hallmarkchristmasguy

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas had the makings of a decent made for TV Christmas movie. Good scenery and snow, decent soundtrack, slightly different concept for Hallmark (no big city girl saving small town business from evil corporate types etc) but sadly it was a missed opportunity as the script falls completely flat.

The acting is mediocre with neither lead generating any charm or chemistry. The plot moves along fairly slowly. There are multiple points throughout the movie where it could have had some quirky charm or humor injected but instead it's dull, cliche and wooden dialogue. A movie about a Christmas decorating contest would have lent itself well to a few musical montage scenes of each mayor putting up their decorations, trying to outdo each other, maybe some lighthearted and silly sabotage efforts. It would have been cliche but in the enjoyable typical lighthearted Hallmark kind of way and it would have infused some fun or laughs along the way. Instead it was more flat dialogue, just plodding from plot point to plot point with no spark between the two leads at all.

The ending was predictable and typically silly/unrealistic which should be expected in these types of movies so it didn't bother me even though it could have been predicted 10 minutes or less into the movie.

Certainly not the worst movie out there but incredibly forgettable and not worth a watch unless you're a true Hallmark Christmas junkie.

Christmas at Holly Lodge doesn't offer anything new if you're a fan of the Hallmark Christmas genre. Typical love story, with a struggling small business (a lodge) with a romantic interest working for the Big Corporation (in this case a real estate mogul who wants to buy the lodge)

Where this movie stands out is with excellent acting and good chemistry from the two leads. The plot is thin but the movie delivers a lot of heartfelt side characters and a decent backstory to make the viewer invested in the outcome of the story.

It's full of festive holiday cheer with a good setting and interior set designs. Predictable but enjoyable in the comfortable easy to consume way that makes this genre so fun during the holidays. The pace of the movie is a little slower than some other Hallmark movies and there isn't the quirky humor and charm present in some of the standout entries to Hallmark's catalogue but overall it's a good watch and one I will definitely rewatch

Recommended for anyone who enjoys made for TV Christmas movies.

Hallmark Christmas movies have a certain formula and long time viewers of them can probably predict each twist and turn (and even how many minutes into the film the point of conflict occurs). Despite this, they usually make for light hearted, easy to consume, festive fun. Provided you don't mind (or even enjoy) the silly, sometimes nonsensical plots and can suspend your disbelief and just sit and enjoy 82 minutes of Christmas cheer.

Most Hallmark (or similar) Christmas movies don't stand out but there are some on both ends of the spectrum. A few truly dreadful ones (Ghosts of Christmas Boyfriends Past, Christmasland etc) and some truly stand out as movies to rewatch annually (Snowed Inn Christmas, Twas the Night Before Christmas Christmas Secret etc).

A Christmas Family Tree is truly one of the standouts as long as you can suspend your disbelief for the entire duration of the movie. The premise of the movie, our main female lead Vanessa gets a paternal DNA match from a genealogy company and goes to meet her biological father whom she has never met. Surprisingly, this meet up is immediate and no searching or setbacks in finding the family.

Over the next hour of the movie, she falls in love with the family friend Kris and becomes a real part of the family. Good acting for a Hallmark movie, decent dialogue, a festive score and good set design (no egregiously fake snow). But then comes our expected point of conflict. It was hinted throughout the film that perhaps Vanessa isn't actually the real daughter because the few details she remembered of her mom didn't match up with her "dad"'s memory. But this becomes solidified when the DNA company calls and says it was a mixup and she's not the Vanessa who matched to the paternal dna sample. A computer glitch or something.

I can suspend my disbelief and succumb to the silly Hallmark plots so this didn't bother. Highly unlikely? Sure but record keeping and data entry errors do occur. I can even overlook the fact that nobody seemed to connect that Vanessa knew her mom as "Patty" and the dad knew "Trish" and these are obviously both short versions of Patricia.

So Vanessa gets understandably upset and leaves once she reveals she's not the real daughter. Dad then digs through a box of old photos and sees a picture of "Trish" which lo and behold looks just like Vanessa and is signed "Patricia" on the back. He finally makes the connection to "Patty" and sees the resemblance of the mom and Vanessa and decides it really is his real daughter.

