User Reviews

Yes, the Heroine is too rude, the Prince is a dream, def. What was hardest for me to watch was Erin Gray. I always thought she was lovely in Silver Spoons and Buck Rogers. But, it was painful to watch her attempt a British (?) accent. It looked painful for her, too. It wasn't just bad, it was awful, did they not have a dialect coach? I love silly Christmas Romance Movies, but this one barely kept my interest. I really wanted to like it more than I actually liked it.

Ok, this little struggling restaurant with three employees is going to cater a $1k per plate banquet? And as soon as she finally agrees (she has to be convinced, ok right...?) they skip off to drink cocoa in a nearby small town in the name of searching for the perfect menu? And they clearly have a spark, but who exactly is doing the work with only a week until the banquet? At the 1:30 min mark... the prince's disapproving parents arrive with an aristocratic (suitable) potential princess and they make it clear that the girl from Brooklyn just won't do for their son. It all works out of course, but I found it hard to look past the obvious imbalance in social status and the biracial element, which is not an issue for me, but IRL would clearly complicate matters. Also, even Christmas somehow took a backseat itself, until the final scenes. Just not hitting the mark with this one.

Film would have been better with proper accents ,not American trying and failing at a British accent with an A ussia for a son.

If only the European (Australian) Prince can convince (by begging and pleading) the inexperienced arrogant, rude, yet somehow still failing Chef, into catering his royal banquet (eye roll), which he decides to do after just a smell of her meatloaf (because what European Prince doesn't love meatloaf). Really? Ugh!

I stumbled upon this movie last year because I thought it would make a nice companion piece to things like household chores (folding laundry) or writing out Christmas cards. But I've come back to it a couple times because it's actually a sweet, feel-good fairy tale with appealing leads. Melissa runs a little diner in Brooklyn that infuses its comfort food recipes with creative flair and Prince Jack is in town from the vaguely Saxon-esque kingdom of Edgemont for a big charity banquet. It's Christmas and it's a rom-com, so you see where it's going. Overall, I think it's worth the 90-minute watch time if you're doing your hair or some other hands-on task, and it makes you want to look out for Mompremiere and Burns in other productions. How about an alluring international spy thriller?! They both look like they can handle stunts.

Alas, there are significant weak points. Some of them can't be fixed, like the cheap production value. I don't know why Hollywood has to churn out movies like these on a conveyor belt. To fill airtime on all the cable and streaming services? Maybe. But this is an example of what not to do even on a tight budget. Prince Jack's hotel is downscale, not simplified and modern, like the W. The interior of the palace in his native country of Edgemont-a name that sounds like a Mid-Atlantic suburb, not a small European country-doesn't even try to be grand. It looks like a model home in a new neighborhood, not a historic palace of said European country. There has to have been a more ornate, wood-paneled salon in an historic grand house somewhere or maybe a small, rentable castle in Scotland that could have stood in for this emblem of a kingdom. Rupert's jackets are ill-fitting, also making Edgemont look cheap.

The script badly needed some Jessica tightening. She's a restaurant owner in Brooklyn, and that's supposed to count against her. Well, the last I heard Brooklyn has moved up in the world and is no longer an automatic backwater or Manhattan's ugly sister. There are lots of pricey, trendy neighborhoods where affluent, trendy people want to eat, and where a creative and driven chef with culinary arts training could make her stand. Why not write in some solid credentials for Melissa, then hang framed photos of her with big shots stopping by her diner? Instead of Prince Jack overstepping, tracking her to her parents' house and looking at her baby pictures with her mom, how about making that a scrapbook of articles about her graduation, winning awards and a few glowing press reviews for her restaurant? The restaurant game is probably highly competitive, so it's easy to imagine an accomplished chef running The Little Diner That Could, but that still gets looked at as the underdog.

Hollywood, please STOP hiring actors whose foreign accents are a tragedy. I know this is an improbable fairy tale and we're not going for realism, but if they can't simulate a European accent or any other kind of accent, they break the illusion. Also, instead of trying to depict a three-person throng of paparazzi, how about a shot of a lone photographer parked a distance away from Jessica and Prince Jack, and show him or her pointing a long-range lens at the couple? Then the pictures end up on Page Seven (cheap movie, can't afford the licensing) the next day. Mompremiere and Burns did their best to depict Jack and Jessica evading the press, but that paparazzi scene was almost a joke for the three lumbering, middle-aged photographers who looked like any fit prince and his leggy lady friend could easily out sprint. Geez.

