The Christmas Yule Blog (2020 TV Movie) User Reviews

The usual Christmas movie stuff, in Mexico

[Jackbv123 · 5/10 · 7 November 2020]

The premise of a blogger or reporter in a small town filled with Christmas spirit is becoming a more common premise. And there's potential job advancement, which is a trope in almost every Christmas movie. There's a local who resembles Santa with a hint that he is more than a look alike. This movie crams in many of the usual tropes. And I do mean crams. (At least they leave out snow related ones.)

The movies has no great highs or lows, surprises or tension (other than the romantic).

In order to facilitate the obligatory initial animosity between the leads, Caroline is the stereotypical arrogant know-it-all city girl. You would think a travel writer would know better. And like all these movies, she quickly sheds that attitude and becomes friendly. The trouble for me was that I had trouble clearing my mind of her attitude. Sara Canning didn't seem natural in her acting.

There is no chemistry between the leads.

Boringgggggg

[susanrosshill · 5/10 · 8 November 2020]

Boring, poor acting, predictable Though the New Mexico traditions were fun to see and learn about

Low key, but interesting subject matter

[weniwuna · 7/10 · 17 December 2020]

The storyline had all the makings of a very warm and exciting movie. Yes, it was about a town's tradition for the 12 days of Christmas, but I thought that was a unique and interesting idea, and something you wouldn't see in any other Hallmark/Lifetime Xmas movie. The problem with this was it moved very slowly, and there was no emotional excitement. Not that it was acted badly either, it just needed a jolt. I think I would blame the director for that, because I feel that if he had said the piece needed to be picked up and the people needed to seem more invested and thrilled about these events, I could see you giving this movie and 8 or 9. The actors seemed capable. It's very hard to give made for TV Xmas movies a 10 unless they change the formula a bit. There is always a love story that towards the end splits up and then at the last minute gets back together. Always. This just needed a bit more caffeine

No chemistry between the leads in this one...

[toddsgraham · 4/10 · 21 November 2020]

(Final scene, final lines) Caroline: I think I am getting a signal. Oscar: You definitely are. But we (the viewer) definitely are not. Unfortunately, the chemistry between the two leads in this Lifetime Christmas movie is, simply put, bad. I just did not see it/feel it on screen between Sara Canning (as Caroline Williams) and Zak Santiago (as Oscar Ortiz). I have seen Canning in several similar TV romance movies over the years; she is a good actor in such roles. Santiago is a new face on screen for me. His performance was warm but not in line with Canning's (or this genre of film, really). The script too seemed rushed in this regard; there was no real buildup of the romance between the two. The script (and performances) seemed to solely really on the dinner scene (where they get in a food fight). It is like they turned on a switch at that point in the film, which made the dialogue that (immediately) followed (where she explains how close she has gotten to Oscar, e.g.) seem disconnected with what we were seeing on screen, at least with what I was seeing. The supporting cast did not help matters thru-out. For example, the scene at the Christmas tree about 60 minutes in where Betty is asked about her Christmas ornament on the tree; this was quite an awkward exchange. The following scene, where they are all in the living room near the Christmas tree, had a lot of awkward expressions, just some bad acting in that scene. That said, the story is a warm and heartfelt one. The scenery, props, and sets were very festive. I liked the Christmas ponchos, which I have never seen before. I also learned a bit about other Christmas cultures (namely, the lighting of the lights - candles in bags - along the streets), which I enjoyed. Overall, however, this new edition to Lifetime's original Christmas movies was a bit of a letdown.

nice

[Kirpianuscus · 25 December 2021]

A nice film for panchos, tapas, luminarias, Christmas tree, food and misses and mister C - not inspired, both actors are used only at symbolic level . But, unfortunately, not convincing. And not exactly romantic , against nice premises, effort of Zak Santiago and young Dominic Mariche. The end is catastrophic. But, sure, New Mexico can be a reasonable frame. If it is inspired used. In this case, only the first scenes are the good point, suffocated nu cliches.

Meh ...

[toncincin · 6/10 · 11 November 2020]

Just OK. Certainly wasn't filmed New Mexico. Most houses in towns/cities in NM have some type or southwestern feel to them. Adobe mainly ... the house the lead male lived in with his son was unlike any house I've seen. Even in Albuquerque. One would think if they were going to say the story is set in a small NM town, they'd at least make it look believable.

Not a fan of the two leads and the "developing" love story. They have very little chemistry ... AND the kid is just too cute and agreeable for a real twelve year old.

All-i -all - just meh. Not one I'll watch again.