The loose end here is that how did the DNA company make a mistake that thinking they had made a mistake? A second glitch in their system? If the DNA company calls and says "you're the wrong person" why is a 30 year old photo all of a sudden concrete proof Vanessa is the real daughter? I can even overlook the dad not remembering what the mom looked like 30 years ago. But to have a "DNA match error" explained away by a photo with no subsequent addressing of the "mix up" with the DNA is an annoying loose end.

It actually would have been less crazy to me if the DNA company had called the dad and said his sample was in error too and actually he was a match to this Vanessa. Literally any explanation from the DNA company would have worked because this is a Hallmark Christmas movie and even crazy wildly implausible things are more in line with the genre than complete loose ends.

Regardless of that one annoyance, it's a very enjoyable and heartfelt film and one of Hallmark's best efforts in their Christmas genre. Highly recommended even if the ending felt like it didn't actually address the point of conflict correctly. I'm sure many fans of these movies will be less annoyed by the lack of follow up with the DNA company.

Meet Me At Christmas is a typical Hallmark Christmas movie about lost loves being reunited as adults. It has a lot of the standard plot devices long time Hallmark/made for TV a Christmas movie watchers will recognize. The lead character's spouse is deceased, she doesn't think she'll find love again. The male lead was a guy she had a romantic date with as a teenager but stood her up. They end up reunited at her son's wedding. Their spark eventually rekindles, she forgives him for standing her up as a kid but then in typical Hallmark fashion she gets the idea he's leaving town for work. He overhears her telling her son that her deceased husband is her one true love. Contrived misunderstandings all around as is typical about an hour into any of these movies. Obviously being a Hallmark movie, it all works out in the end.

The fact that this is so generic and predictable isn't an issue for me, some of the best Hallmark Christmas movies follow the "hallmark formula". The problem with Meet Me At Christmas is that there is no quirky humor, no charm, no stand out acting performances and the plot is about the thinnest as you will find.

Usually the formulaic movies in this genre make for good festive background noise, and some are stand outs worth watching every year. This one is dull and forgettable unfortunately. It's not an especially bad movie thanks to decent acting but in a genre with so many options, it's one to pass over for something with more personality.

At its core, Christmas In Big Sky Country is telling a story you've seen a lot if you're a fan of Hallmark/made for TV style Christmas movies. Big city corporate guy goes to small town, falls in love with struggling small business owner, realizes his corporate job isn't where his heart is and simultaneously saves the small business. It's a tired but comfortable plot which has been done in some version dozens, perhaps hundreds of times over.

The specific plot here is that our male lead Logan works for Big Oil, having taken a job/promotion as a PR guy. Our main female lead Becca is a struggling small business owner in Montana whose brother in law works on an oil rig in Alaska. There's an accident on the rig and the brother in law has his communication cut off which causes concern for Becca and her sister's family. Big Oil makes Logan's first assignment in PR to go to Montana to show they care about the oil worker families.

While in Montana, Logan falls in love with Becca but gets put in some moral/ethical dilemmas as Big Oil does some shady stuff to the oil worker families to prevent a lawsuit. Logan has conflict with his boss as his ethics come into question, Becca briefly thinks Logan is just self interested and doing his job as opposed to actually caring about her/the brother in law. All pretty predictable drama

There are a few things which hold the movie back. The acting is passable but not great, specifically the scenes where the leads express their feelings for each other. The dialogue here is clunky, corny to an extreme even for this genre. The plot itself has a familiar message seen in these movies (big corporate bad, small business good) which is expected but delivered in a very hamfisted manner where Logan's boss ends up almost a caricature of a bad guy.

There is also some stuff to like here. Becca's dad, albeit in limited screen time, gives a good performance with a few amusing dad jokes early on. There is a scene which is surprisingly serious for the genre, where the brother in law is trapped in the rig and Logan has to talk to him to keep him awake. This was a bit more dramatic and serious than the usual dramatic scenes in these movies and I found it to be refreshingly different. The setting of the movie was a little bit different, with the inclusion of the oil rig and that helped the anti-corporate theme work a bit better for me

Overall, for this genre, it's a decent watch but certainly not a great film. If you like Hallmark movies, you might enjoy it if you can overlook some of the overly corny acting.

