Christmas in Rome

7/10 - light holiday fun with the incomparable Lacey Chabert

Christmas in Rome was also filmed in Bucharest, Romania not only in Rome, Italy. I enjoyed the movie, nice sceneries and Lacey is one of my favourite Hallmark actress.

The American Angela is a tour guide in Rome who gets fired at Christmas! She generously agrees to help American businessman Oliver to a crash course in Rome.

"Christmas in Rome is very special."-Luigi.

Ok, Rome at Christmas is spectacular! Thank you for the lovely backdrop for a romantic Hallmark movie.

(Italians are definitely my people if they think 10am is early!)

The banter was great between Angela and Oliver, and I really appreciated the buildup of their romantic relationship. I appreciated that our businessman, Oliver wasn't a Christmas hater.

I would love to hire Angela's company for her boutique travel experience.

This was beautiful, fun and funny...exactly what you want for a holiday romance. You should watch this sweet and very positive film. Beautiful! Molto Bene!

Not quite as cringey as the average Hallmark Christmas movie. Predictable and cheesy, yes, but also with better acting and actual friendship developing between the characters before the romance. I did miss a bit of romantic spark between the main characters, though. Their friendship had spark, but the romance became a little...rational instead of emotional. The cast was definitely better than average, and I liked the details about Rome. I have no idea if they were accurate, and there may have been some stereotypes I know nothing about, but as a foreigner I found the depiction of Rome really enjoyable. Hated the horse and carriage scene. That was the most cringeworthy moment of the entire movie. All in all, I found this to be one of the better cheesy Christmas movies in a long time.

This is the typical, formula, stereo-typed Hallmark Christmas movie plotline. There is nothing new or surprising about this romance story - you've seen it all before (probably many times) other than the fact that some scenes are actually shot in Rome which does add some uniqueness. Nevertheless, the always good stars, Lacey Chabert and Sam Page, rise way above the lackluster material and give some really nice performances that make sitting through this, ultimately, okay. Once. But not again. Fun to see Franco Nero, an Italian actor who became an international heartthrob during the late 60's, 70's and early 80's, show up as "Luigi" (of course), but he really isn't given much to do or say. The rest of the cast works well, too, despite the trite script. It's time for Hallmark to realize that taking their really talented performers and sticking them in boring stories just because they take place in London, Rome, Graceland, Dollywood (that one was a real stinker this year), etc. does not guarantee viewership. As a matter of fact, we quit watching the Dollywood one half way through. Never saw Dolly Parton!