There were other issues, too, like the weird interlude shots of the cooking. Whose recipes are those, and where are they being prepared? Since this is a 90-minute Christmas rom-com, let me help you with a meet cute. Jessica is looking cute in a pretty Christmas sweater, an apron and fingerless gloves. She steps out of her diner with a sandwich board and has a good morning for everyone because it's Christmas and she runs a business that thrives on hospitality. While she's writing Prince Jack's car comes around the corner. He gets out and is walking down the street just as she completes her menu descriptions. Prince Jack reads the menu highlights, which are pretty good and have him intrigued, because he's looking for alternatives. She caps her chalk pen, stands up and spins around in time to crash into Prince Jack. They laugh it off and interrupt each other with apologies, and she insists on inviting him in for a coffee on the house, because she runs The Little Diner That Could and she wants to show off her Christmas menu specials. The standoffish, borderline soup nazi that the script and direction made of Jessica had no place in a 90-minute Christmas rom-com, especially with Jack flashing those baby brown eyes all over the place.

Jessica's surprisingly lackadaisical about accepting Prince Jack's offer, and we should have seen her Instagram page showcasing her recipes, then hit the restaurant supply warehouses or whatever with Jack, instead of lollygagging on faux dates with Jack to looking for recipe inspiration. The dinner scene with he queen was believable and a little improbable, too. Yes, I can imagine a woman like her looking down on Jessica for some reason, but the movie sidestepped what the queen's bigger issue with Jessica might have been. I know, it's a romance and they didn't want to get heavy. But it was glaring.

So that's my take on the movie. Nice fluff that somehow was rough around the edges.

The would be princess being all about independence and self righteous gets all indignant when someone doesn't think she has the 'right stuff'. She up and quits. When the going gets tough, miz snap your fingers doesn't get going. Prince is a Calvin Klein model.

A LOT of reviews complain about Travis Burns' accent but he at least sounded like a normal human being. What in the world kind of accent was Erin Gray using? I get that these movies aren't exactly big budget, but surely SOMEONE could have helped Gray with that atrocious accent.

The overall story was cute, not anything original, but a nice 90 minutes.

I've watched a lot (and I mean a LOT) of this type of movie, but this is easily the worst. The story line is not believable, the characters are caricatures of themselves, and it all just lacked cohesion and chemistry.

Acting: the main character is awkward, emotionless, and abrasive. The prince is...fine I guess, but he's not going to win any awards for his role here. The supporting actors, especially the main character's mother, are abominable nearly across the board.

Writing: Whoever wrote this could maybe try to practice reading what they wrote out loud before submitting...

Sound: In every scene, the music is overbearing and takes away from everything else that's going on. Dialog isn't drowned out, per se, but it's certainly not being enhanced by the music. How hard is it to hire a sound engineer to balance these things?

A Prince with an Aussie accent is just a big fat nope.I mean,couldn't Travis Burns have attempted an English/European accent,just so it wasn't so jarring?.

A prince with an Australian accent, his father with a British accent, and his (American actress) mother desperately trying for a British accent and failing miserably.

What to do when your customer service oriented business is failing and you have a month to save it? You act like you couldn't care less with the only customer in the building, and you treat him like he is an inconvenience. Then when he offers you a gig that could make you famous and turn things around, again you act like you don't care and it's not worth the effort. This is not a good start for this movie.

The prince isn't much better. He treats an allegedly world class chef like dirt. OK, so he's a prince and maybe has a right, but even princes have to handle prima donnas from time to time. What's really ridiculous is that he turns around on the same day and allows a woman with no credentials at all to treat him the same or even worse than the famous chef did. Then he argues with Jessica where she takes a similar position to what the prince took with the previous chef. Is he thinking with something beside his brain?

Set and production quality: Jessica says "nice digs", but the set for his living quarters in the hotel is obviously cheap and plain looking. The paparazzi covering the prince looked like a rag tag trio that was more in line with chasing someone in the cast of Real Housewives.

The premise for the movie is a bit unusual for a "royal" Christmas movie. After that it follows generally predictable lines, but it has more plot holes than a colander. Each of the lead characters continues to make one ridiculous decision after another. Jessica who is supposed to be racing against the clock has time to wander around with the prince basically sightseeing.

