User reviews

Catering Christmas is a sweet movie, but the plot is nothing special and quite predictable. In the movie, Molly runs a catering business and she lands a gig to cater a Christmas gala that could make or break her career. She then meets Carson, and from there it is just like every other Christmas movie. Things seem to be going well for Molly and Carson, but of course there reaches a point of tension followed by the final resolution. Merritt Patterson and Daniel Lissing were fantastic as the main cast, and Rosemary Dunsmore and Michael Hanrahan were great as well. Catering Christmas is by no means terrible, but it is not unique enough to standout from all the Christmas movies out there.

Based on last year and this, GAC Family Christmas movies are hit and miss.

This one is definitely the former, thanks to the excellent chemistry between the always-gorgeous Merritt Patterson and Australian Daniel Lissing.

What a difference good acting makes! A "sweet" story of Molly (Patterson) a small-town caterer who gets a contract to provide food for a Christmas gala for the town benefactor's foundation. She meets Carson (Lissing), the somewhat black sheep of the family and - as you probably have figured out by now - sparks fly.

Yes, Catering Christmas a formulaic movie, the likes of which we've all seen many times before (right down to the expected moment where a difficult choice has to be made by one of the protagonists - a very popular, oft-used Hallmark/Lifetime/GAC Family plot twist) but it's also quite nice.

(Dear Hallmark, Lifetime and/or GAC Family: much more Merritt Patterson, please!)

The thing about Catering Christmas is that you don't feel any troughs and peaks emotionally. There is no ancipation. The writer and director set out to make a pleasant movie and this is what it is. It's sort of one-toned. It's a nice movie to watch if you have exhausted the top 20 Christmas movies on Netflix. As far as performances are concerned, I liked Rosemary Dunsmore the most, she suited her character very well. Daniel Lissing was okay but i felt that he is probably better at intense roles. I couldn't make up my mind about how I felt about Merritt Patterson's performance.

Suffice to say It's a one time watch.

This is a beautiful film based on basic standards. The locations, houses, decorations, and shots are beautiful. The main characters have great chemistry as is expected from a typical slow-brewing romance. The only major downside is there isn't much of a plot. The guy character has no bigger predicament than being rich and trying to conceal his identity out of fear of judgment and wanting to fit in with the "regular" community. The girl character shows some career growth in trying to impress her employer, but overall there are no major twists and turns that would make the story more interesting than just a relaxed feel-good holiday movie. Still worth a watch for the set design.

Whole thing odd and not very christmassy for me. It just happens at that time of year. 'Hello caterer are you free at one of the busiest times of the year? Yes of course!'

Interactions between everyone felt so 'acted'. Nobody felt like they belonged anywhere in that scenario.

Molly wasn't an awful actress and I would watch her in other things but the main guy couldn't carry a lead role for me. No charisma anywhere. The interaction between people felt like it was written by AI.

Weird contrived scenarios. Bizarre But at 1h25 it fit between getting the kids to bed, me downing a Bailey's with cheese and crackers, and bed for me.

Okay, I'll admit I read all the reviews before I watched this one. I found this to be a really entertaining, sweet, and grounded movie - and, yes, there were predictable moments. And yes, the pics of the "town" are the same as most of these small town locales. It is a made-for-tv rom-com after all - and low budget at that. But all of the actors did a great job. Loved all of the supporting roles and Merritt Patterson and Daniel Lissing were superb together. The older couple were just right - as an older person myself I can tell you that 7 years isn't significant in a relationship ( in real life age means less than attitude and vitality.). Personally I watch these movies to help me remember to enjoy the holidays and give me a lift and this one did that. I say bravo to focusing on what's important in life. Good job GAC.

A lesson in how to get away with writing a cringeworthy script and smother everything in fake Christmas schmaltz then get someone to make a film about it. Most of the movie involves two awkward characters pretending they are not going to end up as a couple - and a matriarch who makes Jessica Fletcher look like a softie. The acting is straight out of daytime soap-land. It's very hard to understand why Americans love this kind of rubbish so much. Anything with a tenuous Christmas connection is fair game - but a plot about an outside caterer given the task of making the best Christmas meal ever? Yawn.

Basic cheesy Hallmark movie, but still cute. When you are watching all the new Christmas movies out this year, it's safe to include in the binge fest. You know where it's going, you know exactly what's going to happen- and you're going to watch it anyway, lol. That's why you like to binge watch these corney Christmas movies, true?

