7.0 stars.
Wait a minute, I didn't know they would continue the Unwrapping Christmas saga and roll it into a spring event with a new title: 'Hearts Around the Table'. So now the lead female character is a successful entrepreneur and one of her previous co-founders of the Unwrapping Christmas store is now her sister? And the boyfriend of Busby's character is now her brother? Anyways, this casting fiasco is confusing and a bit difficult for me to take seriously. So this film better be really good.
It's not great. It's full of drivel which characterizes most of these Hallmark series. This new franchise consists of several of the same hand-picked actors, yet we are to distance ourselves from the imprint of the lackluster Christmas series?
What is the theme? Something about family and the importance of family first, I think. What is the plot? It's about a woman named Jenna who was in foster care, her foster mother is one of the actors from 'Facts of Life'. There are three sisters and a brother roughly the same age who were adopted into this family many years ago. There is currently a younger boy, maybe 16, somewhat new to the family. Meanwhile the older siblings all grown up with careers, come home once a week for dinner. The boy is glum, feels somewhat left out it seems, and they are all trying to encourage him to be happy. But, it's not working.
As the story goes, Jenna has a new billionaire client and the liaison between her and the billionaire happens to be her ex-Andrew. Andrew dumped her sophomore year, and she never truly got over him. It appears he still loves her, so what happened? You can easily guess the same old overused Hallmark recipe: youthful misunderstanding and parting ways so as not to hold the other back from pursuing their dreams. Sure enough.
For real guys, this is not cool since 2021, now it's just a blatant disregard for the wheels of progress. Modify the blueprint, take a calculated risk and find some new script writers. We need originality.
And yet, I can't totally bash the film. The acting and music are good. In fact, everything is great except for the tired plot and dialogue. I must be unbiased for the sake of fans who are unaware of this repetitive aspect (one of many) of Hallmark stories.
