The Sweetest Christmas (TV Movie 2017)

The Sweetest Christmas: Directed by Terry Ingram. With Lacey Chabert, Lea Coco, Jonathan Adams, Brenden Sunderland. Kylie is expecting a proposal from her boyfriend/boss at a restaurant and gets a promotion instead. The restaurant owner is her old high school boyfriend, she hasn’t seen in years. They help each other out. Love in the air?

“There were quite a few reasons for wanting to see u0026#39;The Sweetest Christmasu0026#39;. The title was a little corny but also somewhat appetising. The idea for the story was hardly innovative but sounded cute enough. Lacey Chabert is always a likeable watch, like her voice work too, and generally one of the better prolific Hallmark leads, whether their festive efforts or in general. Have been on another one of my completest quests since November/December, and this was part of it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf there was one word to sum up u0026#39;The Sweetest Christmasu0026#39; it would be okay. It is not a bad film, it is at least palatable, and there are things that come off well. At the same time it is not one of Hallmarku0026#39;s better Christmas efforts and a bit of a missed opportunity, too many of its components being average at best. Will say though that u0026#39;The Sweetest Christmasu0026#39; is not one of the worst either, there are worse written, acted and looking and ones that bored, annoyed and insulted the intelligence more.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eVisually, u0026#39;The Sweetest Christmasu0026#39; looks quite good with it being shot and lit well and while standard the settings were appealing at least. The music is a pleasant listen with some nostalgic song choices, and didnu0026#39;t sound over-scored or gimmicky.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eChabert is her usual likeable and charming self and carries the film with ease. Jonathan Adams is amusing and quite delightful in his role, his comic timing bringing some welcome levity, and the cast in general look comfortable and nobody is below average. The chemistry always came over as natural.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, the story doesnu0026#39;t have enough to it. Actually donu0026#39;t mind awfully that it was very formulaic, what bothered me was that there was very unimaginatively executed, was really not much of one at all, had some fairly contrived situations and the film gets so sweet (too much so) in places it was almost sickly. The script is similarly thin and quite routine, it has some shining moments with Adams but it tended to have an awkward flow and was excessively cheesy and schmaltzy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePacing can be a problem, with the story being too little a lot of the film crawls along and feels over-stretched. The direction is only functional at best and can be on the leaden side of things and while the characters are inoffensive enough there is no real depth to them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSumming up, okay but a middling/middle-tier festive Hallmark effort. 5/10”