memorizing their lines immediately before the scene was done. The producers definitely didn't seem to put much effort into making sure you could hear the actors clearly as there were several instances where the wind or other background noise would drown out the talking. You can tell they probably didn't have a very high budget for the movie to be made. I feel like there could have been more effort put into everything overall. Maybe someone else could do a remake of this movie and improve it immensely to a 7 out of 10 stars on IMDb?

On Thanksgiving Day I tuned to this movie by accident (one channel off from the football game), and soon realized it was terrible. Before I could change to the game, though, my brother-in-law and some friends dropped by and they started watching the movie and joking at how bad it was. Its awfulness became sort of a cause celebre. We started to feel bad for the actors and writers and anyone involved because the whole thing was insipid. None of the characters had anything interesting to say except maybe alfalfa (not a spoiler). There were two dead characters but we didn't know why (not a spoiler). None of us had the heart to turn off this mess. We watched it all, laughed most of the time, then turned to the football game. Rated 5 for the unintentional humor.

This was one of the lowest energy movies I have seen in ages. The actors all looked and sounded like they were on the verge of falling asleep. Completely one note performances as though the only focus was spitting out the lines, but no warmth or feeling behind them. No chemistry between the lead characters, no excitement. The ending was not believable. I can't believe I wasted time on this!

There was a confusing plot point that also didn't work. I don't want to list spoilers but the flow was so random. Some of the hair /clothing choices were of poor quality as well. I did like the lead woman's dresses but that is not enough to recommend the film.

I watched with friends, and we howled with laughter at the acting and stilted script. I treasure finding movies that sincerely try so hard to hit the mark but just never can get any scene right - they have me in stitches. I realize that it was written, directed and produced by one guy, and probably on a shoestring budget, but it does make you appreciate the effort that goes into an actual Hallmark movie as opposed to a knockoff; the way they layer in music to help with scene transitions, the sound quality, the line readings, etc. The good thing is that there are so many bad things about this movie, no one person has to carry the blame for it not working. The actors can blame the script, the director can blame the producer, the writer can blame the director. Um, maybe you can blame one guy after all.

Tragically, the actual Holly Hotel it was filmed at was burned down six months after the movie was filmed there (but they are rebuilding).

This is the second Christmas romance I have seen this year, and if you know how I choose movies, I don't make a real effort to find what is good. Still, this movie has a number of good qualities. It certainly looks good, when it does. Nice stores in an ideal small town, a fancy hotel and restaurant worthy of a larger city, and decorations for the holiday. And wonderful performances by actors with fewer lines than the leads.

Wait, no snow in Michigan? There's melting snow from earlier but the comment is made that it hasn't snowed yet. I don't care about snow at Christmas, and I regard it as an inconvenience. But in a movie like this, oh yes you want it.

Let's start with the leads. I've never heard of Jesi Jensen but she is gorgeous, resembling Geena Davis when she was that age. If you look at the photo used for imdb ... well, that doesn't quite capture how great she looks in that dress on the big day. While Kathy is somewhat uptight and never really appeals to me that much, she is quite charming and convincing as she conducts a tour of her parents' hotel. I say convincing because she hates those tours. She is intelligent and capable but never quite what I am looking for in a personality. And her focus on her career may be the most important thing, unless some miracle takes place.

Mathew? Likable enough, I guess. I don't see these two getting together. And yet if this movie fits the formula, it will happen. Will it? Regardless, the ending could never happen in real life.

But the actors with only a few lines do the best job. Two in particular stand out.

Shirley Moon Koebbe is great as the 90-year-old grandmother who wants Mathew and Kathy to be a couple. She says what she wants and doesn't seem to care what people think. After all, she's 90 and can do what she likes.

Grover McCants does an amazing job too. I won't explain how the President of the United States ends up doing this, but he reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as well as I have ever seen it done. He has other lines which "Uncle Tyler" delivers very well.

And we're not through. Kristen Ryda seems more like the perky romantic lead in a movie like this, but this movie calls for uptight. Still, she makes a great contribution first at dinner and then in many calls with best friend Kathy.

Andrew Dawe-Collins and Nina Kircher as Mr. Hurst and wife Nora are also great. They have a secret which it is probably best not to mention, but like Grandma, their goal is to give Kathy her holiday spirit and make Mathew a part of it.

And even Deborah Chenault-Green as the hotel's head chef, who has only one scene. And yet she is very good and should have gotten to do more. It's curious that she doesn't show up again, but the reason is the movie's big crisis. Still, the movie could have done more with her even if she was unable to do her job.

One big omission. A missing daughter and not even a phone call? Don't they have phones in Colorado where she lives?

I was not happy with the music. Let others decide whether it was good. A female soloist sings "O Come All Ye Faithful" for diners. Her style was not my taste. Other than that, there may have been some actual Christmas music, which I define as songs I already knew and not songs I never heard of which have Christmas-related lyrics. I personally didn't care for the songs or the performances. There was a montage of the happy couple shopping which had instrumental music that didn't seem familiar but would fit perfectly on contemporary worship radio. A genre I can't stand.

Family friendly? I don't recall anything objectionable.

It's a good enough movie, but like I said last week, if you watch a lot of them, this may not be all that special.