Love You Like Christmas (TV Movie 2016) Poster

(2016 TV Movie)

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7/10
Can they save the family Christmas Tree Farm...
kz917-14 June 2017
While formulaic a very enjoyable movie. Woman in the add business gets stranded in Christmas loving town with car breakdown. Woman is embraced by town and meets handsome single dad. Single Dad and child fall head over heels for stranded woman. Stranded woman tries to help save the family tree farm. Will she do it? Boss, back in the big city threatens to fire woman if she doesn't make it back to do the big presentation in time. Many tears are shed as woman finally weaves her way back to the city..will she choose her job or the ready made family back in Christmasville?? What do you think. Liked it, worth a watch!
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7/10
Love you too !!
Lew77729 November 2018
I've seen quite a few Hallmark Christmas movies and most are schmaltzy, contrived and overly clichéd. This one feels different. It flows really well, with an outstanding lead in Bonnie Sommerville. She looks gorgeous, has a radiant smile and an easy-going natural acting ability which cuts through most of the clichés ! It feels like a Christmas version of "Doc Hollywood", although Bonnie plays a New York advertising exec who breaks down in Christmas Valley, Ohio. She meets Kevin ( a good job from Brennan Eliot) , who's a widower with a daughter & owns a Christmas tree farm which is on hard times. The supporting cast are great and the singing mechanic has a good voice too ! All in all, it's way better than most of the rest, so relax & enjoy !
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7/10
Magical and "christmassy" movie.
MIssM1915 March 2017
I'm from Argentina so during Christmas time - which is not a huge thing as it it in the US - it's summer in my country, luckily i've spent the last 6 years in the US during that time and it's movies like this that make me appreciate every journey even more.

Christmas is such a special thing and this movie translates exactly that feeling. It is truly magical.

Yet this movie is everything we know about Hallmark. The plot was good, there were a few lines which were amazing - as in make me laugh for real, amazing - the characters were lovely, and so was the soundtrack. It's the very first time I notice the soundtrack.

It's indeed a very beautiful movie, and it's the perfect one to enjoy on Christmas time. It will be even more special.
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7/10
Nice
rebekahrox17 November 2021
As usual, with a re-look at this after a couple of years, I'm upping my rating.

Why I gave this a 4, I don't know. I must have been in a really bad mood. This was sweet and harmless with likable leads and secondary characters. I love Bonnie Sommerville who imbued the character with poignancy and likability.
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6/10
Cute Movie But Some Aggravations
wingshock14 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I normally like cute Christmas romances, but this one got on my nerves for a few reasons. First, if trees spilled onto the interstate, people don't just sit there & honk. At least they drive around (like our heroine finally did) at best they help move the trees off the road so everyone can get going. Second, the alternator isn't going to disable a car from running, it charges the battery, so the problem would only show up on a cold start. She could have kept driving on her trip and just got a jump start if she had to turn the car off. Also, our heroine has breakfast included in her B&B stay, but she instead goes to the diner in order to get "egg white only" omelets. She orders these THREE days in a row, but never eats or pays for them. Lastly, the hero is planting a seedling Christmas tree. Everyone knows, you don't plant trees in December. Christmas tree farms plant seedlings in March. These kind of things really kept me from enjoying the movie.
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6/10
Help him pick up the trees???
adamjohns-4257510 December 2020
Although he looks like my weird friend Kevin, I actually find Brennan Elliot very attractive in this film. The leading female however? I can see why Ross dumped her in "Friends". She's quite annoying. Having said that, I think it very rude that everybody tells her that she shouldn't be available to answer her phone so much to her boss. This happens with a lot of these "City girl goes to a small town for Christmas" films. They can't know the pressure that she's under and shouldn't make judgements like that. It paints them as bad people and it's just not fair. It would be nice if she actually ate one of the omelettes she orders though.

Another cute romance and lots of festive fun to be had, but it doesn't win the best film ever award coming in somewhere a lot further down.
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3/10
Big city versus small town...again
HotToastyRag10 December 2020
I really wanted to like Love You Like Christmas, because I was looking forward to seeing Brennan Elliot as the good guy. (I was always secretly rooting for him during Cedar Cove.) While there wasn't anything wrong with his performance, there wasn't much chemistry between him and his costar Bonnie Summerville, and the story itself wasn't very riveting.