Christmas With The Knightlys is a made for TV Christmas movie in the spirit of a Hallmark or Great American Family style film. If you've seen lots of those movies, there is nothing new here. However, despite being predictable and cliche, it's an easy to watch and fun entry into TV movie film genre.

The opening scene, where our female lead gets dumped by her boyfriend who is more focused on work than her is almost painfully overacted and derivative of a dozen other movies. However, the film finds its footing soon after.

The plot is straightforward - our lead (Georgia) and her boyfriend break up. Our male lead (Chase) is an ultra wealthy public figure who needs his public image rehabilitated. They happen to bump into each other and an agreement is reached to pretend to date. He gets a public image boost by dating an "everyday teacher" and she gets a new community center paid for by his ultra rich family.

The dramatic tension comes from the predictable falling in love while both thinking it's just an arrangement of convenience. There's a nosy tabloid journalist who discovers the relationship is a sham and causes Chase's family to lose a big business deal and all the associated family members to get upset that they were misled about the relationship. Entirely predictable if you've seen a lot of these types of movies

While the film offers nothing original and long time Hallmark watchers could probably predict every plot point along the way, it's well executed. The movie has a good and festive soundtrack, the scenery and set design has plenty of Christmas spirit with lights and decorated trees everywhere, the film is well paced and reasonably well acted after the first scene and there's some light hearted humor. The points of tension are quickly resolved and we get our happy ending. One thing I appreciated about this film compared to some others is the plot moves very quickly. No padding, or extended and drawn out dialogue.

Nothing about the movie stands out in either a particularly good or bad way but as far as generic TV Christmas movies go, it's an easy and enjoyable watch. If you like Hallmark styled Christmas movies and don't mind a silly plot and predictable script, it's worth watching.

While I love Hallmark (and similar) Christmas movies, the "royal" sub-genre is my least favorite of the yearly offerings. There are a few which have stood out over the years but generally they're forgettable and not worth rewatching for me.

The Royal Nanny is one of the recent exceptions. While the premise is predictably silly and wildly unrealistic, it's well executed. Both leads play their roles well with some solid romantic chemistry. The plot, an undercover government agent poses as a nanny to provide security for the royal family and falls in love, is fairly straightforward and tightly written. There's a perfect balance and intertwining of the espionage and love stories. The set design and music are festive and well done.

Overall, it's a slightly and refreshingly different take on Royal movies and as long as you don't take the espionage plot too seriously, it's a fun and charming movie and one I will end up rewatching from time to time.

8/10.

Nostalgic Christmas is a decent albeit forgettable and extremely generic Hallmark Christmas movie. If you've seen a lot of Hallmark movies, you've probably seen some version of it before.

Corporate city girl goes back to her hometown for the holidays and ends up saving the day while falling in love with the a local guy. It's a cookie cutter and cliche plot, executed reasonably well. The acting is solid, the dialogue and chemistry between romantic leads works well enough. The plot is far fetched and predictable as usual. The set design and music is festive.

Nostalgic Christmas is about as generic as this it gets. It's like the writers used a "Hallmark Christmas movie" fill in the blanks program to write it. It's as middle of the road as you will find in the extensive Hallmark holiday catalogue. There isn't enough charm or humor to make it stand out in a good way but there's also nothing really bad about it.

If you like the genre, it's worth a watch. But there's absolutely nothing noteworthy or new here.

Most Hallmark Christmas movies make for easy festive background noise even if they aren't standouts. A few are painful to sit through and I'd never rewatch, a few are true standouts I try to rewatch most years. The Holiday Sitter has all of the characteristics of the "must watch" Hallmark movies in my collection

The plot is fairly simple but well executed, the set design is festive, colorful and seasonal. No egregiously bad fake snow or obvious filming in the summer.

Jonathan Bennett steals the show with a terrific, charming and humorous performance as Sam - a single guy who wants to spend Christmas in Hawaii away from family but gets roped into babysitting his nephew and niece instead. He falls in love with the neighbor Jason (played perfectly by George Krissa)

The plot is predictable and follows the typical Hallmark formula. The chemistry between the leads is excellent. Plenty of lighthearted and humorous moments thanks to Bennett's comedic chops.