This movie features the male darling of the Hallmark Channel, Daniel Lissing (which is kind of shocking considering he bailed on the successful series "When Calls the Heart") who is in pretty much every movie they made this year, haha.

There are no spoilers in this review.

As far as the made for TV romances go, we've always regarded Hallmark as top tier and Lifetime as a very distant second. Last year GAF stepped into the picture, and I thought they were better than Lifetime but still not quite up to the quality of Hallmark.

This movie puts GAF a giant step forward. Of course, they spared no expense bringing over Hallmark talent, and it shows.

Here we have an attractive leading couple who both hold up their parts well. We start out with an awkward and amusing "mistaken identity" that morphs to the "rebellious next generation."

Then we get a whole lot of what all these movies need and so many fail at ... LOTS of relationship building between the leads. There's little tension and lots of good feeling, making this a comfortable and enjoyable window into this story's world.

Even a couple of contrived speedbumps don't slow this down. Recommended.

If you like it cheesy and unbaked, this one is for you.

Pretty much everything is badly done with this movie.

Dreadfully scripted, unconvincing actors, overblown, kitschy sets and to top the bad, poor editing.

The storytelling does not exist as there is very little of a story.

It is an insult to ones intellect to watch two, so called chefs, baking with perfectly clean aprons, not a dusting of baking flower.

The sets are so dreadfully overblown and overdone with Christmas decoration, it is nothing short of an eyesore.

I believe it would have taken a small army of set decorators.

This movie is awfully predictable, like an over sweet cookie!

"GACK" for having commercials from Duck Dynasty and Mike Liddell the Pillow Guy. Come on people!!! You are trying to be family based and wholesome so why would you have such controversial, hard core conservative commercials? HUGE TURN-OFF!!

Also GACK for promoting the traditional family Queen, Candace Bure. SERIOUSLY?? She promotes values where her husband rules her life???? Take us all back 500 years!!! VOMITING.

So I could only stand to watch one movie on GACK channel. This one was OK. I can't believe Merritt Patterson and Daniel Lissing bailed on Hallmark and moved to GACK channel. Very Sad!!! Hope that doesn't hurt your careers in future.

Anyway, another cute Christmassy movie where caterer tries to survive in the busy world of catering and the rich heir, who likes her, tries to be helpful. They naturally fall for each other. Can't figure out why? He isn't very good looking. She is wound pretty tight. I don't think they have anything in common. So the future of this relationship is not good.

If you want to shun diversity by shunning gays and all, at least you could come up with a better plot that doesn't involve rich guy and working girl, couldn't you???

On its own it is like a hallmark movie, obvious plot where we already know the ending, but compared to most of the other movies offered up on Hulu, Netflix and Amazon, this one looks like a rare 9. Actors with talent and vitality, a better than usual plot, and a storyline that moved along at a normal pace. Most Hallmark movies are so slow in both dialog and timing I can't bear the boredom of finishing them. There was nothing remotely offensive in the dialogue or plot which is a change, no silly or jealous or conniving characters, just 4 mature and polite adults helping the community and being considerate of others.

Movie two of our Hallmark-apolooza tonight. It's two days after Halloween and my kiddo wants to binge watch Christmas movies before dinner. Okay ...cool.

This follows the basic format, there is a Gala, competition between caterers, lots of fake snow, and.... it's a safe bet to re use the set! The *town* was in something we watched last year and my daughter (10) recognized it immediately.

If someone turns out to be a Princeor princess I will not be surprised. No shirtless men...yet. I am guessing the sous chef will de shirt any minute though.

Three out of ten candy canes!

Perfect for your ten yr old while you scroll tik tok and make dinner.

I've already lost 30 mins of my life already watching this, it'll be a miracle if I make it to the end.

It's candy coated mush, with little notions of reality for anyone who works in catering let alone who loves fantasy, romantic films and Christmas.

One thing that really struck me, besides the sickly sweet actors, over the top decorations and low grade script was how WHITE it is. Were there no other nationalities or PoC available???

Sorry but in this day and age there are no excuses.

I would avoid this film like the plague and believe me, I love romantic films at a Christmas or any other time of year.

Find something else to watch or make yourself comfy on the couch so you can fall asleep fast.

The movie felt bizarre, Specially for a Christmas movie you think it'll be fun, warm and maybe romantic but it just felt odd and very emotionless the actress playing Molly just gave very dull and rude expressions couldn't connect to the movie at all, the guy in the lead was some what better. I couldn't even get through the first half of the movie. Wouldn't recommend it at all.

