The Jinglebell Jubilee

"The Jinglebell Jubilee" (2023) GFAM

Erin Agostino and Marshall Williams star in this Christmas movie. Both have done several romance movies so you may have seen them before. I really like Agostino. I think she is very good, and it doesn't hurt that she is lovely. Williams is a good as well. I admit it took seeing a couple of his movies for him to grow on me, but he is actually a pretty good actor.

The story here is a new one, and the twists and turns make for a pleasant watching experience. There are basically four friends--the stars, plus Kristian Jordan and Samantha Kendrick, all playing ring around the romance, and we are not sure how things will fall out until late in the film...but that's what makes it interesting.

I really had no problems with this movie. I thought it was entertaining and enjoyable. Give it a look, you'll probably like it, too.

7.7 stars.

Cumbersome and sweet are oxymorons and this film is one big oxymoron. The leads seem to lack chemistry, but I think it's because they try so hard to be awkward, maybe they portray it too well. First of all, something about Agostino is endearing and simple. I mean that in a flattering way. She has a way about her, thus the reason why she lands a lead role in the film. There are people out there that feel she has the chops and I am one. Mr. Marshall was fine, nothing noteworthy about his performance, but he played his part well. His character is a confused widower who yearns for a woman, but feels guilty about it. The object of his affections is Agostino's character. Her most notable traits are that a lack of self-confidence, and this is probably unattractive for most viewers. I find it to be endearing and sweet and I can sense it's deliberate. She is a woman who is only self-assured when it comes to giving to the needy and doing kind things for those less fortunate. Otherwise she lacks any self-worth and I see how the audience might be turned off by these traits. To me it seems authentic, and I enjoyed the display. Another outlier for me. This movie has very low ratings, but is a rare surprise of downhearted entertainment (another oxymoron).

This time of year, it's hard to turn on a TV without seeing one of these mass-produced holiday romances.

I used to say, "Seen one, seen 'em all," but with these things breeding like rabbits, they are sorting into definite categories.

This, alas, is not one of the better ones. Like so many of these, it's so by-the-numbers that you can practically recite the dialogue as it happens. It's like a story on The Love Boat bloated into a two-hour timeslot. All it needs is Gopher and Doc mugging in the background.

It's great that these movies are committed to no violence, gratuitous sex, bad language, or stuff like that. But they also left out good storytelling, dramatics, action, motivation... Oh, well.

The Jinglebell Jubilee (2023) -

This one was all very basic and a tad nauseating with how sweet it was but it was at least a bit of a different tack with the fact that the relationship was a sort of Love "Square" to start with. Even if it was incredibly obvious how that would fall out in the end.

It was very cheesey and that wasn't helped by Andy's (Kristian Jordan) awkwardness, which was too much.

Leading man Marshall Williams as Nate was the more natural of them all, but still a tad too exaggerated.

And I wasn't sure that leading lady Erin Agostino as Hope was the right person for the role. I did like Allison played by Samantha Kendrick however, although I could see why she didn't get the starring role - she lacked a bit of presence here.

As for "The Jubilee" itself, it wasn't as amazing as I had expected. I thought it would have been a carnival or a one day special with a ball or something instead of just some booths at City Hall.

And they certainly didn't hire enough extras for the dance that did happen. They could have at least shot it differently to make it look busier.

The script was a bit jumbled and clumsy too. I couldn't tell what they were thinking a lot of the time because of it. And the climactic conversation was so bleurgh and saccharin.

With all that said, it definitely wasn't the worst of these films that I've seen. In his position of City Manager trying to fix the Jubilee, Marshall's Nate character was charming in general, even if he made some terrible choices regarding his love life. And Hope's regifting idea, which saved the event, bringing them together, was nice. I did feel that Allison and Andy's connection might have made a cuter story though.

It probably won't be one that I'll revisit in a hurry, but mostly because there are so many more to see and the list of good ones that I definitely want to watch again is getting longer every year. As it was it did the standard job you'd expect.

6.12/10.

It's probably because I've got a soft spot in my heart for sweet, little girls like Erin Agostino, but I was able to get to the end without yawning or eye-rolling.

The story here involves a a city manager who returns to his hometown and encounters an old school mate when he registers his son for school. She's now a schoolteacher who has invented a way for students to regift presents to people in need.

As there is a shortage of donations to the city's charity gift-giving program, the two devise a plan to take her program city-wide.

The story moves along at a reasonable pace. There is a plotline that each of them dates other people before realizing the obvious.

This is not a front line movie, but if you're looking for something to watch, there's worse choices.