It's a heartwarming and festive movie with better than usual acting and chemistry. Would recommend for any fan of the genre, as it's one of the better Hallmark offerings in the past few years.

In a nutshell, this is your standard cookie cutter made for TV Hallmark movie - with a lot of singing.

Everything about In Merry Measure is generic and unremarkable. The acting, set design, musical score, script writing and direction...it's all right in the middle of the "Hallmark movie bell curve"

Nothing objectively terrible but nothing memorable or worth rewatching for either.

The endless singing from the high schoolers and lack of notable chemistry between the lead actors make this one I wouldn't rewatch.

If you're more musically or vocally inclined, this might be more appealing to you. Watching teenagers sing for a cumulative 20 minutes of the 80 minute runtime was just too much for me (though to their credit, they sang well).

Lifetime's catalog of made for tv Christmas movies is hit or miss with me. Whereas most Hallmark and GAF movies are easy and festive viewing, with some real standouts, Lifetime seems to range between superb and almost painful to sit through.

While Welcome Home Christmas isn't objectively terrible, it didn't resonate with me at all. The lead, Jana Kramer, plays her role well enough and the other acting performances are about what you'd expect from a Lifetime Christmas movie. There isn't much chemistry between her and the male lead which takes away from the (limited) romantic storyline which is inherent to this genre

The premise of the movie might appeal to other viewers more than it did with me, as I had one big issue with it. The plot revolves around Chloe (Jana Kramer) recently leaving the military and becoming a counselor helping recent discharged soldiers adjust to civilian life.

The problem here is that while this is a good and more serious-than-usual theme for a TV Christmas movie, it isn't approached with any sort of depth. The movie never really delves into the male lead's (discharged soldier Michael) struggle beyond him missing his service dog. There isn't much focus on him struggling which causes the whole plot to fall flat. The premise is too serious to prompt much of the quirky and humorous fun that often is found in this genre (especially the standout films) yet there aren't really any traces of true struggle, grief, depression or serious themes which come along with struggling soldiers.

So in the end, it is neither a serious and heart warming movie nor a generic light hearted movie. It's just a one note and flat script which only delivers any emotion at the very end when Michael gets the one gift he really wants.

The scenery, because the movie is centered around a military base, is less festive than many Lifetime/Hallmark movies and the directing is unremarkable.

The fake snow is horrendously fake looking - clearly the same cheap cotton batting that retail shops put in their front window. You can literally see it blowing around like cotton tumbleweeds in some scenes.

Perhaps those who have served or their families will enjoy this more than I did. I would have found it more enjoyable had the subject matter been delved into in a more real way. More focus on Micheal's struggle and less focus on "Operation Santa Claus" would have made this a throwback to some of Lifetime's early (and excellent) Christmas movies which had more depth and less cookie cutter romcom themes and would have elevated the movie.

Other than the terrible fake snow, there's nothing memorable about this movie and it lacked the silly Christmas festive fun that the genre usually presents. 4/10.

For those of us who watch a lot of Hallmark (and similar) Christmas movies, it's rare to find one with a fresh concept. 'Twas The Night Before Christmas delivers just that. A local town play centered around a courtroom debate on who actually wrote the famous poem for which the movie is named.

The acting is as good as you'll find in the genre, with both leads playing their roles well. The romantic chemistry between the leads is believable and not over played. The writing and direction are excellent. The set design and musical score are top notch. Even the fake snow (which can be laughably bad in made for TV Christmas movies) looks good.

If you enjoy Hallmark movies or festive light hearted Christmas movies, give this one a chance. It's definitely one of the strongest ones Hallmark has put out recently.

The Naughty List (alternatively titled a Date By Christmas Eve) is essentially your standard "magic wishes with good intentions gone wrong" movie. If you're a fan of made of TV Christmas movies, you're familiar with the premise

Chelsea, the main character, is working to develop and market a new dating app (Naughty or Nice). Mrs Clause, thought to be an actor hired by the marketing company but actually the real deal, enchants the app which allows Chelsea to make wishes to put her friends and rivals on the naughty or nice list and change their personalities accordingly

Along the way, her app idea and job promotion are stolen from her, she gets dumped, she ignores the obvious crush her best friend Fisher has on her and gets annoyed with her clingy best friend Keegan. She makes wishes to fix all of this stuff and it backfires as expected. She then has to learn the real meaning of Christmas and make things right.

