The Christmas Secret (2014 TV Movie) User Reviews

Sweet "feel good" story

[MartianOctocretr5 · 7/10 · 18 January 2015]

Hallmark premiered several new Christmas movies this year, and this one hits a lot of sentimental high points to be among the best.

A struggling single mother who waitresses moves to the town she believes her father (who died when she was a baby) had grown up in, to hopefully learn about him.

Acting by the entire cast is spot on for the approach this one takes. It's unashamedly a "feel-good" type movie, but with this story that's not a problem at all. The numerous secret connections between the characters suggest a higher power is at work bringing all these people together, a story line that is told in an uplifting manner that is never schmaltzy. The characters are likable (except for the villains who play their villainy very well too).

Just a good-natured film for some Christmas season cheer, which is what this movie set out to be.

Follow Your Star

[kz917-1 · 7/10 · 6 December 2017]

For a mostly unknown cast, this movie was pretty good.

The only actor I recognized was Michael Hogan, from the remake of Battlestar Galatica.

A woman with two kids is going through some financial hard times, losing her job after being a good Samaritan, facing an upcoming eviction, and a rotten ex-husband looking to take her kids away.

What follows partially through a case of mistaken identity is a magical story of finding lost family, finding what your heart desires and helping keep the Christmas magic alive.

Worth the view. Charming & Delightful!

You might become fiercely devoted

[MickyG333 · 8/10 · 30 November 2022]

8.1 stars.

Has one of the highest IMDB ratings I've seen for a Hallmark Christmas movie. I went into this with high hopes, but low expectations.

Opens with a mother named Christine (Lenz) and two children, mom is really down on her luck. A chain of several unfortunate events befalls her, and in addition her ex-husband is a dead-beat with anger issues, who doesn't pay child support.

I must add that he circumstances do not evoke any sympathy from me. The fact that she is super gorgeous doesn't change my opinion. I feel that was the filmmakers intent, to make her seem pathetic. They succeeded.

As she is doing all she can to make ends meet, Christine ends up at the right place and right time to perform an heroic act and be a good samaritan. Everything changes for the better due to this pivotal moment.

Jason (Reardon) is introduced, he's back in town to help his grandparents. He runs into Christine, they don't hit if off very well, but he's a very likable and intelligent fellow.

The rest of the story is full of secrets, missed opportunities, coincidences, more secrets, strange circumstances, more coincidences, and on and on. The constant expectation was exciting, and there were so many wonderful reveals, and heartwarming scenes, which evoked such passion and joy.

Of the 30+ holiday films so far this year, this one is the champion for balance of romance, sentimentality, forgiveness, generosity, miracles, and Christmas charm.

'The Christmas Secret' is now on my very short list of yearly MUST see Hallmark films.

Definitely worth watching!!

[Alteregome · 20 November 2016]

In my opinion the movie starts out slow, and honestly did not grab my attention. I even looked for something else on TV to watch, but nothing else interested me either. As I continued to watch I got engrossed in the story line, and was wonderfully surprised how it all comes together in the end!! Very uniquely, and beautifully written!! I will watch this whenever I see it on TV in the future for sure!! It's about a single mother of two kids. She loses her job after being late because she saw a lady collapse and proceeded to give her CPR. Then she finds a new job only an hour after losing her first one. While she is providing CPR to the lady, her necklace falls off, and lands inside the coat of the lady she is giving CPR to. Throughout the movie a guy keeps showing up (in a good way). The necklace, the lady who hired her right after losing her job, the lady she gave CPR to, and the mysterious guy...you just have to watch this movie to find out the incredible story of how they all tie together in a magical way!!

Loose threads come together

[Jackbv123 · 7/10 · 29 November 2017]

This Hallmark movie is one of those which include some mystery and/or drama leading up to the heartwarming moments.

This story has several loose threads dangling about the life of Christine. For much of the movie, Christine is getting pounded by the things that threaten to unravel her life and family. She loses a job, gets an eviction notice and her ex threatens to take her children.

There is a mysterious locket that keeps popping up. It actually started out as Christine's locket but it gets lost and bounces around to some of these loose threads and the viewer knows that once we find the locket's secret, the threads will tie together and form a strong cord.

