Miss Christmas (2017)

The Radcliff Tree, and lighting ceremony, in Chicago is, to quote Ron Burgundy, kind of a big deal. Which is why Holly Khun (Brooke D'Orsay) spends most of her year searching for the perfect tree. And she thinks her search is over when she reads a letter from a young boy who is offering the perfect tree, but it turns out that the father of the boy doesn't want to see the tree moved from their town to Chicago. So it's up to Holly to convince everyone, while the clock ticks away, that the tree will create a lot of happy memories for a lot of people.

Written by Joie Botkin (who started her screenwriting career this year with this and A Song For Christmas), and directed by Mike Rohl (who has a LOT of TV credits to his name, with stints on shows such as Smallville and Supernatural, to name just a couple), there's nothing truly terrible about Miss Christmas. But that is something that can also be said of so many other Christmas TV movies.

What this film gives you is a simple plot that allows for a few heartstring-tugging moments (nothing major, don't worry about crying over your mince pies), a scene featuring some amusingly ugly Christmas sweaters, an entirely predictable will they-won't they romance, and a standard message that reiterates the true meaning of Christmas while also focusing on the main character putting all of her energy into securing a big and beautiful tree.

What Miss Christmas DOESN'T give you is a decent enough cast. D'Orsay doesn't really exude the right amount of care or warmth in her role, even when she is making her case for being allowed to take care of the tree, and Marc Blucas, playing the father of the young boy who wrote the letter, is okay in small doses, but should never be called upon to be a male lead. These movies can rise or fall depending on the cast, and this cast just isn't good enough to lift it above average. Luke Roessler is the young lad who wrote the letter, Greg Rogers is his grandfather (and father to the character played by Blucas), and Fiona Vroom is the other family member, and onside with D'Orsay pretty much from the very beginning.

One to keep as a very low priority, which means you have about a million other viewing choices you could put ahead of this one, Miss Christmas is still inoffensive, relatively harmless, stuff. But that's really all of the praise I can give it.

4/10

Here is a large selection of Christmas movies to enjoy.
And American elves can pick the same set up here.

A Song For Christmas (2017)

Becca Tobin plays Adelaide Kay, a country singer who is on the verge of hitting the level of superstar. All she has to do is play along with the narrative created by her manager, which is dragging her away from her earnest roots to become a performer of songs written by other people. She has a major concert coming up, the biggest of her career so far, but ends up waylaid at a small farm instead, as you do, with the handsome Dillon (Kevin McGarry) and his family. Which may just remind her of everything that she needs reminded of, and just in time for Christmas too. Oh, and did I mention that she is trying to keep her real identity under wraps?

Directed by R. C. Newey (someone so new to the game, apparently, that I had to add their name to the credits listing on IMDb) and written by Betsy Morris and Joie Botkin, A Song For Christmas is one of the multitude of Hallmark movies that we are now treated to every single year. On the downside, these things can often feel like products wrapped in tinsel and then dropped off the end of a conveyor belt. On the plus side, it's hard to deny that these people know exactly what they are doing when it comes to this type of holiday fare. Some are still better than others, of course, but most of them are created as the perfect type of thing to have on while you write out your Christmas cards and wrap lots of presents.

As is often the case, the success or failure of this kind of thing rests on the likeability of the leads. Tobin is quite likeable, thankfully, and that helps, even in the moments when she has to be overly earnest (which happens a lot in these films). McGarry is a bit stiffer, but that is his character. The film isn't really about him. He is just one piece used to help Tobin complete her Christmas journey. The other main piece is Hailey (Kendra Leigh Timmins), the younger sister of Dillon, and the one who takes immediately to Adelaide.

It's all predictable, it's all quite ridiculous, and it's just the right level of simple entertainment that clogs up the TV channels while meals are being cooked and alcoholic beverages are being knocked back. And, most importantly, it doesn't have anyone in it who ends up being too annoying.

5/10

Here is a large selection of Christmas movies to enjoy.
And American elves can pick the same set up here.