Absolutely love the timeless Charles Dickens classic 'A Christmas Christmas', and reading it and seeing various adaptations of it is an annual Christmas tradition. Jessy Schram is not a favourite of mine but she has always been watchable. Wes Brown has been in his fair share of misfires but has nearly always been one of the best things about them and like Schram he is a very watchable performer. 2020 was a variable year for Hallmark and part of me was not sure what it would do with a premise that has been done to death.
2020's 'A Nashville Christmas Carol' is an above average effort. It is not a great film and doesn't really do anything new with a tried and tested Hallmark formula or anything innovative with a literary classic (only putting a romantic twist on it and even that is not new), but it's engagingly performed and charming enough and sits comfortably in the middle when it comes to Hallmark's 2020 Christmas efforts. Neither one of their best or worst.
Much is good. The production values are very pleasing to look at, nice use of locations slickly shot. The music generally captures the Christmas feel very well and is not near as over-scored or intrusive as too many of a lot of Hallmark films, it also plays a big part in the film and turns out to be one of the pleasures. The songs are very pleasant and sung equally pleasantly. The script can be very corny, but mostly flows nicely and has a light-hearted and sweet tone without being too sugary sweet. It's sympathetically directed without being routine.
Despite being too amiable initially as a Scrooge character, Schram is a very engaging presence and it was great to have Hallmark female Scrooge character that grew as a character rather than being one dimensional all the way through. Brown is subtly charming and confident and their chemistry is genuine and charmingly low key, not coming over as too perfect too soon or taking too long to progress. Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present are performed with a lot of spirit. The story is light hearted and charming enough, despite not being anything exceptional, treating the material seriously enough while not being too obvious.
However, it is very predictable, from doing nothing new with either the Hallmark Christmas formula or 'A Christmas Carol', and takes a little long to get going. The final quarter could have done with more poignancy and comes over as too neat.
While liking the chemistry, it could have featured more as it did feel on the underused side. Too many of the supporting characters are bland, and while Sara Evans and RaeLynn sing very nicely it is agreed their acting leaves a lot to be desired in afterthought-feeling roles. Some of the dialogue is awkward.
Overall, above average if nothing exceptional. 6/10.
2020's 'A Nashville Christmas Carol' is an above average effort. It is not a great film and doesn't really do anything new with a tried and tested Hallmark formula or anything innovative with a literary classic (only putting a romantic twist on it and even that is not new), but it's engagingly performed and charming enough and sits comfortably in the middle when it comes to Hallmark's 2020 Christmas efforts. Neither one of their best or worst.
Much is good. The production values are very pleasing to look at, nice use of locations slickly shot. The music generally captures the Christmas feel very well and is not near as over-scored or intrusive as too many of a lot of Hallmark films, it also plays a big part in the film and turns out to be one of the pleasures. The songs are very pleasant and sung equally pleasantly. The script can be very corny, but mostly flows nicely and has a light-hearted and sweet tone without being too sugary sweet. It's sympathetically directed without being routine.
Despite being too amiable initially as a Scrooge character, Schram is a very engaging presence and it was great to have Hallmark female Scrooge character that grew as a character rather than being one dimensional all the way through. Brown is subtly charming and confident and their chemistry is genuine and charmingly low key, not coming over as too perfect too soon or taking too long to progress. Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present are performed with a lot of spirit. The story is light hearted and charming enough, despite not being anything exceptional, treating the material seriously enough while not being too obvious.
However, it is very predictable, from doing nothing new with either the Hallmark Christmas formula or 'A Christmas Carol', and takes a little long to get going. The final quarter could have done with more poignancy and comes over as too neat.
While liking the chemistry, it could have featured more as it did feel on the underused side. Too many of the supporting characters are bland, and while Sara Evans and RaeLynn sing very nicely it is agreed their acting leaves a lot to be desired in afterthought-feeling roles. Some of the dialogue is awkward.
Overall, above average if nothing exceptional. 6/10.