There was no real charm or life to the story and specially molly who i believe was the main character of the story seemed awful like she's forced to act in the movie overall terrible acting. I love Christmas movies but this is the worst one i've ever watched.

7.8 stars.

This is the perfect example of a movie that will only strike a chord with people who really like one or both of the lead actors. The plot is so standard it reeks of complacent writing. The acting is well rounded and the people are lovely. It's just that the script is not amazing and the dialogue is average average throughout, maybe some dialogue now and then, but that's all. So why would I give this 7.8 stars, only for the leads. I really love Patterson, and I'm a guy, so that' the key. I like Lissing as a male lead, and so this helps also, although he looks a bit quirky to me at times, not sure why. The best part of the film was the old couple (the foundation lady and the "butler" manager fella). That was a very limited romance on screen, but that single scene was amazing.

The love between the leads is a slow burner and it eventually comes to fruition and becomes magical at the end. What's interesting is how the actors interpret the story and make it their own, and they make it work. I can feel the charisma this go around. Sometimes a movie just works, other times it don't. So if you don't like the leads, you will probably dislike 'Catering Christmas'.

In a word BLAND.

Little known actors with no charisma and no chemistry between them whatsoever. The - I hesitate to say plot - is two people from different social backgrounds falling in love. She is a caterer - he is a corporate heir. The acting is typical day time soap - as are the actors - half baked would be an exaggeration - there is no sexual tension anywhere. To reply to the poster who complained of it being white - did they not notice the black lady looking after the kids in the foundation hall? The backgrounds and the extras were so fake - the camera had to keep shifting to avoid them looking straight into them - the scenes as they travelled in the car were funny - they were so badly done - the dialogue was banal - the direction - decidedly dull. The outcome glaringly obvious.

This is no Christmas cracker.

I can see Hallmark movies which are simple movies, the same elements, music, lighting, etc, and they are nice to see sometimes.

But this one was the worst I saw in my life.

The story can be nice, but the dialogs are so unrealistic (not to say worst words) and the chemistry between Merritt Patterson and Daniel Lissing is like water and oil - No chemistry AT ALL and it feels like Merritt hates Daniel.

For me, it was difficult to see, the director can be a bit more realistic and do a movie for grown people.

As someone that can support really bad movies, even those that received 4 at IMDB, this one is less than 1.

It's an insult to people and to the main characters who lack any chemistry and charisma.

Always love Daniel Lissing performances. He's very ease in his acting. Merritt and Daniel were great together and have a very good chemistry and the movie is really beautiful, sweet and funny to watch for this time of the year as we are nearly at Christmas and regarding everything what is happening in the world, you feel good watching it with family around. The other characters are also good and lovable and the end for them is also sweet. Congratulations to GAC for doping thèse movies as we need these movies to cheer us up as I said from the terrible news we are constantly watching. Please more Daniel Lissing performances.

I agree with the reviewer that GAF movies are hit or miss and that this one is a hit. In my opinion, GAF is still building. The success of any particular movie for theme depends on the quality of the stars and other creative staff. They have a few great actors and their movies tend to be winners. The newer faces have to this point not been at the same level.

Merritt Patterson and Daniel Lissing are true veterans in this genre and it shows. This particular pairing has good chemistry although not quite the witty banter seen in some movies. Good dialogue, but not sparkling. Patterson has always impressed me with her presence on the screen. Her presence is sophisticated as opposed to soft and fuzzy. Still she is definitely appealing.

This story follows familiar lines. The leads are thrown together to prepare for a Christmas gala. Molly's business is less than thriving and she needs this event. Carson is in the process of finding himself. Together they boost each other in their best qualities. I'm glad that the controlling Aunt is just that but not overly Scroogelike despite her reputation. She's tough but not mean or rude. Her side story contributes something to fill out the overall story. The activities are the usual - baking, decorating etc. The conflict near the end is another very common plot device and predictable.

Is there any significance that Patterson was the professional photographer in her Christmas movie 3 years earlier while Lissing plays that role here?

I enjoyed this move despite a story that doesn't stand out with any special highs or lows or surprises. Like many GAF movies, the level of dramatic tension is low but it is totally family friendly with little to cause controversy unless the lack of it is controversial in itself. I enjoyed it largely because of the relationship between the leads and upbeat atmosphere.