This was a pretty good movie. Of course, it relied on a fusion of two fairly overdone tropes, namely the big city girl returns to her hometown at Christmas and begins to consider returning full-time, and the famous person connects romantically with a normal person. It worked better in this case, because the famous girl Darcy was already friends (actually former high-school frenemies) with her average Joe love interest Adam. Also, the fact that she was kind of a has-been in the music industry, rather than a current reigning pop star, made her much more relatable. You really could believe that she could just come and hang out with her sister and niece for Christmas, just like any normal person would, and you could believe that she would take it upon herself to direct a musical group of local teens including her niece.
Okay, a fair amount of disbelief still had to be suspended for you to buy into this movie. Like, for example, how she took a group of no-talent kids and, after barraging them with positive messages of "believing in yourself", they instantly transformed into a professional-quality singing group, complete with multi-part harmonies. There's also the relationship between Darcy and Adam. They were way too acrimonious at the beginning for you to really buy that they would connect romantically after such a short time. He doesn't even couch his interest in some innocuous comment like, "Maybe we could grab a bite to eat". He flat out says he's asking her on a date. Somehow, I wasn't quite buying it.
Otherwise, I thought the interactions between Darcy and Adam were good and realistic. Their banter was pretty engaging. I also enjoyed the relationship between Darcy and her sister Gretchen and her niece Megan. Patti Murrin as Darcy gave a great performance. She was positive and upbeat and made her character of a former pop princess seem believable and relatable. Brendan Penny as Adam was also good. The glasses were an interesting touch that you don't often see in Hallmark movies, at least on men. It's interesting that the guy got the glow-up this time, by eventually removing the specs.
One thing I also liked was that, when Darcy had to miss the kids' performance because of a conflicting meeting that was vital to her music career, neither the kids nor Adam tried to make her feel guilty about her "abandoning" them. They were totally understanding and went on to perform fine without her, though she magically was able to show up for the performance anyway. I also liked how they didn't force her to choose between life in her hometown, where a relationship with Adam would be possible, and her career as a pop singer. She was able to have both, though I think that probably never could have happened in the real world.
All in all, a fairly engaging Hallmark Christmas romance, with good performances and a decent script. Definitely worth a watch.
Okay, a fair amount of disbelief still had to be suspended for you to buy into this movie. Like, for example, how she took a group of no-talent kids and, after barraging them with positive messages of "believing in yourself", they instantly transformed into a professional-quality singing group, complete with multi-part harmonies. There's also the relationship between Darcy and Adam. They were way too acrimonious at the beginning for you to really buy that they would connect romantically after such a short time. He doesn't even couch his interest in some innocuous comment like, "Maybe we could grab a bite to eat". He flat out says he's asking her on a date. Somehow, I wasn't quite buying it.
Otherwise, I thought the interactions between Darcy and Adam were good and realistic. Their banter was pretty engaging. I also enjoyed the relationship between Darcy and her sister Gretchen and her niece Megan. Patti Murrin as Darcy gave a great performance. She was positive and upbeat and made her character of a former pop princess seem believable and relatable. Brendan Penny as Adam was also good. The glasses were an interesting touch that you don't often see in Hallmark movies, at least on men. It's interesting that the guy got the glow-up this time, by eventually removing the specs.
One thing I also liked was that, when Darcy had to miss the kids' performance because of a conflicting meeting that was vital to her music career, neither the kids nor Adam tried to make her feel guilty about her "abandoning" them. They were totally understanding and went on to perform fine without her, though she magically was able to show up for the performance anyway. I also liked how they didn't force her to choose between life in her hometown, where a relationship with Adam would be possible, and her career as a pop singer. She was able to have both, though I think that probably never could have happened in the real world.
All in all, a fairly engaging Hallmark Christmas romance, with good performances and a decent script. Definitely worth a watch.