Staging Christmas

I don't think I've ever seen a move with less chemistry between the leads. I have nothing positive to say about this one at all. I give it two stars, because - believe it or not - I've seen even worse movies, and I need to save the 1-star rating for those. Oh, the puppy was adorable, but that's the only positive thing about this.

A Christmas stager uses the house of a widower and his little girl. Romance ensues. Not that much story and the stars are a little detached and uncharismatic. Below Hallmark standards.

People! Do you not know what channel you are watching? This is a Lifetime movie. It's not that good either. Watching washed up kid stars form the 80s? I'd rather watch Punky Brewster or Family Matters! And George Stults ... 7th Heaven was a good vehicle - this isn't.

Lead actress is over acting - happy - merry - disappointed - whatever the mood. Lead actor is lacking expression.

The staging aspect is not a common plot device, although there have been a couple of TV movies that used this theme. What is used way too often is doing-a-good-job-means-a-promotion followed closely by the-promotion-will-take-us-apart. Up to the climax, any viewer could have told pretty much everything that would happen, with the possible exception of storm Meghan which has been in most or all of Lifetime's premieres this year. And of course the ending is predictable too, but what brings it about was a a little surprise for me.

Other than whether the party would succeed and the possible promotion, there was very little tension or conflict.

I wasn't impressed with the acting. It didn't seem natural. George Stults seemed stiff to me and Soleil Moon Frye wasn't much better. They had so much screen time together, it wouldn't be entirely accurate to say there was no chemistry, but it wasn't great. As is often the case in movies with a widower and daughter, the leading lady and kid seemed to have more chemistry than the leading couple. On the other hand, the acting didn't turn me off so badly that I still couldn't enjoy the movie at least some. And the role of the little girl was well done avoiding overplaying the role as kid actors sometimes do.

In holiday movies, I enjoy them more when they include music and singing by the cast. There were a couple of group participation songs which were nice.

Addendum: While watching this again, it hit me that one word describes this movie - sugar. There is too much sugar, especially with Frye but Stults too. I enjoyed this movie because of the sugar, but it was still too sweet.