This is one of those movies that cast big city folks as cold-hearted villains. Bonnie plays a career woman who prioritizes her work over the spirit of Christmas. She has car trouble; Brennan tries to help her but is rebuffed by a rude attitude. Turns out, she's forced to stay in his small town and bump into him a number of times while waiting for her car to get fixed. The spirit of Christmas can melt even the coldest heart, and can make any woman decide to throw away her career and beautiful apartment for a cottage in the middle of nowhere, right? Only on Hallmark.
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9/10
A Happy Movie which I will Love Every Christmas
gehewe12 February 2017
There is only one review as I write this and it misses the mark. This is an excellent happy movie. The lead actress Bonnie Sommerville is actually 42 yrs old and really reminds me of Stephanie Zimbalist in "The Story Lady" (this is a good thing). She absolutely carries the movie and interacts great with the supporting cast. Brennan Elliot plays the lead actor and it is just perfect. This movie is a home run. Kept my interest the whole time.

This movie had the little touches that made it memorable. Loved when they ask the ex-encyclopedia salesman who memorized the "A" volume to define "Angel". He touches the little girls nose and says "that's easy, it is a picture of you". That was sweet. Love when Brennan Elliot says "That reindeer cost me a lot". The diner scenes were great as well. Yes the movie started in New York City, but most of it was in Ohio. Enjoy it.
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nice
Kirpianuscus14 November 2019
For a Hallmark Christmas film, nice remains the most inspired definition. In this case, it is more. Sure, the recipe, the ingredients are the same. Too familiar, maybe. But used in inspired manner. And this is the most significant thing. Short, a film like a hot cocoa cup.
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6/10
Just okay with A few annoyances
mamachikn22 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I like Brennan Elliott, and the female lead was okay. First, as someone else mentioned, several lanes of traffic being closed by a truckload of trees, and no one helps him pick them up. They're all willing to sit in their cars and honk. These trees apparently were damaged so severely that they were unsaleable. Really? They're Christmas trees, not tomatoes! I found it annoying that Kevin kept criticizing Maddie for answering her phone when her boss was calling. He didn't think money should be a factor in Christmas, yet it was lack of it that almost cost him his tree farm. Rather hypocritical. And when Maddie needs to return, he says she has a choice. Sure, they had a budding relationship, but she was supposed to leave her job and home right then and there to stay in Christmas Valley? A few annoyances that made it awkward to watch. Maddie walks the dog with Kevin's daughter to her house, a casual walk, then Kevin drives them back to the boarding house for like 5 minutes. Must have been very far. Where was the dog? He disappears after the walk, then is back at the boarding house. Other than that and 3 interrupted kisses, it was okay.
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4/10
I like Brennan Elliott
knightbaby-9451420 July 2020
Story was nice for Christmas, my dislike was the combination. Brennan Elliott is great no matter who he is with, Lacey Chabert is the best, but Bonnie Somerville was just Not a good match. no real romantic chemistry. She actually looked old next to him, more like and older sister. Just my opinion,
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10/10
Happy Holiday Movie
kall669523 December 2017
Great Holiday Movie. Lots of Christmas Cheer and heroine helping out the small town and the local tree farm. Mostly all ups and no downs. Good acting. Bonnie Somerville and Brennan Elliot are great. Bonnie is sweet, determined and easy to watch, not like SOME Hallmark movies where the heroine is a royal pain!! Good show!
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7/10
Sweet, but also quite annoying at times (City= Bad, Small Town= Good); Madison Brydges, who plays the 12 year old daughter, lights up the movie
MichaelByTheSea27 October 2022
Bonnie Somerville is fine as Maddie ("Madison Avenue") Duncan the Big City Girl from New York with an Oh So Very Busy Career and Brennan Elliott is solid as ever as Kevin Tyler, The Handsome Small Town Widower who loves the slow paced life of running a Christmas tree farm in Ohio. And Madison Brydges is simply adorable as his daughter "Jo" (a shout out to Little Women?).

And there's obviously plenty of Christmas spirit in a town called Christmas Valley, which is practically a character by itself. The town is also full of lots of nice, pleasant people who all fall in love with Maddie, even though she's from the Big City, has only been there a couple of days, and is too busy to do anything besides work on her computer.

Hey, it's a Hallmark Christmas movie, so there's plenty of sugary sweet moments. It's why people like me watch a LOT of Hallmark.

But Holy Moly is this movie packed with a bunch of implausible plot lines.

Maddie, who's too busy to eat breakfast without doing work, apparently has the time to drive across the country. In December. In an old Mustang. To go from NYC to a wedding in Denver. A "client's" wedding.

Uh, OK.

Kevin has an accident on a highway in the beginning which results in a bunch of his Christmas trees falling out and blocking the highway. But literally no one helps him load the trees back onto his trailer.

Maddie's Mustang needed a new alternator and the Singing Mechanic didn't have one in stock. But apparently FedEx doesn't service Christmas Valley because it took several days to get the wrong one delivered.