There are some funny moments but just as many moments that were intended to be funny but fell flat for me. I did get a laugh when the queen said "fake news".

In a movie with as much silly humor as this, it can be difficult to judge the acting because it is often exaggerated for humor. Several times the cast seemed to be trying too hard in their roles. Lines are obviously being "delivered" at times rather than occurring naturally. As to chemistry between the leads, I think the way the story made Jessica independent and stubborn, it was hard for Shein Mompremier to connect with Travis Burns. It's too bad for Mompremier because she definitely had moments of appeal.

Many of the "royal" movies work to emphasize how far apart the commoner's world is from the royal world. The protagonists overcome the obstacles despite the differences. This movie makes Prince Jack already on a level much closer to Jessica's world, but then it reverses course and does it in spades.

The climax is as ridiculous as most of the rest of the movie. (Just look at the final kitchen staff.) I often say that in this kind of movie, realism is not expected. Some movies push that a little far and this is one of those, but then the whole royal theme has already done that. There is a little twist near the end that maybe pulls some heartstrings, but it seemed disingenuous to me. And the only a minute later there is a sequence fit for clowns.

Recently, I've become sensitive to reviewers who declare a movie to be "the worst" or something similar. Often this is done with few details or based on one scene or one actor. I have gone into great detail as to shortcomings in this movie because it really is bad. And lest you think this is sour grapes, or single shot based on ulterior motives, I have rated over a thousand movies and reviewed nearly 800 to date, many of them romance and/or Christmas movies.

I absolutely love the storyline it's so refreshing. We just need more movies with black woman with a cheesy romantic story. Just and overall feel-good movie. And it's now one of my favorite Christmas movies!!! Thank you 🌲🌲.

This movie is generally cute but in a word, contrived. That doesn't make it any less cute. I don't see her as rude but blunt to a fault which he's attracted to. Is the story believable? I mean, stranger things have happened. He liked how she looked but hired her for her cooking skills which is more believable than a lot of cheesy romance films. I think her acting kinda has a flat affect when she's supposed to be composed. It sort of dulls the moment and makes it feel emotionally distant, even when they're supposed to have a romantic connection. I agree the aussie accent and princes "look" was more pop idol-y, but again..still cute

Overall I like the film for what it is: a super cheesy holiday romance flick.

What a ridiculous start for a Christmas movie. You really expect one to believe a Prince is going to hire a rude ignorant brat to cater his royal affair after being thrown out of her kitchen when HE was offering compliments to the aroma of the meatloaf and was a customer (the only customer) in the dump. Come on. What a waste of time, talent and treasures. I turned the channel at the first commercial.

This is another example of a 'Christmas' movie that has NO likable characters (which seems to be the norm the last few years)! The main character (Jessica) is just a b'*tch through most of the film. Case in point, when the 'Prince' offers her a LARGER KITCHEN which would be more appropriate for catering a large gathering she insists that it has to be all done in her pokey little place in Brooklyn! Even the ending didn't really change anything. Skip this one & watch 'Miracle On 34th Street'!

Sorry, I forgot to mention the 'food'. It looks like the food offered at the 'Old Country Buffet'! If I was one of the donors paying $1,000 a plate, I would ask for my money back!

As I watched the film, I couldn't say that it was good or bad. I enjoyed watching from start to finish! Another holiday film to watch when you have free time.

I've seen some cheesy Christmas movies over the years but this must surely take the gold prize for the worst. The acting was beyond bad, the storyline was just hopeless and the sets were laughable. The supposed prince sounded more at home in Walkabout Creek. Queen Alice looked and sounded like a fishwife on steroids and King Connor? I'd have preferred King Kong. I thought it was a real hoot to see the parents of the hapless Jessica invited to dinner with the king and queen, the table looked for all the world like it had been borrowed from a greasy spoon cafe. The idiotic Lady Eliza of Devon was light years beyond parody. The whole movie was probably on a shoestring budget of let's say, $100 and it looked it. Jessica was supposed to be a chef, but the only turkey around here was this turkey.

The lead character's are very badly matched. There is never any spark between them. The female lead hardly ever smiles and when she does it looks painful. I am an Australian and found it weird hearing an Australian actor pretending to be a European prince. The acting of his parents was painful to watch also.