Lifetime has, in recent years, adopted the Hallmark formula for Christmas movies - putting out dozens of cookie cutter and predictable but enjoyable romantic comedies. As with Hallmark, and now GAC, the movies are a mixed bag. Some are truly great, some truly awful, most in between. If you're a fan of the genre, this movie will probably be "in between" although perhaps closer to the bottom of your list depending on how much the core premise interests you.

The two leads do a good job and keep the movie afloat with their solid performances and good chemistry. Nothing else in the movie stands out as especially good, although there isn't much especially bad stuff here either.

I'm not a huge fan of "magical" hallmark/lifetime movies, the supernatural element always comes off as especially corny and cliche so this one isn't one I would rewatch but it's a perfectly mediocre entry into the genre . There are a number of much better Lifetime movies in the recent years though

5/10.

Unlocking Christmas is about as cookie cutter as Hallmark Christmas movies go. If you're a fan of the genre, you've seen it all before (probably many times over)

The two leads meet each other and take an instant dislike (though mild) for each other. They each receive a mysterious key outside their door and work together while solving the riddles the key leads them to. Of course, they fall in love along the way with a very brief and mild conflict towards the end (as usual)

It's an entirely familiar but immediately forgettable film. The lead actors, both veterans of the made for TV genre, play their roles well and their chemistry is quite good - probably the best thing about the movie. Nothing else stands out as particularly good or bad, simply because there isn't much here. Even as far as Hallmark Christmas goes, the plot is thin and the conflict is both predictable and incredibly brief.

The pacing isn't great because there (again) just isn't much happening. But the set decoration and locations are good - definitely not one of those Hallmark "obviously filmed in sunny 90 degree heat with fake snow" films. It has a good amount of festive holiday spirit that make this easy to consume, just not particularly interesting

If you've watched a lot of these films, this definitely won't be in your top or bottom all time lists but it's probably closer to the bottom than top.

5/10 - enjoyable if you're a fan of Hallmark but not rewatchable.

Hallmark Christmas movies are usually formulaic, easy to digest, predictable and generally entertaining if you enjoy the genre. There are even a number of ones which end up being quite good. Merry Matrimony is not one of those. While it has plenty of holiday spirit and follows the general formula, it is held back significantly by bottom tier acting and a horribly drawn out "it's all a misunderstanding" plot device

Normally in these movies, the love interests suffer some sort of conflict/misunderstanding/miscommunication which is quickly resolved and leads the to happy ending. In Merry Matrimony, this miscommunication is drawn out to an extreme, to the point where it becomes irritating to sit through and wrecks whatever momentum the movie had going for the first 50-60 minutes

On top of that, the acting is really quite poor all around. Christopher Russell, who plays the male lead, is passable although he always comes off as a bit one dimensional in these films. Jessica Lowndes plays the female lead and turns in a flat, uninspiring and seemingly bored performance. While their chemistry is decent, neither actor adds anything to their role and struggle to make the viewer care about their characters. The childhood friend is one of the most poorly side characters I've seen in over 200+ of these movies.

Definitely give this one a miss, there are many many better Hallmark Christmas movies.

A lot of Hallmark Christmas movies have plots which range from mildly to incredibly implausible but the overall sentiment and charm of the movie usually makes you ignore the ridiculous set up

That said, I found the premise of A Very Merry Mix Up to be among the most ludicrous I've seen in the 300+ made for Christmas movies I've watched.

