User Reviews

"A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas" manages to invoke the intended comforting effect many made-for-tv Christmas films strive for: the feeling of familiarity in setting and hope for positive change. We enjoy films like this often in spite of how unrealistic they are. I can't think of a more prominent recent example than this one. That the movie manages to entertain this in spite of its miscasting is impressive. For a film set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, no one is overweight or speaks with any kind of southern accent. The actors are miscast in that they do not reflect the setting of where these people live. The movie is enjoyable if you disregard the title (how unfortunate that "Blue Ridge" is there) and watch it as a story of two burdened people growing closer over a shared project.

Rachael Cook stars as a hotel manager from New York returning home to Virginia to help plan her sister's wedding. Cook plays this Willow as a focused woman who doesn't ever slow down. She proposes the idea of having the wedding at Eagle Ridge, a hotel her family used to own. The family later sold it to the Lyndon family lead by widower David (Benjamin Ayres). David works at a local law firm and likes to repeatedly mention he is about to make partner. Willow enlists his help to turn the hotel's barn into a wedding venue ostensibly so he can sell the hotel to a buyer who wishes to use it as a wedding venue.

Ayres portrays David seemingly with a sense of world weariness. I don't know if it was intentional or if it was due to the actor's disinterest in the role. Regardless, I found the performance fit his character well. As a result of his wife's death, he seems to have foregone the possibility of doing anything besides working as a lawyer. Willow acts somewhat similarly to him though less tragic in her backstory. The lack of a "spark" as other reviewers mention fits these two characters. Neither is bereft of emotion and love slowly develops between them.

The main actors often wear contrasting red and green outfits. It puts us in the mood for Christmas. Otherwise, there is little about the film that reminds one of the holidays. The bride walks through a beautiful Christmas wedding arch. It's so visually interesting that the director shows it twice. The panoramic view of the decorated hotel are beautiful. Watch the film for those moments even if you don't care for the story.

By many measures, Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas should be a failure. The actors play their characters just right and the visuals are interesting. I give a cautious recommendation.

"A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas" is billed only as a family film, and by its title and story, it's clearly a Christmas movie. That would mean that is was most likely also a romance. But what it's not billed as is exactly what puts this Christmas film over - comedy. This is one of the best comedy romance Christmas films in some time. It's too bad that the producers didn't see that and spruce up the teleplay accordingly. It could have been a very funny and entertaining film. As it is, it's good and enjoyable, with the humor mostly tongue-in-cheek but quickly passed over.

This TV movie was made in British Columbia. The opening aerial film of a Canadian forest and highway drive stand in for the Blue Ridge, probably in Virginia. The Blue Ridge is part of the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and North Carolina. But, Virginia has three big towns of any size that are on or very near the Blue Ridge - Charlottesville, Lynchburg and Roanoke. I've driven the entire 470 miles of the very scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. With the lower speed limit, pullouts for waterfalls, vistas and scenic stops, one should plan two days to really enjoy the beauty of the region.

This movie has some of the usual cookie-cutter aspects of the year-end Christmas TV movie output. The single parent is a dad - David Linden, with a 10-year old daughter, Natalie, whose mom died after she was born. David owns the Eagle Ridge Inn, which he and his wife had bought. (Okay, so it's not a lodge as in many films, but an inn is mighty close). The Lindens live there with David's mom - Natalie's grandma, who also helps with the inn, and Natalie has grown very attached to the place. But, David is now in line to be a partner in a big law firm where he and Austin both work. So, he can't devote the time to the inn and has it up for sale.

Austin is marrying Juni Peterson, sister of Willow Peterson. Willow works for a large hotel chain and has been assistant manager of hotels in New York, Chicago and Phoenix. She knows the business. Her parents had built the Eagle Ridge Inn. But after her dad died, her mom sold the inn and bought Brogan's Diner That's right - another staid aspect of the Christmas films - a diner. Willow is about to get transferred to run a ski resort in Colorado, but she has a month off to be with her family for the holidays and her sister's Christmas Eve wedding.

All of this comes together when and because the venue reserved for Juni and Austen's wedding had to cancel due to too much snow on the roof creating problems. Nothing else is available, but Willow comes to the rescue by finagling David Linden into letting them spruce up the barn at the inn for the wedding. But his agreement, with the condition that he would have nothing to worry about because Willow said she would do all the work, soon unravels as she takes charge of transforming the entire place.