The acting is good enough. Bethany Joy Lenz endures as a single mom who struggles to hold it together. John Reardon is one of the threads and Jason soon begins to form a relationship with Rosemary. Oh wait, that's not right, because this is one of the running gags. Jason mistakenly thinks Christine's name is Rosemary.

While there are many things about this movie that we can predict, at least eventually, there is just enough of a Christmas secret to make it interesting.

The Best Hallmark Christmas Movie of 2014

[bookandcandle · 10/10 · 13 December 2014]

Every year I look forward to all of the new Hallmark Christmas movies that come out. This was the best Hallmark Christmas movie of 2014.

Not only was this a heartwarming Christmas movie, it was also a mystery, a custody case, a family business, a lost father and a hometown USA story. The locket brought families together and magically gave hope and life to all these dear people who needed a miracle in their lives.

I will watch this classic over and over, because this movie was so well made, the acting so well done by all, and the puzzle so well put together. I had to have my tissues ready for this one. But what more could I ask for, but a true heart-to-heart happy ending and a Merry Christmas from Hallmark?

Nice Film that makes you see that "Good People are all around

[Christmas-Reviewer · 7/10 · 30 October 2016]

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM. NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY THEME MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE.

In this film Christine Eisley's life is coming undone. She's been fired from her job, evicted from her home and her ex-husband is taking her to court for custody of their children. To make matters worse, she's misplaced a very special family heirloom, a star-shaped locket handed down from her father, who disappeared from her life when she was a young girl. But things seem to be looking a little brighter for Christine when she lands a new job working with a gregarious bakery owner and a holiday romance begins to blossom with Jason, the handsome grandson of a sweet couple who own a popular local store.

This story is about love family and helping people. The message is family is always important. Now "The Christmas Secret" is a very romantic film with a huge heart. Its well made. Its well worth seeking out. Family safe but most likely small children will be bored.

Merry Christmas 2016

Best Hallmark Christmas Movie of 2014

[voxxrocks · 10/10 · 28 December 2014]

I agree with bookandcandle. This was the best movie this Christmas. Yes, it's somewhat predictable, it's sweet and that's why I watched it. I expect a TV Christmas movie to have all the usual elements. Romance, sappy plot, heartfelt story and of course, the happy ending. If I'm looking for a blockbuster movie, I'll go to the movie theater, especially this time of year with award season coming up. At Christmastime I want a feel-good, happily-ever after story. It's entertaining for me.

The Christmas Secret is a well written, well acted movie, it's not too sicky-sweet and the story has some surprises. You root for the lead character Christine, and want things to go well for her. The supporting characters are caring and believable, and the little town is what you think of when you dream about Christmas.

This will be part of my Christmas tradition for as long as it's on TV, then I'll buy the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Really nice film

[lisafordeay · 6/10 · 2 September 2018]

This happened to be on TV and I caught the last hour of it. The film is about a single mother named Christine who saves a woman's life and a guy is trying to track her down.

Yeah it sounds daft but if you catch it on TV then check it out. The twists are a surprise as we find out that Christine's dad's mom owns a bakery .

6/10

Worth multiple viewings

[kauling · 8/10 · 14 December 2019]

Been watching & re-watching this movie over the past 3 years, one of those feel good flicks. This main characters click, all supporting roles are solid, looking forward to multiple views again.

Great christmas film

[deniseemmens · 7/10 · 21 December 2021]

This film is just great. Good acting, kind characters, a little cheesy at times but overall a very good christmas film. I loved Bethany in one tree Hill, she plays a great character. The story is very unique. Not your average christmas film, way better. And it has a great 'small town' vibe.

A new Christmas favorite! Such a sweet, well written movie!

[jml1988 · 9/10 · 29 November 2019]

This was such a beautiful movie. I cried just because it was so darn sweet! I knew things would come together but I didn't realize how perfectly! I can't wait to watch this again and again.

I love this movie

[dianamarinelli · 6/10 · 8 December 2020]

I love how relatively this movie is it deals with a single mother dealing with the bills and the children but wants to make her happy and her ex husband who wants to critique her of being a bad parent but you know what happens love it with no romance

Sugar sweet, and too predictable

[corry-helmond · 5/10 · 25 December 2014]

Might contain spoilers!

I like feel good movies; it's inevitable that a lot of those are just a pleasant way to pass time - get over your Christmas-Eve hangover or enjoy as a family. No intelligence required.