Alice (played by Hallmark regular Alicia Witt) is flying off to meet her stereotypically work-focused (jerk) fiancé's parents for the first time. She flies out first because the fiancé is finishing some business deal. When she gets to the airport she literally bumps into Matt and in the process her phone gets soaked in coffee and destroyed. Without her phone, she doesn't have the address for her in-laws and unsurprisingly when she uses Matt's phone to call her fiancé the fiancé is too busy to answer

But coincidentally, Matt has the same last name as her fiance! And he has a brother named Bill (the fiancé's name is William). Alice, thinking this is her soon to be brother in law goes home with him and thinks she is spending the day with her new in laws. The fiance predictably doesn't show up as he's busy doing job stuff. As you might have guessed, this just happens to be a different family with a same last name. When brother Bill shows up and Alice realizes it's not her William, her mistake becomes obvious and she predictably freaks out. But at this point she's in love with Matt and the not-her in-laws family. Fiance William shows up about 3/4 of the way through the movie, emotional conflict ensues but of course Alice ends up following her heart and lives happily ever after

The premise for whatever reason strikes me as over the top unrealistic and there are a few too many obvious set ups to show us there's a misunderstanding without giving away the gag too early (example: Matt says "I've never called by brother William, his name is Bill).

However, the pacing is good, the writing is heartfelt and the acting performances are solid. There enough humor and charm to keep the movie fun even if the jokes are a bit obvious and heavy handed.

I would definitely recommend this to any fan of the Hallmark Christmas genre despite the silly set up.

Christmas at Cartwrights (which is sometimes sold on Hallmark DVD collections under the name of Santa's Secret for some reason), is a decent but ultimately forgettable and unremarkable hallmark Christmas movie

If you're a fan of the genre, the movie plays out as expected with nothing that stands out. The writing is fine, the acting is fine, the pacing is fine, the music and scenery are fine. It's all so cookie cutter that this movie is easy to consume and easy to enjoy if you like Hallmark style holiday movies

The main character, Nicki, played by made for TV Christmas regular Alicia Witt, is a down on her luck unemployed single mom who stumbles her way into being a department store Santa thanks to a guardian angel played by Wallace Shawn

Nicki has a daughter who is trying to read and surprise her mom by reading the Night Before Christmas as a present. I actually found this to be one of the better and more endearing side plots I've seen recently in these types of movies.

The main love interest is the manager of the men's department at the department store. Of course the tension becomes when Nicki has to lie to her male lead about not being Santa and he inevitably finds out.

Alicia Witt isn't my favorite of the Hallmark regulars but she plays her role adequately - though her fake Santa voice was so obviously fake that someone should have picked up on it.

The only thing that bothered me about this movie was the sheer number of very obvious plot holes. All of these movies require some level of suspension of disbelief but this one is over the top. Nicki is shown eating lunch in a packed cafeteria in her Santa outfit, which should make it obvious she's a woman (one would have to pull the beard down to eat). Apparently she is getting paid (she is shown catching up on rent) but that shouldn't be possible without someone finding out she's a woman.

If you enjoy the genre you will probably find this one to be worth your 84 minutes but there's really nothing memorable here.

I'm a big fan of Hallmark Christmas movies, and while most are easy to consume and forgettable (yet enjoyable), some of them stand out as truly excellent movies worth rewatching every holiday season. The Mistletoe Promise falls into that category of Hallmark gems.

If you've seen a lot of Hallmark (or similar) movies, the formula will seem familiar. Hallmark has done a number of these "fake couples/couples for hire to get through the holiday season" type movies over the years (including the solid Holiday Engagement and superb Double Holiday).

Elise, played superbly by Jaime King, is a co-owner (with her ex husband) of a travel agency who hates Christmas because it reminds her of when his affair came to light.

Nick is a lawyer up for partner at a family law firm. Nick feels he needs a girlfriend or wife in order to appeal to his firm's family focused mindset and get the partner position. Elise wants a partner to get back at her ex husband who is pushing his new girlfriend as the lead on their annual Christmas TV spot.

The two main characters keep bumping into each other in the mall food court and commiserate over their shared disdain for Christmas. They decide to draw up a contract to be partners for the holidays to help Nick get his promotion and Elise to get back at her ex.

Of course, it's stipulated to be business only and turns into love with a predictable and satisfying happy ending. The contrived "conflict" all these movies have about 2/3 of the way into the movie was done well and overcome quickly. The acting is mostly good although Nick is overacted a bit at times. The chemistry between leads is excellent

Overall, the writing is solid, the performances are mostly excellent, and the movie has plenty of festivity and Christmas spirit. There's not a ton of humor but enough charm to keep it light and fun. I also appreciated that the fake snow and set dressing was well done and not the overly CGI "obviously filmed in summer" vibe which many of these movies have.

