Coming Home for Christmas

The acting is strong and solid. I have to admit, that Danica McKellar is very easy on the eyes. I was interested in seeing this because it takes place in my home state of Virginia. So naturally, I was wondering (if at all) I would recognize something as they might be filming on location. And apparently, not so.

Perhaps its just a pet peeve of mine, but it would have been more accurate if they had the setting some place other than Virginia. For example, Virginians can be stuffy, but not New England stuffy! I do realize this film was made in Canada and they sort of shoot in the dark when it comes to getting the right flavor of the locale . But the tone was a bit off for Virginia. The characters seem very New England/Northeastern and a Butler with a British accent? That would not be commonplace here in Virginia. The help would be... well, mostly non-white. Also, while Virginia can get some decent snow amounts , its not commonplace to have snow on the ground before Christmas, and even a White Christmas isn't all that common either. I realize they may have just used the snow for affectation to make sure you knew it was "Christmasy".

I'm trying to picture where in Virginia they might be, and I'm guessing outside of Washington D.C. towards the blue ridge- perhaps Loudoun or Fauquier County. While by no means Deep South, its personality here is not like depicted in this film. Virginia definitely has a more Southern lilt and a more folksy , friendly kind of wealth than the New Englander-ish style they portrayed.

This was a decent Hallmark romance. It was enjoyable, though not overly memorable. Danica McKellar as Lizzie was great, as always. She literally drips positive energy and charm. You know from the start that the stuffy, dysfunctional, rich family doesn't stand a chance against such a force of nature as her. Neal Bledsoe as Robert seemed a bit wooden. I know that's the part he's supposed to be playing, but he never seemed to quite transition from his initial prickly self to a warmer, more open person capable of connecting romantically with Lizzie. I know they tried to make that appear to happen, with such scenes as the snowball fight with his nephews, but I never quite bought it. Nor did I buy the romance between the two. Somehow, the chemistry seemed to be lacking.

Younger brother Kip seemed a bit miscast to me, also. Somehow, he wasn't that convincing as the smooth ladies' man. He never seemed like serious competition for Lizzie's affections. It would have been more interesting if she had truly felt some spark with Kip too, but it was obvious from the start that she wasn't buying what he was selling.

I liked the overall story, where the rich family is able to become closer to each other through the charms of Lizzie. Through much of the movie, Robert walks around like a martyr, letting his parents' untimely deaths cloud his whole existence for decades, even to the point where he has a strained relationship with his family, hates the beautiful house he grew up in and even hates Christmas. Meanwhile, you have Lizzie, who also suffered heartbreak when her dad died, but who didn't let it destroy her love of life, her love of Christmas and her relationships with her family. The contrast couldn't be more stark. Everyone suffers adversity in this life, but it's not what you suffered, it's how you react to that suffering that counts.

So, all in all, this was a perfectly adequate Hallmark Christmas romance movie. The performances were mostly good and the story was nice. Not a movie that's going to stick around in your memory for a long time, but certainly a nice diversion for a couple of hours.

Danica McKellar heads up this fun Christmas film from Hallmark.

What I liked about it was the fact that it does deviate from the standard format these films tend to follow (though of course there are the seemingly obligatory dance and snowball fight scenes), with a nice love triangle element to it.

It's all nicely played, and there are some sweet moments, though Andrew Francis always seems miscast for me in the 'younger brother' role when actually he looks a bit too long in the tooth for such a part.

On the whole though this is good stuff.

6/10 - a good old love triangle and Danica McKellar elevate this rather run-of-the-mill Hallmark Christmas feature

Finally a nice Christmas film! I've been watching a fair few the last couple of weeks to get into the spirit of Christmas but this is the first one this year that I actually really enjoyed! As with all Christmas movies, it was predictable, but this one really got the Christmas feel across. Trees, ornaments, snow. A sweet love story. People becoming a whole lot friendlier because of a chatty little character. This one to me really was a lovely Christmas flick with all the right ingredients (and the occasional cringy acting). Definitely worth your while!