Crown Prince of Christmas

We've made a heroic effort the last few years to catch every Hallmark Christmas movie, last year some of the GAF movies, and this year all of both. We don't make an effort for the Lifetime movies, because in our opinion, they're much more miss than hit.

The last four years of Hallmark have gone downhill in our eyes, and we've made the decision to cease our quest to watch them all. We'll continue to sample our favorite stars and possibly check some reviews for the rest. Movies like this made that decision easier to arrive at.

I think all three networks have overdone it. Too many plots are just rehashed versions of previous movies, and some of the efforts to "do something new" stretch so far out they crash and burn.

So what does all that have to do with GAF's Crown Prince of Christmas? It's a harmless little movie, but with an absurd premise and some ham-fisted writing and direction which embarrassed us for the actors and writers at times. I had to get used to my wife saying "Oh Good God!", like the cut-away take where the hotel employee has to stuff his fist in his mouth in an emotional reaction to the ubiquitous wrap-up kiss.

I liked the characters, it's just that every few minutes there were scenes too stupid to believe ... either from atrocious dialogue, poorly wrought motives and reactions, or overplayed cliches. GAF had a couple of very nice movies this year, but they've also had some real stinkers, and so has Hallmark.

This movie didn't offend our senses enough to rate it lower than 4, but it's not one we'll ever consider watching again.