If you're a fan of the genre, give Misteltoe Promise a shot. It's a very solid entry into Hallmark's vast library of movies.

I love Hallmark Christmas movies and most are enjoyable, easy to consume and festively fun. A few of them are really quite good and worth rewatching yearly. Christmas CEO is none of those things. It was tedious, boring, poorly acted and the plot (what plot there is) required a suspension of disbelief beyond the usual even for this genre

To summarize the plot - two childhood friends like making toys. We flash forward twenty years and the leading lady character is a CEO of a toy company which is merging with or being acquired by a big time toy company. In order to close the merger, she needs her former friend and still somehow co-owner of the company to sign the papers.

It's a pretty generic and predictable set up. Anyone who has seen a lot of these movies knows how this is going to play out. You already know the two leads will fall in love and the toy company deal will work out despite some conflict about 2/3 of the way through the movie while the main character learns a important life lesson

One problem with this movie is the same issue a lot of the really bad hallmark Christmas movies has in common - the main character and the leading actress. Unlikable character which is poorly acted. There's no reason to connecting with or care for her problems or her eventual romance with the male lead

There's a token side plot with the niece needing to sing a song she wrote but her school won't let her (Hallmark went back to the "parents are on a cruise come babysit my kid even though you're overworked and have no time" plot device which they've used a bunch of times).

The biggest flaw here though, other than the leading actress, is the conflict between the two toy company owners/former friends. You think it will be a running story in the movie, where the CEO has to convince her disgruntled ex partner to sign the papers, and eventually wins him over whilst falling in love. Nope. For some inexplicable reason, the former friend/male lead offers precisely 30 seconds of resistance and then agrees to sign the papers if CEO helps with his toy drive fundraiser. Thereby deflating the entire plot and forcing the writers to come up with additional plot contrivances along the way. Bizarre and remarkably poor writing.

Good albeit generic concept executed exceptionally poorly all around. It was tedious to try to finish Christmas CEO and I recommend you skip this and watch almost any other Hallmark Christmas movie, it would be hard to find too many worse ones (although Four Christmases and a Wedding just might be worse)

I'm a huge fan of Hallmark Christmas movies (and newer Lifetime and GAC which have copied the Hallmark formula) and chances are if you're reading this review you're a fan of the genre as well. I find that 10% are truly great and I work them into my yearly watch list, 80% are decent enough to warrant a rewatch (usually as background noise) and 10% are total duds which I'd never sit though again

Boyfriends of Christmas Past is right on the cusp of that bottom tier. It's certainly not the worst I've seen but it's not good either.

The movie is a take on a Christmas Carol, with the 3 ghosts who teach a valuable lesson. You've seen it all before in a number of different ways I'm sure. It had potential for Hallmark, especially if they had injected their usual over the top sentimental and festive vibes. However this is really my main objection to the movie. There's really no Christmas feel to the movie, no holiday spirit. Very little of the movie involves actual holiday activities or themes. It is one of the least festive of all the hundred of these movies I've seen.

The main character is annoying and one dimensional. She's a stereotype of an overworked scared of commitment 30 something. Her work stress is heavy handily jammed into the movie despite having really no bearing on the plot other than the rushed conclusion. Probably could have been a better way for her to realize she was in love with her friend and needs to give him a chance

The lead actress, which really can make or break these types of movies, is subpar and wooden. There's nothing likable about her character and the performance doesn't do anything to compensate for the cardboard thin writing. She's not quirky or fun, nor is she someone we come to care about as she goes through her "ghost visits". She comes off as oblivious and scared but the ex boyfriends get so little time on screen that we don't really connect with their lost love or develop any real hope for the main character to figure things out

The male lead does a good job, and the dad and step mom play their roles well.

There is virtually no humor (a few weak failed attempts perhaps but they don't land), no chemistry between the main characters and way too much time spent on the marketing job.

With the number of hallmark movies out there, there's no reason to watch this one unless the Christmas Carol theme particularly interests you.

3/10 only because I've seen worse (some much worse)