That's OK, but but this movie is insultingly transparent. At the moment you see Christine look at the photos in the bakery, you know you've solved the mystery.

What bothered me too, was the unnecessary but seemingly inevitable for this kind of movie, appearance of the ex-husband, claiming custody. Then the way both Christine and her love interest reacted on being stood up; they both didn't seem to be bothered too much - weird. Not to speak about the clumsy way the locket was lost - my-oh-my is this movie made for 4 year old?

Regarding the fact that you know beforehand what you're up to, when you select a movie like this, and that the acting was not too bad, it get 6 stars, but 4 for the plot would be more realistic.

different

[Kirpianuscus · 3 July 2018]

It has all the virtues of a Hallmark films. but, in happy way, not the sins. the first motif is the cast. giving the right performance. it is predictable. but well crafted. it gives a generous message. using the same recipe and the same rules of a story about emotions, questions, vulnerability and revelation. in interesting way. a story about miracle. you know it. and that is the secret ingredient of the charme of this film.

Total incompetence

[tsktjmb · 6/10 · 23 November 2021]

It's a halfway decent plot but I've never seen so much Total incompetence in so many characters!

Life just doesn't have that many issues with so many people!

Great film for the family--& a big surprise later.

[fbm72751 · 8/10 · 3 July 2019]

Single mom moves to Wilsonville on scant knowledge that family that she never knew was from here. Circumstances happen that bolsters belief that faith can and does change things for the better which it does and later a 10 million-to-one conclusion. The villain here is her ex-husband and the children's father, although he acts concerned for them, he in truth has had a string of girlfriends since their split and the issues are more out of a personal vendetta than anything. John Reardon is the main man of interest here and at 39, he still looks like someone who's still in college & bears a lot of that youth. His dialogue really does it for me in this film. His grandfather and step-grandmother played by real life husband and wife Michael & Susan Hogan run the department store (the license plates here reveal it's in Vermont which is largely devoid of box and chain stores outside of it's few sizable cities such as Burlington or Rutland) Here we have a case of a bad thing being the best thing that can happen in that Christine is fired by her first boss who appears to lack any form of human decency. From that moment on, Christine and her children's life turn for the better. Good karma soon comes to her and the big secret here will be revealed in the end. Such endings though very rare are not far fetched as only recently did a woman in Wisconsin find out her neighbor was in fact her sister.

The town of Wilsonville, it's store and Betty the baker would reprise their roles a year later in "The Christmas Note". Jason Wilson also appears though reduced to a minor role and with a different actor. The soundtrack music is also striking similar, just different by a few notes here & there. I would have given this a rating of 10 but the idea of Christine's ex husband not being either jailed or not having his wages garnished for repeatedly not paying child support is somewhat unrealistic as he apparently lives in a town nearby. All & all a wonderful family film with much love and compassion between the main characters.

The charming secret

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 5 February 2020]

Have always absolutely adored Christmas and great/classic festive films are many. The quality of Hallmark's festive films do vary, have implied that in other reviews of some of the films seen as part of my Hallmark/Lifetime etc. festive films quest. Some surprised me, being genuinely likeable and an easy watch without being cheesy or too sentimental regardless of how predictable they are. Others made me cringe, went too far on the sugar, lacked any surprises or anything even and were of bad quality.

Fortunately, 'The Christmas Secret' is in the former category. As far as Hallmark Christmas films go, it's up there with the best of them. And no it is not because it is one of the higher rated ones here. Perfect it isn't. Classic it is not. Yet somehow 'The Christmas Secret' managed to be a nice watch and passes the time more than adequately, it is predictable sure but the charm and likeability factors are high and the traps that other Christmas films fall into aren't here. Or at least not as badly.

'The Christmas Secret' as said isn't perfect. If you have seen any other Hallmark Christmas films, predictability is to be expected as story-wise there doesn't tend to be an awful lot of variation. This is no exception, with a lot of what goes happen very much foreseeable well in advance, the closest it gets at trying to do anything different is having a reveal that is still not that much of a surprise and is quite silly.

Some parts are corny and Jaeda Lily Miller is somewhat too cloying and at times annoying as Hayley.

On the other hand, 'The Christmas Secret' does have a good deal that is done right. The locations are very pretty to look at and complemented very nicely by the photography that is not flat or over-saturated. The soundtrack captures the festive spirit in an affectionate way without intruding too much and the film is directed in a competent manner (not exceptional but with nothing done disastrously).

