Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas

Here is why I gave it an 8; it is an "8" in the Hallmark movie universe, not the "Gone With The Wind", "Sound of Music" universe.

Yes Hallmark movies are cheesy and yes you know EXACTLY how it is going to end, you just aren't sure HOW they are going to get there.

The movie was warm, implausible, cheesy, joyful and most importantly, entertaining. There ain't nuthin' wrong with cheesy, happy ending movies; Lord knows we can use a little happy escapism these days.

If you liked the other movies in this series, you'll enjoy this one too.

Romance movies involving two people road tripping across the country together are hit or miss. Many of them are too cheesy to even get through and just aren't natural. Granted, I seriously doubt a 'regular' person doing one of these trips with a country star, ever really happens. Still yet, this movie flowed naturally. The leads, Heath and Karah, had good chemistry. I especially liked how well the actor playing Heath was able to show so many emotions, with just a look. When he felt awkward, I felt awkward. When he felt hurt, I felt it too. And the way Heath looked at Karah, when she wasn't looking sped up MY heart. Lol

It's easy to connect with Karah and Heath because we get to know about their parental losses, family dynamics, friendships, and dreams in life. They seem like normal people in the real world, not actors pretending. There's not a big wow factor in this. It is just one of those feel good, makes you want to fall in love, be with family, kind of movies.

6/10 - nothing special in this by-the-book holiday flick

Cara (Megan Park) and famous country singer Lee (Josh Henderson) accidentally meet at the airport when he spills coffee on her. She doesn't know who he is and he enjoys that she does not know. You can see that they just enjoy being with each other. But they keep parting ways and fate keeps bringing them back together (fun to watch). At one point they run into a little boy Alex and play cards with him. When Lee gives Alex something of his dad's, Cara knows he's a good guy. The movie to its success focuses on the two in a way that makes one feel joy to be part of it. Loved when the two little girls sang the song for their mom on Christmas morning. This movie is just filled with these treasured moments.

Megan Park played the young girl in Road to Christmas (2006) when she was actually 20 and was a bright spot in My Christmas Love (2016) which was not that good. She was GREAT here. Although the scenes where she was supposed to be singing were not that effective. Josh Henderson was perfect in this role, but the singing (lipping?) just wasn't quite right. The music scenes overall were effective. We have Susan Hogan in her 4th Christmas movie of the season as the mom and it almost failed but was saved at the end. Eric Keenleyside played Cara's dad and this was just OK. The movie was about the two special days of Lee and Cara and that was magical takeaway. Watch it. I still think Megan Parks looks a lot like Amber Marshall from Heartland.

There was nothing that particularly stood out in this movie, although I was impressed with Megan Park whom I've never noticed before. I hope we get to see more of her in the future. She plays a sweet, gentle and mostly humble young woman who just stumbles into meeting a famous country singer.

As in movies I like most, Park and Josh Henderson spend a lot of screen time together and have a quiet chemistry.

The movie throws in a few short stanzas of Christmas songs here and there, but with one longer performance of an original song.

The story is nothing more than two people making there way across country fighting detours to get home for Christmas where they happen to live in the same area.