Two things can be true: (1) You can need to stay in touch with the office and with clients on your phone because it's part of your high paying job, and not have to put up with condescending criticism; and (2) You can have the courtesy to silence your phone in a restaurant and call or text people back at a more convenient time without jeopardizing your job or client relations.

Maddie the Marketing Expert demonstrates how good she is at her job by telling Molly, the owner of a diner in Christmas Valley called Stan's, that she should change the name to Molly's and, get this, put up some Christmas decorations. Pure genius.

And Kevin's Christmas tree business is about to go out of business according to somebody at the bank who apparently doesn't mind sharing private financial information with customers at the diner.

But fear not, Maddie the Marketing Expert has a solution, even though it's almost Christmas: sell more trees. Pure genius.

I really hate the "almost" kiss trope. But I REALLY hate it when it happens twice in the same movie.

So, in 2016, when a man and a woman live 500 miles away from each, and then fall in love over the course of a few days, who do you think should quit their job and move? The man or the woman?
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4/10
Bad boarding house.
malachite-7843219 December 2021
This movie was okay, but what the frell was with that little girl? In what universe is it acceptable for some annoying child to just hang out in a renters room? I would have just politely asked the inn owner to please tell the parents of the child to get her out of my room. She had important work to do. And she isn't a baby sitter. Unbelievable.

The dog in her room. Yes. Little annoying girl. NO.

And another thing about the boarding house. The owner yells Hello Maddie to her and wakes her up! Why? It's not her family. Let the woman wake up when she chooses to wake up.

Definitely NOT the way to run a boarding house. She would get a bad Yelp review if it was me.
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Good but ..............
adeans-6311919 December 2019
......... Brennan Elliott is NOT leading-man material !

Sorry but Brennan Elliott is just not ideal in his role - he's far more suited to being a 'Baddie' !
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7/10
Gentle but interesting
VetteRanger7 December 2023
A lot of these movies have to push the limits of credulity for their premise, but if you can get past that, they have a story.

In this case the stretch is a Madison Avenue ad exec driving to Denver for a client's wedding because she's afraid to fly. So she sets off in a vintage Mustang for the trip, winding up with a failing alternator in a small town in Ohio ... which happens to have an unseasonable early and heavy snow.

She meets andadorable little girl at the boarding house she must take refuge in while the part comes in for her car, and the film follows a growing relationship with the girl's father and others in the town ... particularly a woman running a diner who could use a bit of help promoting her business.

Other circumstances keep her stranded in the town until she seems to have "gone native". :-) Luckily, there is no "old boyfriend" trope, but there is the "big city exec helps small town business" trope.

But the characters and the story are enjoyable, and the film hold up under repeated viewings (thought probably a few years apart).
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6/10
Not too shabby for a Hallmark Christmas movie...
paul_haakonsen15 December 2021
Well, if you enjoy Hallmark Christmas movies, then you will certainly enjoy the 2016 movie titled "Love You Like Christmas" from writer Karen Berger and director Graeme Campbell. Why? Well, because "Love You Like Christmas" is an archetypical Hallmark movie in every meaning of the term, for better or worse.

Now, I will say that the storyline told in "Love You Like Christmas" was actually fair enough and certainly was watchable, and while it does have the traditional Hallmark romatic sappy cheese in it, then the storyline actually offered a bit more than just that. So writer Karen Berger did manage to produce something that added to the formula of the Hallmark creative bench.

The movie starred Bonnie Somerville (as Maddie) and Brennan Elliott (as Kevin), and they definitely carried the movie well enough together and had a nice enough chemistry on the screen. I have to say though, that "Love You Like Christmas" didn't have anyone on the cast list that I was familiar with, and that is something I enjoy in movies.

If you enjoy Christmas movies, then you certainly should give "Love You Like Christmas" a chance, should you find yourself with the opportunity to watch this 2016 Hallmark Christmas movie.

My rating of "Love You Like Christmas" lands on a six out of ten stars.
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7/10
Fate is more important than reality
MickyG3339 December 2022
7.0 stars.

Surprisingly good movie. I didn't particularly like Bonnie Somerville at first. This is one of a handful of movies wherein I didn't love the lead very much, but the supporting cast are spectacular. Maybe it was the intent of the script to portray her as a half-hearted woman, half way fun, half way pretty, half way charming, just so-so.

As the story continues, we fall in love with a bunch of people in this nowhere town named Christmas Valley, Ohio. The lady who owns the boarding house was very welcoming, and there's this traveling salesman who is charismatic and he basically just lives there. Then we meet this fun little girl and then - surprise - her dad is the dashing man that we met along the highway. After all this we get to know a bunch of people in town, the mechanic, restaurant owner, the chef, and the weird guy that hangs out in the diner all day. The mechanic happens to have a voice like an angel, the little girl is so lovable and cute that you wanna squeeze her. Her dad is about the most eligible single guy on the planet - he's smart, gives sage advice, is chivalrous, and a great father...

