The Christmas Contract

The plot was the same ole thing: recently broken up girl goes home for Christmas, old boyfriend has new girlfriend, so girl brings a "boyfriend" to make ex jealous. However, it is nice that there are not the awkward mishaps with the family, the news of the pretend boyfrind isn't a family crisis.

When the real crisis comes, which WAS totally foreseeable, it was wrapped up in a touching way.

7 stars because the sound editing was awful. The dialog was difficult to hear at times because the music or background ambiance was too loud.

Same old story - 2 people who pretend to be bf and gf end up falling for each other.

Hilarie Burton doesn't have much chemistry with her co stars generally but here it's compensated by a bunch of other co stars that are nice to watch. Cheryl Ladd and her real life Daughter Jordan are fun to watch. Robert Buckley is the writer love interest.

Throughout my whole Lifetime (Hallmark too) Christmas film completest quest undertaken namely late last year, an interesting quest but very hit and miss, there was never the mentality of expecting a classic or the film in question to be flawless. Something that was never managed with Lifetime's output. There was always the expectation of seeing a film where one can see at least some effort rather than merely cash-in level. One could see that with enough of Lifetime's work.

Effort that could be seen with one of their better 2018 Christmas efforts. As far as their Christmas films go overall too 'The Christmas Contract' fares favourably, and is a contract worth signing if not quite a must sign. Anybody wanting originality and award winning dialogue will feel short-changed, but anybody wanting to see a film that doesn't take itself too seriously while seriously enough to stop it from being campy or something, a film that charms and warms the heart should find some worth in 'The Christmas Contract'.

As with much of Lifetime's output, it is pretty formulaic and predictable with the final quarter especially being very easy to figure out what happens next and in somewhat too neat a way.

Some of the dialogue, namely early on, is laughably corny and quite awkward. Count me in as another person that found the music too intrusive and over-bearing.

However, the production values still manage to be pleasing. It's not too drab or garish in photography, the editing didn't seem rushed or disorganised and the scenery has a real charm to it. Some of the soundtrack has a nostalgic feel to it. The dialogue does improve, the flow relaxes and it was sweet. Despite surprises being very few, the story still mostly engages and scores high on the charm and heart-warming factors.

Lifetime generally do better than Hallmark at having characters worth caring for, and 'The Christmas Contract' has characters that may not be three-dimensional but have likeability in their own way and don't have any negative character traits exaggerated. Hilarie Burton brings a lot of charm and energy to her role, as does Robert Buckley. They look very relaxed together and their chemistry came over to me as genuine. The supporting cast also do well, nobody overacts and nobody looks bored.

Overall, didn't blow me away but very pleasant. 7/10

It is a refreshing story line for Christmas. No one over acted, they seemed relaxed & comfortable with each other. I kept getting confused--didn't know which was the mother and who were the daughters! They all looked the same age, really! Had to watch very closely to figure out which one it was!

This is a familiar setup for a holiday story: newly single woman takes home a ringer because her ex will be there with someone new. Warm-hearted family embraces the new man and swaps holiday traditions.

That's where the plot diverges from the usual: there's no heart-rending over deceiving loved ones, and the developing love interest is warm, believable, and well-paced. There's enough going on with the other characters and outside events that Our Heroine seems like a fully rounded woman, not simply a cut-out with a cute hairstyle and a vestigial career.

Our Heroine is positively luminous. She sizzles in this role, like a young Cybil Shepherd or Kathleen Turner, without once doing or saying an overtly sexy thing.

Of course there's the obligatory misunderstanding at the 3/4 mark, that you can see coming from way back. But the way it's resolved doesn't involve either of them doing anything cringe-worthy, and does evolve beautifully out of preceding events.

And I'd REALLY like to experience a Louisiana Christmas.