User Reviews

This will be a brief review of Michael Buble's Christmas in the City (2021).

I have definitely missed viewing his Christmas specials and enjoyed this one as well except for a couple of things.

I thought that having the special on the "Saturday Night Live" set was a bad idea. The set is just too small and cramped for this particular special and especially his orchestra. Also, the SNL set is a distraction because it screams out SNL's set!

The second issue that I had with the special was the appearance of "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon. I get that "Saturday Night Live" and "Tonight Show" producer Lorne Michaels' production company was involved, but seriously does he have to keep shoving Jimmy Fallon down our throats? Sorry, but Fallon has a horrible singing voice and just comes off like a brown nosing tool.

I did enjoy watching the special and would recommend it minus my two complaints.

Bublé singing was great but the others were too diverse (Kermit, multi- ethnic kids) and even Leon Bridges showed himself unable to sing well or be a presence onstage. Bublé needs to focus on the music and traditional happy ( not attempted-funny) skits. I wouldn't bother watching this again.apparently I need to double the length of this review. Ok. I thought Cabello and Hannah sang beautifully. The British Boys Choir and the orchestras were beautiful as was the show closer. Aaaaaaaaa aaa aaa aa. Aaa aaaa aaaa. Aaaa. A aaaaaa aaaa aaaaa a. Aaaa aaaa. A. A. Aaaaaaa aaa aaa. Aaaaa aaa aaa a a aaaa.

I suspect the head of wardrobe raided the Joker's closet for a purple suit complete with shiny purple shoes, and Buble didn't appreciate being a comic book villain. The performance suffered. He's kinda always annunciated words deliberately and carefully in his songs, but he was way over the top here, with really stilted, over-pronounced, zero-feeling vocals. The guest singers were generally good and the orchestra was great. The low point came as cringe-inducing Jimmy Fallon joined Buble for some strained "humor" and imitations of a few famous singers by the pair. Guess that was the steep price Buble had to pay for getting an NBC special- a terrible promo for the always unfunny and uninteresting Fallon show, which is apparently still on. Who knew?

Also, some kid actors came on to act cute. And they were. That part was shot with a more normal outfit for Buble, who seemed much more at ease. Coincidence? I don't know.

Overall I really don't think Buble wanted to be there, but he was contractually obligated or something. To give Buble credit, he did a great final number, Silent Night. Stick around for that.

He's done several of these, but Michael Buble remains one of the key figures in music when it comes to Christmas, and puts people like Gary Barlow in the shade any day of the week.

Yes, this show is slightly cheesy, and goodness knows the new voice of Kermit doesn't work, but on the whole this show was everything it set out to be.