PS - those are unlike ANY tamale I've ever seen or eaten... HMMMM

No Chemistry Here

[nmartin-75575 · 4/10 · 7 November 2020]

When there's no chemistry between the two main characters, it's hard to believe the story. I've watched over ten Christmas movies so far this season and this one was probably my least favorite.

Delightful

[reedme1018 · 7/10 · 9 November 2020]

Very sweet movie. Good chemistry between the leads. Predictable, but what else do you expect from a Christmas romance?

Not much to this one.

[rebekahrox · 4/10 · 10 November 2020]

No real subplots to keep interest going. A very slight secondary romance, between a pretty girl and a rather plump short chef. It was not a good match even though I like unlikely pairings. It's basically a travelogue exploring the Christmas traditions of a small New Mexican town. The acting was very weak, though Sara Canning was flashes of adequacy. Her love interest, a doleful widower with a young son, looked more like her father. He was very weather-beaten and too thin and had a terrible wardrobe. Like Hollywood's idea of what a Mexican-American man should be dressed like.

The flirty food fight was present and accounted for but thank goodness, the flirty snow ball fight was avoided but only because it was New Mexico. Very annoying Santa Claus imposter added to the overall fail.

Not even the low-rent Danny Pudi could save this

[imdb-2920 · 3/10 · 16 March 2021]

I like these cheeseball Christmas moves. I'll watch a few minutes here and there before I go to sleep. This is the first one this year in which I checked the time, wondering just how much was left in this terrible thing and it was half over. Ugh. I jumped ahead to the end.

Okay, the obvious. A travel writer who doesn't go to a strange town with an open mind. Also, she takes a random train to get there as opposed to renting at car at the airport. Sure, being dependent on the dude to take you to the B&B gets the action started, but it's unrealistic. And shall we talk for a moment about her boss who sent her there because she needed her Christmas Mojo restarted?

And the dude. What's going on with the prole worker denim jacket? Not a single other person in the town dresses like that.

A town that's so pathetic that they care what some random travel writer writes.

"Santa" at the inn laughing at nothing throughout the movie. I seriously thought he was supposed to be mentally disabled until he actually spoke a few sentences at the end. Huh. I guess the movie did have a twist ending after all.

Different in a good way

[kbmiller-45232 · 8/10 · 1 January 2021]

The first thing I noticed was they used the weather appropriately. I hate to see fake snow and cotton wrapped around bushes and trees especially when you can see trees and flowers in full bloom. While it took some time for the relationship to build, as most do, they seemed comfortable with each other by the end. I also enjoyed seeing new faces on the Christmas holiday movie circuit.

New Mexico? Nope

[candace-61857 · 3/10 · 10 November 2020]

I love watching movies in and about my home state, NM, but this was just wrong on so many levels. Making tamales with bell peppers and tomatos? Breakfast is pancakes, not menudo? Not a farolito in sight and the homes all look like CA. And, as others noted, the 2 main characters had zero chemistry. Not a fan.

Boring

[OddlesOfNoodles · 4/10 · 3 December 2020]

I agree with most of the reviews...it was boring, no spark, no fun. The luminarias were a nice touch.

Mediocre at best Christmas blog

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 1 February 2022]

And, as horrible as this sounds, that is being generous. The 2020 Lifetime Christmas efforts did vary and often veered between mediocre and slightly above average and were indicative at times of rushed productions. But there were enough of them that were still watchable and more (was pleasantly surprised by some) and were not amateur efforts. Actually think on reflection that the standard was of better quality than 2019's batch.

'The Christmas Yule Blog' though is one of the misfires and one of the worst 2020 Lifetime films. There were a few good things, not massive though, that are sadly outweighed by the flaws, with the worst flaws being absolutely terrible. Is it among the worst that they ever did? Not quite, but it is one of the closest the 2020 output got to being on the same level as the worst of Lifetime's 2019 Christmas output, which is really not a good sign.

Shall start with the good. The production values are quite decent, don't look rushed or look like no effort had been put into them. Actually saw some professionalism that was not present elsewhere. The music was also quite pleasant in a nostalgic way.

Did think that Sara Canning gave a committed performance that has some charm, despite not having a particularly pleasant character at first.

However, the rest of the acting ranges between bad and awful. The male lead Zak Santiago is wooden and he and Canning come over as mismatched. The supporting cast are truly awkward, which contributed a lot to why the family scenes were as hard to watch as they were. The chemistry agreed is non-existent, the relationship itself comes out of nowhere and is underwritten and underused and Canning and Santiago do not look at ease together. Didn't care for any of the characters, which had no personality or/and annoyed.

