This story has been way overdone by Hallmark. These actors didn't bring anything new or energetic to the screen. The second half was better than the slow first half. I did enjoy the scenery, and that was the high point for me. I can't imagine what Vanessa Lengies and the hair/makeup crew were thinking with her hair. Absolutely. Awful. Not sure if it was meant to be ombre, but if so, it missed the mark and looks very unhealthy. I found it quite distracting throughout the movie. Even still, it was a fairly enjoyable Hallmark holiday piece.
Heart of the Holidays
2020
Action / Romance
Plot summary
A few weeks before Christmas, Wall Streeter Samantha Wallace is starting what she believes is her dream job with Castleton Investments where she has been given the freedom to make investments with an array of innovative start-ups. On her first day, she discovers something that not only makes her quit that job, but also makes her rethink her relationship with her serious boyfriend, Will, who only a few days earlier she thought was going to ask her to marry him. Without telling her widowed mother Tammy the reason why, Sam decides to head back to her small hometown of Crawleigh in western New York for Christmas, it where she will regroup and put out feelers for other Wall Street jobs. This trip will be the first time she not only will have returned home for Christmas since she moved to NYC eight years ago, the move in she wanting to make a difference in the world, but returned home, period. The primary reason for not returning before this time is not wanting to see her high school sweetheart, coffee shop/bakery owner ex-boyfriend Noah Fitzpatrick due to the nature of their break-up when she left. Running into Noah in such a small town is inevitable, but is fostered by Tammy and other long time townsfolk, such as married Bob and Val, in believing Sam and Noah as a couple were meant to be. Their reunion is a strained one, but they both realize that the strain is due to underlying feelings existing between the two. As they and many of the townsfolk work on providing for the food bank for the Christmas season, Sam may see Crawleigh in a different light and not the town she was so anxious to leave eight years ago. A permanent Sam/Noah reunion is threatened by the return of Will and news from him of what Sam once truly did believe was her dream job in NYC.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
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Tired plot, blah acting
An average, middle of the road Hallmark Christmas movie...
This was a decent Christmas movie. The story was nice, the acting was good, and the scenery, props, and sets were festive. It just did not have that 'extra something' compared to some of the other very good Christmas movies this year by Hallmark. For example, I recently saw The Angel Tree; it had great chemistry between the leads. The Christmas House was fun and made me laugh. A Timeless Christmas and Cranberry Christmas had different stories to tell...and so on. In this one, it was not until nearly an hour into the film (the scene where Sam decides to organize the Christmas party at the foodbank) that I started to be pulled in by the movie. The acting was pretty good. I last saw Vanessa Lengies in the Christmas movie, A Date by Christmas Eve, where she had a fun and cute performance. Here she had a decent performance. Corey Sevier had a solid performance as well. He had sort of a gentle and confident feel to his portrayal of Noah, which worked, I think. The chemistry between the two was fine, believable. Not the strongest, but certainly not the weakest I have seen; there have been a few thus far where chemistry was rather lacking. The supporting cast had a strong performance; Hallmark usually does a very good job with casting such roles. As I mentioned above, the sets were very polished and festive. I was impressed with that very large gingerbread house that they carried to the truck; the scene where we saw the first spark between the leads. Overall, it was an average, middle of the road Christmas movie that fans of Hallmark will likely enjoy.
Heart of the Holidays
5/10 - a pretty unlikable protagonist made this one hard to enjoy