It's the comedy in this that really elevates this film above the so-so usual batch of Christmas romances. The humor is about equally split between some very funny dialog, mostly by and from David, and situations in which David is the source of most of the humor in his expressions, concessions and impressions. And that's where the producers should have invested more work. I couldn't help but think of a hilarious 1942 comedy, "George Washington Slept Here." In it, Jack Benny had many similar lines and humorous happenings that Benjamin Ayres has as David Linden in this film. And, his straight person was his wife, played by Ann Sheridan. The role of Rachel Cook's Willow in this film closely parallels Sheridan's. That 1942 comedy piled witty dialog and humorous antics and situations one on top of another. Had the producers of this film done some of that, this could have been a side-splitting comedy that would surely have had much more audience enjoyment.

As it is, it's an enjoyable Christmas film, that also has one other late cookie-cutter aspect - overloading of decorations. Here are some favorite lines from this film.

David Linden, "Remember last year when we donated some of your toys to the church?" Natalie, "Yeah. They were ones I didn't have time to play with any more." David, "Right. But there are kids out there that do have time to play with toys, and toys do need someone to play with them, right?" Natalie, "Right."

David, to Garrett, "Stop encouraging her."

Natalie, "You're the Christmas lady. Dad said you were doing all sorts of Christmas stuff around the inn. It's making him crazy." David, "Uh, hah, hah. Crazy excited." Natalie, "Is it true there are a million Christmas trees?" David, "Is it?" Willow, "Uh, oh, no, no. Not a million. But there will be a lot."

David, "But they're all the same, aren't they?" Willow, "No. Each tree is unique and special in its own way." Natalie, "Yeah, dad."

David, "Look, all I'm saying is, you said you were going to take care of everything, and that hasn't been the case." Willow, "You're right. As of right now, you're off the hook." David, "Thank you."

Willow, "Okay, so everything's on track?" Garrett, "Yes, it is." Willow, "Okay, because you do know Christmas and the wedding are in two weeks?" Garrett, "Well, yeah, more or less." Willow, "Okay, at the hotel where I work there's no such thing as more or less...." Garrett, "Well, before I worked here, I was a contractor. We specialized in more or less. Don't worry, everything'll get done. Like Christmas - you just gotta believe."

Willow, "Okay, tell me what you see." David, looking at the inn, "Is this a trick question?"

This movie is more about the inn which is the focus for waxing on about personal memories that people build up over time. Sometimes they hold on to them, which can be good or bad, maybe even both.

This movie appeared on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries which isn't always about romance. Often HMM focuses on a mystery which can be a crime mystery or it can be about a hidden secret. Usually if the latter, there is a very heartwarming climax. I wouldn't say that this movie excelled at any of the three - crime, secret or romance. As I indicated already, the primary focus seems to be about memories or the past. There is some romance, but that wasn't the focus and it really was a lackluster romance. It certainly didn't seem that what romance there was justified life changing decisions, but then personal love seemed to be only a part of the motivation in the climax, probably a secondary motivation.

The story is a bit unusual for a Christmas movie. There are some hints of some common tropes, but mostly the movie was different. I thought the story would be considered boring if not for the fact that the movie was really more about the exploration of the feelings already discussed associated with the past. So I think some people will consider it boring. While I appreciated the exploration of those feelings, I didn't find the movie scintillating by any means.

One thing that didn't help is that the romance, secondary as it was, might have generated some interested and goodwill in the viewer except that this romance itself fell flat. There was very little chemistry. There was a very little between Willow and Natalie, and a very little bit between Willow and David. Of the two, the former was more interesting. David and Willow spent more time dealing with the inn or the wedding than anything personal between them. When they did get personal, a lot of that revolved around memories.

The solution to the movie's central conflict seemed pretty obvious to me and I don't know why it took them so long to arrive at it. It would have made sense even leaving out any romance.

I don't think I will watch this again.

Although we've finally found a couple of the 2019 Hallmark Christmas movies that we really enjoyed, I can't include this one in that list. I didn't feel any chemistry between the leads, and their stories were more of the recent spate of Hallmark cliches, so there was no drama -- no tension about what decisions they'd make. (The big corporate job always loses. LOL)

The acting overall was flat, with just no real energy, and that's also been an issue with many of these Hallmark movies the last couple of years.