Never Been Chris'd

Tyler Haynes and Janel Parrish are of my favorite Hallmark actors and I looked forward to seeing them together in this movie. Unfortunately, I was sadly disappointed. After seeing this movie, I'm actually surprised that with their talent, they even agreed to do the movie. The storyline was a little immature as were the characters in the movie. I kept watching, hoping that it would improve, but, that didn't happen. I watched until the very end and then I deleted the movie from my saved list, it definitely wasn't worth watching again. I hope Hallmark realizes that they have some very talented actors and starts giving them parts more suited to their abilities.

This movie was a big disappointment for Tyler Hynes fans. He did his best as usual but the storyline stunk! I'm not a fan of the actress that played Naomi anyhow. I watch everything with Tyler Hynes in it so they had me watching it regardless. I just think his talents were wasted on this piece of fluff that was more a teeny plot than an adult thing. Tyler Hynes is Tyler Hynes so you had me regardless of how bad it was. The two girls act like they are still in high school and Tyler's character was the exact opposite of his high school character. Who came up with this fluff?

I just hope his next project will showcase his talents better and have a little more umph to the plot! Love you, Tyler!

Normally Hallmark movies with Janel Parrish and Tyler Hynes are very good to excellent, but I can't say the same about this one, though it wasn't their fault. The storyline was very ill conceived and sophomoric, as many reviewers already stated. Naomi (Parrish), Chris (Hynes) and Liz (Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes) are high school classmates, and Naomi and Liz have remained close friends and business partners and both had a crush on Chris back in the day. Fast forward to present day, a high school reunion is about to take place and both of the women find themselves in a quandary over their feelings for Chris. I felt embarrassed for the actors because they were too old for a juvenile storyline like this. One thing I found sort of interesting was the storyline regarding both women's relationships with their moms. Beyond that, I did not enjoy this movie at all.

If you're looking for a fun class-reunion type of movie, I suggest Christmas Class Reunion with Aimee Teegarden and Tanner Novlan. The storyline is much more well conceived, the characters are better written and it's much more enjoyable. If you're looking for a really good holiday movie featuring Janel Parrish, watch Holly & Ivy because it's very well written, well acted and very touching. And if you're looking for a fun holiday movie featuring Tyler Hynes, watch An Unexpected Christmas.

Best friends and successful business partners, Liz (Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes) and Naomi (Janel Parrish), return to their hometown for the holidays, where they run into former high school crush, Chris (Tyler Hynes). Back in the day, they were not on his radar, but now they actually get to know him, and they find him charming. He initiates spending more time together, which fans the flames of ardor, possibly leading to conflict between the two best friends.

While the women deal with old feelings from high school and feel friction from their mothers, they reassess their own relationship.

The strong point of this film is the believable relationship between its two female stars. This is a buddy film of sorts, so thankfully their chemistry is strong. In addition, both of them are excellent actresses with the ability to handle both comedy and drama.

Tyler Hynes is a Hallmark stalwart. Here he gives his usually-dependable performance, though the film focuses more on the females.

This is not a typical Hallmark Christmas movie. It is, however, funny. The characters are immature and self centered without the more normal over the top "proof" of immaturity, shallowness and self absorption. They are presented in a "stupid" manner, which is not a failure of the script writing, but it is deliberate. It is comical as it was intended to be. There is no heart warming lesson (or a tying together of the story lines), no typified misunderstanding that gets rectified nor an engagement ring on Christmas Eve. It's comical as we both laugh at the characters and empathize with them. I enjoyed its edge of humor.