30 Days of Horrible Christmas Movies... Day Eight - A Heavenly Christmas
A Heavenly Christmas (2016) - Hallmark Channel
This one here is special, not because I'm saying it is, but because Hallmark is saying that it is, as this movie is part of their Hall of Fame series of films, of which I'm told some are really good and these movies usually have actors who are a cut above. I can tell you that the actors do have better credentials in 'A Heavenly Christmas', but it's still pretty much a run of the mill Hallmark Christmas movie.
Eve (Kristin Davis) is a hardworking trader who could care less that it's Christmas as she has deals to cut and money make. Max (Eric McCormack) is a broken-hearted diner operator, ever since his music partner and sister tragically died a few years back. Now he just flips burgers and looks after his super cute precocious niece Lauren (Jaeda Lily Miller). These two share a cab one evening as a preliminary meeting, but love is not the air for these two just yet. It's coming though.
Tragically, Eve slips on the ice, dies, and goes to heaven where she will be under the tutelage of the wise Pearl (Shirley MacLaine) who gives Eve her first angel task, that being answering young Lauren's Christmas prayer to make her uncle happy. Eve doesn't think she can do this, considering she's not a fan of Christmas and all, but her wings are on the line so she descends back to Earth for the seven days she's given to make this happen.
Sure enough, Max is plenty sad. His sister's in-laws are coming to take Lauren to a better place, his music career has floundered, he flips burgers for a living and he has no lady love. Until he meets the amazing Eve. Now he sees things differently, life is great, Lauren loves Eve, and he thinks he loves Eve as as well. For her part Eve has seen the error of her hard working ways, and she is falling for Max. Even though it's against the angel rules. Besides, once she fixes everything, she goes back to Heaven and everybody she's shone a light on will forget her. The light will remain, but the memory of her will be forgotten. Unless... of course... maybe... hopefully... it won't be.
I take full responsibility because I was expecting a tad bit more from this one than it was willing to give me. I mean it starts out with Glenn Close introducing this movie, who is like the female Keith David with her silky smooth voice opening the show. Then you have Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine as the wise old person, a better than average cute kid, Kristin Davis who always brings the bubbly cuteness, and Eric McCormack who has mastered the art of being handsome and charming. But at the end it was the same old tired, retread, Hallmark styled nonsense we've seen over and over again. My fault for expecting more.
That being said, it's still somewhat more entertaining than the usual Hallmark / Lifetime fare if only because of the charming cast. I do think that the writers probably designed this thing for actors a bit younger, since both Davis and McCormack are over fifty, with Eve lamenting a life not yet lived, speaking of things that I don't think the average fifty year old woman would be too worried about, and Max supposedly being some kind of recent American Idol-type winner which really doesn't fit. It does give him the chance to whip out the acoustic and belt out a few tunes though. I think I said previously that unless it's Lenny Kravitz unplugged or James Taylor I don't want to hear it? That hasn't changed.
Hall of Fame? Maybe not. Better than usual? Sure... why not.
Eve (Kristin Davis) is a hardworking trader who could care less that it's Christmas as she has deals to cut and money make. Max (Eric McCormack) is a broken-hearted diner operator, ever since his music partner and sister tragically died a few years back. Now he just flips burgers and looks after his super cute precocious niece Lauren (Jaeda Lily Miller). These two share a cab one evening as a preliminary meeting, but love is not the air for these two just yet. It's coming though.
Tragically, Eve slips on the ice, dies, and goes to heaven where she will be under the tutelage of the wise Pearl (Shirley MacLaine) who gives Eve her first angel task, that being answering young Lauren's Christmas prayer to make her uncle happy. Eve doesn't think she can do this, considering she's not a fan of Christmas and all, but her wings are on the line so she descends back to Earth for the seven days she's given to make this happen.
Sure enough, Max is plenty sad. His sister's in-laws are coming to take Lauren to a better place, his music career has floundered, he flips burgers for a living and he has no lady love. Until he meets the amazing Eve. Now he sees things differently, life is great, Lauren loves Eve, and he thinks he loves Eve as as well. For her part Eve has seen the error of her hard working ways, and she is falling for Max. Even though it's against the angel rules. Besides, once she fixes everything, she goes back to Heaven and everybody she's shone a light on will forget her. The light will remain, but the memory of her will be forgotten. Unless... of course... maybe... hopefully... it won't be.
I take full responsibility because I was expecting a tad bit more from this one than it was willing to give me. I mean it starts out with Glenn Close introducing this movie, who is like the female Keith David with her silky smooth voice opening the show. Then you have Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine as the wise old person, a better than average cute kid, Kristin Davis who always brings the bubbly cuteness, and Eric McCormack who has mastered the art of being handsome and charming. But at the end it was the same old tired, retread, Hallmark styled nonsense we've seen over and over again. My fault for expecting more.
That being said, it's still somewhat more entertaining than the usual Hallmark / Lifetime fare if only because of the charming cast. I do think that the writers probably designed this thing for actors a bit younger, since both Davis and McCormack are over fifty, with Eve lamenting a life not yet lived, speaking of things that I don't think the average fifty year old woman would be too worried about, and Max supposedly being some kind of recent American Idol-type winner which really doesn't fit. It does give him the chance to whip out the acoustic and belt out a few tunes though. I think I said previously that unless it's Lenny Kravitz unplugged or James Taylor I don't want to hear it? That hasn't changed.
Hall of Fame? Maybe not. Better than usual? Sure... why not.
Comments
Post a Comment