IslandGuru
Who payed the critics
Hattie
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
Christmas-Reviewer
BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THAT PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE ABOUT THESE FILMS.This is what I call a "Kitchen Sink Christmas Movie". It has everything. A single woman. An unhappy teen. An Orphan. Snow. A reignited former flame. However the best thing it does have is a very likable lead that lifts the film up from the depths of melodrama. In this film it's Christmastime, Carolyn (Connie Sellecca) leaves the big city for her childhood village in the forest, with her daughter Jordy (Asia Vieira) in tow. Along the way, Carolyn meets the ex-fiancé (Randy Travis) she left at the altar years before, as well as a lost boy she'd like to adopt, though Jordy is unenthusiastic.The film is never boring but it is predictable. I wish the story could of had some surprises. Worth watching ONCE!
Ed-Shullivan
Mrs. Shullivan and I did like this film which we watched on Christmas Day. Having said that it is more about second chance romance for the two stars Connie Seleca and Randy Travis as well as a second chance to find a new family for a little 10 year old runaway boy named Wiliam and his dog.The film does take place during the Christmas season with a touch of the buh humbug I don't believe in Christmas theme, but as any film which wants to touch our hearts will do, everything falls into place by the end of this romantic family oriented drama.If you are looking for a touch of romance and second chances then watch this film. If you want a real feel good Christmas themed film then stick to the old reliables like White Christmas (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) or It's A Wonderful Life (Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed). I give A Holiday to Remember a decent 6 out of 10 rating. Mrs Shullivan enjoyed it as well.
HallmarkMovieBuff
Connie Sellecca plays a PhD.-holding psychiatrist who divorces her philandering husband and moves with her daughter to her family homestead in South Carolina, which has been sitting abandoned, presumably for years. Naturally, she encounters the boy next door (Randy Travis, from the next farm over), whom she left standing at the altar nearly two decades before.There's nothing particularly wrong with the script or the acting. The faults of this film are in the casting and execution. I like both Travis and Sellecca, but have trouble seeing them as a couple. Indeed, Ms. Sellecca's appearance in this film was a prime reason for watching, but what we have here constitutes a serious flaw in the pairing of romantic leads.Given that the rest of the cast seems fine for a film that is set in the rural south, one is sad to report that Ms. Sellecca seems to be the one miscast, as throughout the film, she appears from both nature and design to have just stepped off the pages of Vogue. Can you picture a high-tone model or a society chic, dressed in fashions and jewels, functioning comfortably in a dilapidated house in farmland? And then there are the little things. Once a major flaw appears, one goes on alert looking for others. Start with the farmhouse.When Sellecca's character and her daughter arrive, the first thing we see on a clear day is water dripping from a leaky roof into a half-full washtub. So who's been in there recently to manage the tub? Next we have a working wall phone. Who bothers to pay monthly phone bills for an abandoned house? Or maybe she called ahead to have it hooked up…we don't know.But wait, there's hope. Mr. Travis, whose character is now the local sheriff, mayor, and all-around Mr. Fixit, has been dating a local social worker who wants to marry him. They appear to be well-matched. In the end, will he do the right thing and make her an honest woman, or will he jump the shark to hook back up with his long-lost love? The 90 minutes of suspense killed my rating of this supposed-to-be feel-good film. To me, this was a holiday movie to forget.
ktbarton3
I have just read All of the reviews. I am already hooked on seeing this Christmas movie. I have a fair collection of Christmas movies that I just could not live without (or thought I couldn't). Many, (if not most) of my collection are out of print and some are just down right RARE.Unfortunately, one of the reviewers has stated they are looking forward to its release on DVD. That means that the movie is not available at my local video store or BB's large box electronic store.O.K... so here I go again, hunting for a copy, as waiting for a studio to release it can take decades, maybe forever.Anyone out there that has made a copy off the small screen that they are willing to trade or whatever ?
