Following Yonder Star

I love all her movies, I think she's very charming, funny, and earnest. I look forward to her Christmas movies every year. And this one did not disappoint.

First off, this movie is legitimately funny. Hallmark doesn't always hit the comedy beats but this one did. John Brotherton is also awesome and he has not only a great screen presence, but he's also quirky and hilarious. I think he crushed this role.

The story was sweet. Obviously the "meltdown" wasn't that big of a deal and people were acting like Abby murdered someone. But that was also funny because people were SO horrified. The store clerk was a jerk, tbh.

I loved the stuff with the stars, too. Hallmark makes about 40-42 Xmas movies every year and this is easily top three and might be the best one out of them all. And there have been some good ones. I'll be watching this one again on December 25th.

I am so glad for this movie being on Hallmark and Hallmark going back to its old roots of the true Christmas with Christ. No fake Satan um I mean Santa sorry for the misspelled word there.. I was so worried that Hallmark has lost all sanity with the very bad movies they have been pushing out lately so this was quite refreshing and enjoyable. Hallmark has gotten so bad with very badly written scripts and poor acting. This was nice and it's so true with how the world is with media and not realizing that actors and actresses are actually human beings who hurt and make mistakes just like the rest of us.

Following Yonder Star is a beautiful story of love and faith. Brook D'Orsay and Jon Brotherton had wonderful on screen chemistry and I really enjoyed them as a couple! Their characters were funny, likeable, and seeking something better in life. Watching their journey was the focus of the movie.

The young actress who played the daughter of Jon's character did a great job without being over sugary. (Some of the children in Hallmark movies are a little too perfect.) I loved the interaction between her and Abby, and also with her dad. All of the kids in the movie were very good.

FYS made me feel good and I will watch it again!

7.8 stars.

While this film is following the Hallmark blueprint right down to the last cross of the t and dotted i, it still brings much emotion.

Brooke is amazing in this role. I've seen her do a few amazing performances, this is one of those. I've seen her do some blah, and a below average performances is too, in fact it seems that she's improving over time. She moves up a few slots every time I see her in a new film. I love her transformation into a much more effective and passionate performer.

The male lead is great as a blubbering fan, at first. He's too authentic at portraying an awkward admirer. This detracts from the romantic aspects of the film for the first hour, but eventually his character becomes more comfortable as her friend and eventual boyfriend.

The story is formulaic, so I won't bother to explain the plot. But I must say that it's engineered to entertain and it absolutely achieves that goal.

If you don't mind formulaic, watch this one. It's a classic.

This movie starts out with some of the usual stuff. Abby is an actress famous for being the perfect TV mom, but she has a run-in with a store clerk whose unreasonable refusals result in Abby losing her temper. This goes viral and gets blown out of proportion so she flees Hollywood to Vermont for Christmas. She just wants to keep her head down. She ends up at an Inn where the innkeeper is a widower with a little girl. He happens to also be a director of a kids nativity play. So Abby helps. You can figure out how the middle of the movie plays out more or less. Like so many movies with a cute kid, Brook D'Orsay has about as much chemistry with Isla Verot's Lucy as with John Brotherton's Tom, the innkeeper. The interplay between D'Orsay and Verot is almost worth the price of admission alone, but the romance is nice too.

You might be able to guess, at least in general terms, what cause the conflict. That leads to some discussion about life choices and trust and then a very cute climax during the nativity play that isn't exactly expected. Things are wrapped up after that while watching the conjunction of the planets to create a sort of Christmas star.

A few comments about star watching that have no bearing on the enjoyment of the movie if you can ignore the fallacies of such. Foremost, no planets or stars ever move across the sky that fast. Also, it's hard to see planets or stars with so much background light in the viewing area. There are several other issues, but I will leave it at that.

;'