A Royal Date for Christmas

I guess Danica McKellar and her new employers at GAC Family are hoping that they can replicate the magic of 2015's Crown for Christmas, which was a big hit for Hallmark and perhaps the best example of a good Royal Christmas movie.

Unfortunately for all involved, 'A Royal Christmas Romance' doesn't come close. It ticks the boxes, goes through the numbers - working class girl falls in love with a royal who has family issues or similar - and ends after a tidy ninety minutes. McKellar does what she can with what is a fairly dull script as Bella, who runs a boutique that the Duke of Tangford visits when he needs some clothes urgently. Ditto Damon Runyan as the Duke of T.

I guess this isn't a bad film per se. I certainly didn't hate it...it's just a film without any real stand-out moments. And you can set your watch by each of the tropey developments.

Holiday romances made for TV are slightly different than regular romances. You know it's a holiday romance when the payoff kiss at the end is to the strains of Adeste Fidelis. And you can make a drinking game of it by taking a swig every time a nutcracker appears on screen.

In this story, the would-be princess is Bella Sparks (Danica McKellar) and the prince of her dreams is actually a duke named Stephan (Damon Runyan). We learn that each had a relationship that ended ignominiously. She runs a men's clothing boutique and he arrives in the United States without clothes. Well, actually the airline misplaces his luggage. But he needs a wardrobe asap and he quickly learns to rely on Bella, who later will be the bella de ball.

Unfortunately, the chemistry between the two feels forced. The Duke character is formal to the point that he expresses little warmth, giving Miss McKellar little to work with. Still, the royal-commoner trope holds true and romance fans get their final act satisfaction.

While I liked the movie I can't say that I loved it. It needed more conflict... it needed a 'Bad Guy'. Danica did a great job but it sort of felt like something was missing.

I still think her best movie was Crown For Christmas. That one was amazing, and if you haven't seen it, you should watch it ASAP. It really captured the good old Christmas Magic.

The acting was all quite well done. And Danica ALWAYS looks incredible, in a red dress at any party/ball/dance she shows up at. It was fun to see her dance a little in this. Reminded me of how great she was with Gleb in her other movie.

If you're looking for a nice way to pass the time on a cold winter's evening, give A Royal Date For Christmas a shot. You won't regret it!

No spark between the main characters. Probably impossible to have a spark with the range of emotion the duke showed. To be fair, with so much Botox in your face it might be quite impossible to have many facial expressions.

The capitalist, Christmas spirit was very touching: "You would be amazed how much joy a new shawl or accessory can bring!"

Like most hallmark movies very suitable to watch with a rom com cliche bingo card in hand. There were several moments that could've been executed better. The classic "fights"/"problems" were way too small, it was too smooth sailing. At a certain point I was even convinced we'd get a "not handsome enough to tempt me"-moment and then it passed without conflict.

There were also several plot holes. Most noteworthy was when the duke was walking a mile with a saw in hand and when they got to the felling place an axe was handed to him.

This movie exemplifies why I don't like Royal movies. There are too many of them. Once in a while one catches the Cinderella feeling and does it well. This wasn't it. Oh, Danica McKellar tried and she tried too hard. What she ended up with was a juvenile crush and juvenile behavior. "How about a selfie?" And I really didn't feel like she grew up as the movie progressed.

The premise was a tad weak to begin with. It made sense for Stefen to look for replacement clothes but then he basically asked her to tag along with him for a week. He doesn't want publicity, especially negative and double especially not about his love life. Hanging around with a fairly attractive woman at every event he went to for a week is going to get just that kind of publicity. But nobody seemed to notice. That made no sense. And he asked her to hang around even when she wasn't being a plus one at an event. It was not like she was really helping with anything, except filling a romantic hole in Stefen's life.

I couldn't figure out Connie. The words that came out of her mouth seemed to encourage Bella, but the look on her face didn't always match that.