Excepting moments of cuteness in the dialogue, the script a vast majority of the time is truly awkward and very stilted in a verbose way. Almost like a hastily written first draft not checked through and there is a jumping about nature to the script throughout. The story never grabbed me with a very dull first half, which felt slow, over-stretched and uneventful. When it picks up marginally too late, it's very contrived and the whole film has no warmth or charm, no nothing. The direction is routine at best and is often disorganised and hesitant.

Bottom line, not good at all. 3/10.

A horrendous Xmas movie with obvious stereotypes

[fxaxrx · 2/10 · 8 January 2022]

Where to begin...Lifetime definitely went all out to create a movie with Hispanic stereotypes right down to using the "white woman on a trip to find herself because her boss felt like she needed to" trope. The acting was one-dimensional, the dialogue was shallow and emotionless. The story never really took off at least to remind you as to why she went on the trip. I can get more of a story with a trip to Walmart and stick to the plot. The "Hispanic" characters from the main character's parents to the younger brother was laughable at best. Their vocal diction with an alleged accent was forced and hilarious. I could go on but I will mercifully end my review. I don't see how this movie's rating was sitting at 5.5. Avoid at all costs.

Too predictable, flat acting

[timshuwy · 3/10 · 8 November 2020]

This was too predictable. No surprises here. The best actor was the kid!

Loved it

[garcia0849 · 10/10 · 10 November 2020]

It was a beautiful heartfelt movie. It's a Christmas movie. There wasn't much chemistry between the main characters but I still enjoyed it. The traditions may not be real but it had amazing Christmas ideas to use. It's a movie, it's make believe

Worst chemistry ever

[cujorocky · 1/10 · 23 December 2021]

I've seen over 100 Christmas movies from Hallmark and Lifetime. There have been some bad match ups before, but this takes the cake. The worst pairing of a couple EVER!! Not only the main couple, but the secondary couple also. The 2 men are Hispanic and the lead looks like some ugly janitor and the second man, is like an ugly Doughboy. Zero chemistry.... Zero!! Neither of these two men could get these women for love nor money in real life. I was forced to watch this in agony as my wife loves these movies and has no understanding of a great movie to a good one, to a bad one. They are all the same to her. Ugh. This one sucked bad!!!

This was awful!

[jagfannn · 1/10 · 8 November 2020]

There was nothing about this movie I liked. The acting was stiff and uninspired, and there was zero chemistry between the leads. I'm sure they had cultural enrichment and diversity in mind when making this confused attempt at a Christmas movie but it's actually just stereotypical in all aspects, nearly to the point of being offensive. I don't think they achieved what they going for in any way here, unless it was to be the worst of the worst so far this Christmas movie season, but if that was the goal you nailed it.

Absolutely horrible

[brisenolc · 1/10 · 8 December 2020]

For being a true New Mexican, this movie doesn't capture anything of our traditions and culture. Non of the actors are Hispanic and not even close to being filmed anywhere near New Mexico. We don't walking around in ponchos let alone a ugly sweater pan go. The fake singing of o Christmas tree wasn't even correct Spanish!!!! I am highly offended by this film.

One of the worst things to come out of 2020

[isabelflannery · 1/10 · 2 December 2020]

If I could give this zero I would. It has bad cultural stereotypes which border on offensive and when I found it was made in 2020 I wasn't surprised...

Not what I want in my Christmas movies.

[Whitneywest10 · 1/10 · 20 November 2020]

I get what they were going for but it felt forced. For the sake of the health of my eyes, I finally stopped and deleted this after 32 minutes. The eye rolling was real. This just missed the mark. For the love of Christmas, start putting more decorations in the background Lifetime. It's a CHRISTMAS MOVIE.

Loved this

[mitchellrharl · 10/10 · 10 November 2020]

Leads both good traditions beautiful.such pretty scenery and very good casting

Not filmed in Kelowna BC Canada as stated here.

[mcgiveral-94720 · 8/10 · 29 November 2020]

The info on this film states that it was filmed in Kelowna British Columbia Canada which is incorrect. It was filmed in Summerland British Columbia. The place the main character was staying at was a bed and breakfast called La Casa half way down highway 97 between Summerland and Peachland. It overlooks a very large lake called Okanagan Lake which is famous for the legendary Ogopogo. There was no sign of Kelowna BC in this movie at all. Kelowna is about 40 minutes from the actual filming location, so it would be nice if this site would give credit where credit is due! . Yes I live where this was filmed lol.