Although there are corny moments, mostly the script flows well and doesn't come over as awkward. The story is very charming, is never dull, is the very meaning of feel good and avoids the traps of being too sentimental or too schmaltzy. Found it very heart-warming actually. The characters mostly have enough to them to allow one to root for them and other than Miller the actors do a good job. Bethany Joy Lenz carries the film with aplomb.

In summary, worth watching. 7/10

Really Good

[Debzreview · 8/10 · 14 November 2017]

This is a tearjerker and the best ending I've seen in long time. The actress playing the female lead here is so good and you can't help but to root for her. I highly recommend watching this one. The kids were adorable. The male lead is an actor I'm not all that familiar with and he was fine and played a good guy, I just didn't get any warmth from the character.

Drama And Romance

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 29 December 2023]

Christine (Bethany Joy Lenz), a divorced mother of two, experiences a day from hell: she is facing eviction, her car won't start, her ex is seeking custody of the children, and she loses her job. But she administers CPR to a woman who has crashed her vehicle, and it changes her life.

This Hallmark romance leans into the drama, then---after the mistaken identities and false assumptions collapse like a house of cards---it resolves into a romance and a tender story of redemption. The story contains plenty of coincidences, even for Hallmark. Unfortunately, it also includes plenty of plot holes, but if you can overlook those, this is a satisfying watch.

The acting is fine. Lenz and her costar, John Reardon, are likable and you want their characters to successfully navigate their adversity and tests.

OSCAR WORTHY

[jmazziott · 10/10 · 28 May 2021]

Okay 👏 hallmark 👏 This movie gave me life. The twists and turns were emotionally fulfilling. I have a renewed sense of life, love, and happiness.

The ex is always the bad guy

[petersjoelen · 7/10 · 3 January 2024]

Irst of all, let me criticise this film for the lack of daring in the story, by which I mean that one of the great fixed rules of modern times is not broken, the fact that single motherhood can never be criticised.

It must be great for writers that if they are looking for a character who can be easily branded as a villain, the ex is always there to fill that spot, because the single mother is practically canonised in our modern times.

And why are there so many single mother characters in modern stories, and why are they all so sweetly innocent and often brave , and why are they never blamed or held responsible in any way for the situation they have got themselves into?

By the way, the ex who gets away with not paying child support is a lie, in the USA you can easily end up in jail for that.

Fortunately, the film scores points for its gripping story and the way it all comes together in the end, as well as for the fine performances of the entire cast.

Worth watching even in 2022.

[aimeesarratt · 8/10 · 17 October 2022]

Worth watching even in 2022. This movie is one of the best Christmas movies I have watched in a long time. Hallmark did a great job of casting all the right actors. They all had great chemistry from the leads to the supporting actors. The story was real and very relatable to many of us. Hallmark doesn't always hit the mark with their movies most of the time they are predictable and the same story over and over. This one was not that yes I'm sure many would say they knew how it would end but it still made me tear up to see it all come together at the end. For me it's a feel good must watch even years after it was filmed.

This was a decent movie

[jenrn-09722 · 6/10 · 23 November 2023]

Was a good movie, but the fact that the ex-husband was fighting for custody was over the top. No court would give a guy custody of his kids if he never paid a cent of child support - they'd probably garnish his wages instead of hearing his custody case. I liked how Christine and Jason kept running into each other and just liked each other, rather than the usual formula of ridiculous bickering then begrudgingly develop interest. Why she let him think her name was Rosemary even after she found out he wasn't spying on her and they made date made no sense though. It was obvious the writers were grasping at straws to keep the plot from being revealed too soon but it went on past the point of ridiculousness. Finding out her boss at her new job was her grandmother at the end of the movie, however, was the only part that was too over-the-top and should have been left out. Not only was there already so much going on in the plot, but the woman playing her boss looked barely old enough to be her mother, much less be her grandmother. She is a lovely actress, but not old enough to be a great-grandmother - even for a Hallmark movie.

The Christmas Secret

[studioAT · 3/10 · 3 December 2021]

These Hallmark Christmas films are hit/miss affairs, and sadly this one didn't do a lot for me.

It just started so gloomy, and that's not what I want from a festive film.

Personal preference I know, but this wasn't one of the better ones.