Instead of a warm fuzzy feeling it left me feeling like WHY.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! The storyline, the acting, and the chemisty between the Prince and the Princess of Brooklyn was excellent! I also loved the romance and the diversity which is not seen often in a Hallmark film so this movie definitley has become a Christmas favorite of mine! I was shoocked at all the negative reviews but then again I'm not so shocked considering some may have issues with a pretty black girl being the leading lady and love interest in a film like this. It's sad really, but I figured I'd show my support and I highly reccomend you to add this film to your Holiday watchlist! Merry Christmas!

"I've watched a lot (and I mean a LOT) of this type of movie, but this is easily the worst. The story line is not believable, the characters are caricatures of themselves, and it all just lacked cohesion and chemistry".

I totally agree with xeroxoul review here.

Furthermore there is something actually disturbing in the main character.

She, her fake eyelashes and her fake complaints at the hotel for the dinner with their parents are just unbearable.

You tell me a chef in the history of cinema who didn't even dirty her hands with any cooking. I guess just this one.

And what about her overall lack of professionalism?

This movie is a disgrace under any point of view.

I'm quite into cheesy Christmas movies but this was just garbage. The prince could've at least had a European accent not some Aussie accent that doesn't match the character at all which made it annoying. It seems like they tried to marry the Meghan and Harry story with Netflix's Christmas Prince and the result was pure rubbish :(

'A Christmas Princess' (2019)

Opening thoughts: The whole royal meets commoner and falling in love scenario was already very old and done to death by the time 'A Christmas Princess' was made. It is a scenario that Hallmark over the past seven years or so have recycled quite a lot and very few films that have this concept do anything fresh. Seeing it near universally panned also lessened my already admittedly quite low expectations. Some of the royal Christmas films have actually been pretty good, so there was a glimmer of hope.

Which was quite early on dashed in a film that started off quite badly and got worse until reaching terrible degrees the sillier and more irritating things got. There was no intent on hating 'A Christmas Princess', some films seen with low expectations have been surprisingly good and Hallmark have done good films regardless of any predictability. 'A Christmas Princess' is one of the very bad ones, with almost nothing working and the worst aspects being dreadful.

Good things: 'A Christmas Princess's' best aspect is some of the production values, which are very nice to look at. Especially the scenery, which Hallmark more often than not delivered on even in the duds. The castle is a source of wonder.

Bad things: Unfortunately, that is pretty much it. What immediately stands out in a bad way is how truly unlikeable the female lead character is, she is very irritating, her selfishness, rudeness and arrogance are taken to extremes and for somebody who is meant to be smart she does and says things that are insultingly stupid. In fact, none of the characters are interesting or worth rooting for, with the prince being bland and all the supporting characters with no exceptions being caricatures and pretty much recycled stereotypes.

Can't say anything halfway decent about the acting. Shein Mompremier's acting is very forced and affected, while also bland. Travis Burns is very wooden and lacks charisma, also agree about his physique and bearing being wrong for his character, too firm, too over serious and at times unintentionally creepy. All the supporting cast overact with Erin Gray's performance being pretty much reminiscent of a very hammy cartoon. Mompremier and Burns have absolutely no chemistry together in another relationship that is underdeveloped. With it being rushed and like there were parts intended to be there but left on the editing room floor. Some of the editing is choppy and like a rush job.

Music is too constant and over-scored. The direction is characterless and leaden. The script is full of cheese, over sweet schmaltz and is painfully awkward, a lot of the dialogue induces cringing. The story is thin, excessively silly, with too much cobbled together and does absolutely nothing new with a continually recycled formula. Which makes the film feel very fatigued and it is not good fun watching a film knowing throughout how it's all going to map out five minutes before the event happens. The ending is too neat and feels unearned.

Concluding thoughts: Concluding, very bad.

2/10.

Not only is the acting terrible but this whole debacle of a movie needs to be pulled from viewing. It makes NO sense. She has a failing business so when a customer shows up she's nasty to him. He offers a life changing opportunity and she's horrid. I don't understand what the writers were going for but whatever it was didn't work. Somehow they managed to make the struggling small business owner a spoiled entitled brat with a serious attitude problem. The production value was horrible! Just throw the whole movie in the trash.