Our leading female is the talk of the town, then she's the hero of the town, now she has to go back home to New York.

At first I thought this was a dud, then it was ok, then it was great, by the end this movie won over my heart just like Maddie won over the town. She's not nearly my favorite leading female of Hallmark, hit and miss, but there were too many memorable moments - this movie works.

The ending is worth the wait.
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5/10
I usually like Hallmark Christas movies
hqfedlegion-119 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Usually Hallmark hits the mark with Christmas movies, unfortunately this one misses the mark. The female lead is good, the daughter, traveling salesman and really liked the diner people and the rest of the townspeople. BUT, the male lead Kevin; there was just something annoying about him. Its too contrite a story; woman needs to learn the real meaning of Christmas and gets schooled by the Christmas tree man and his daughter in a small town. This story has been done better with actors who had better chemistry. I really liked the gas station/singer kid. I don't know if that was him actually singing, and I couldn't find anything more than this movie to his credit, so hope to see him in more things.
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8/10
In love with Christmas
TheLittleSongbird1 September 2020
Throughout my whole Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas film completest quest undertaken namely late last year through to early this year, an interesting quest but very mixed one, there was never the mentality of expecting a classic or the film in question to be flawless. Something that was never managed with Hallmark'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 most of Hallmark's output but not all.

'Love You Like Christmas' is not a Christmas classic, but seeing it the amount of effort that went into it was more than evident throughout. Hallmark's Christmas output has been very variable, the best ones being surprisingly very bad and the worst terrible. 'Love You Like Christmas' in many ways is one of their overall best, with almost everything done remarkably well and only a couple of things done imperfectly which was not unexpected in a way.

Have never expected much originality from Hallmark, and attempts at doing something different were quite rare. 'Love You Like Christmas' is not much of an exception, with the story being yet another variation on a very familiar and still done to death (for Hallmark) formula. So story-wise it is rather predictable with some slow spots here and there.

Perhaps the ending is a touch on the pat side.

Not much else to dislike otherwise. Bonnie Sommerville is a breath of fresh air, after seeing some pretty terrible female leads in other Hallmark and Lifetime films her performance here is among the better ones. Brennan Elliott is a very charming and equally likeable partner and they have a very sweet and genuine chemistry together (something that some other Hallmark films have failed badly in). Madison Brydges endears and is not bratty and too cute, her character also feels like a real character and not a stereotype. Which is true for the characters in general and how refreshing it was to finally have a Hallmark businesswoman character that isn't over the top annoying, Maddie being one of the few rootable ones.

Moreover, 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. Most of the soundtrack is nostalgic and appealing to listen to, capturing the festive spirit well. The script just about avoids being corny and saccharine, both of which are common for Hallmark, and the story is mostly very engaging, easy to be uplifted by and heart-warming. Oh and the dog is adorable with a capital A.

On the whole, surprisingly very good and one of the best Hallmark Christmas films. 8/10
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1/10
My insides physically hurt from watching this
joefart-467374 January 2021
Easily the worst Hallmark movie I've seen. Don't waste your time.
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9/10
Great Family Movie
marsmii23 November 2019
...this is a feel good Christmas movie. Love Brennan Elliott, no matter what he's in. His acting is natural, guy next door type that makes one feel you've known him forever. Loved the dog and the young girl.
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4/10
Question
zenp-2053120 December 2021
Can someone answer the following questions:

When was this movie filmed? What time of year? (ex. What month or season?)

Couldn't find the answer anywhere online.
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4/10
Sappy Christmas
tormustelin22 December 2021
Okay, here's the thing: I don't like Christmas. Watching a Film that shows 'what Christmas should be all about', and not experiencing any of those things - like family getting together; I don't have any family where I live - makes me depressed and slightly nauseous. It doesn't help to watch a movie like this, filled witch platitudes, Hollywood cliches, and predictable layers of honey and cheesy scenes. Boy gets girl, boy almost loses girl, boy gets girl again, happy ending, all while superficial Christmas Music is playing Ad Nauseum during the film. YUCK!!!
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10/10
Best hallmark movie
mitchellrharl29 October 2019
Bonnie Sommerville and Brennan Elliott perfect chemistry the girl playing daughter and dog perfect .all cast was wonderful .this is a keeper adding classic mustang great Diner best movie .2019 hallmark movies need to take a lesson from this one
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