First, nice story, very typical Hallmark (with can be a good thing). The two leads had great chem and were nice to watch together. Lyndsy was funny on her own and a better actor than some of the other Hallmark Heroines.
But there were too many problems to overcome for me to like this more.
1) Dad's constant passive aggressiveness toward his daughter. No wonder she doesn't come back more often. I know I wouldn't if I had face that barrage of attacks.
2) The green screen effects for a bunch of the fake backgrounds (in color or BW) were so cheap, I thought they were done with an iPhone. I guess if they had to blow their budget on the BW -> Color stuff, something else was going to suffer
3) Dad DOESN'T get his color after the heartfelt convo with daughter, but only when the rest of the town sings his praises... self-centered much?
4) Too much of a rip off of Pleasantville. My wife and I often play the "guess the movie it's based on", but this wasn't even subtle.
Good people in a less than good movie.
Where Are You, Christmas?
2023
Action / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Romance
Where Are You, Christmas?
2023
Action / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Romance
Plot summary
After Addy wishes for a year without Christmas, she wakes up in a black and white world and works with the town mechanic to restore Christmas.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
October 22, 2023 at 06:14 PM
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Good but too distracted
Christmas in black, white and colour - great fun.
Lyndsy Fonseca is two for two as far as Hallmark Christmas movies go. She follows up 2021's Next Stop Christmas (which was brilliant) with what will surely be one of the most inventive Hallmark movies of the 2023 festive season, 'Where Are You Christmas?'
Certainly borrowing a little from Pleasantville (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, remember...), Fonseca plays Addie who returns to her hometown for Christmas and there wishes for a world without Christmas. Lo and behold, thanks to a pesky Christmas app, she wakes up in a black and white world where no one knows what Christmas is, and where everyone thinks Addie is going crazy, her family included. It's a race against time to make everyone remember Christmas, turning them colour again. She is aided by the town's mechanic, Hunter (Michael Rady) who might just hold the key to everything...
The two leads have good chemistry and the storyline is just different enough to the usual Christmas small town homecoming theme to make it memorable. Fonseca is beautiful and an engaging actress. If her first two Hallmark Christmas films are anything to go by, she is going to have a long and successful career. Here's hoping we don't need to wait another two years for her to make a Christmas film.
Getting back to what Christmas is all about...Ditch the phone and enjoy your family.
I have to confess, I am a big component of no Christmas until after Thanksgiving (and my husband and I are huge fans of Christmas music...so there is a big restraint not fa la la la-ing early). So, I have been resistant to watching Christmas movies when we haven't even celebrated Halloween yet...but I allowed a few to creep up on our to watch list and I have to say Hallmark is actually succeeding in getting me in the mood. My toes were dragging, but they have lifted my spirits and put a smile on my pumpkin spice chai latte self.
I really enjoyed this new twist on a Hallmark holiday romance. I don't know how they did the mixed black and white and color...but it was a fun concept and definitely one I hadn't seen before (the closest thing to it that I have seen visually is WandaVision).
The premise is busy achiever Addy comes home to her Christmas obsessed home town of Red Lake Falls only because her brother is going to propose to his girlfriend...otherwise she usually skips it and goes to a tropical island. She had been selling Christmas commercially and this year has just launched a Santa app for your phone. All these years Christmas has lost it's true meaning for Addy and in a moment she wishes Christmas away...only to have that work everyone and everything (including Addy) are black and white. No one, not even her very Christmas-centric father, knows or remembers what Christmas is. In fact they not only thing Addy is crazy, but that she is s trouble maker for bringing it up!
It starts with the local mechanic Hunter, who is a bit of a hermit, but slowly Addy brings color and Christmas back to Red Lake Falls.
"You got caught up in your stress and made a mistake."
Coming together and pitching in...that is what Christmas is about. I was initially concerned when they started to say that Christmas was about forgiving and healing what's inside you...but they brought it back to coming together, pitching in and family, which I really appreciated.
"It's like one of those Christmas movies...now we just need someone to fall in love and kiss"-mayor.
Trapped in the town of Red Lake Falls and unable to leave. I can't believe Addy doesn't figure out the answer sooner. I appreciated that it could poke a little fun of the genre itself and have some good current messages.
"Sometime speeding through life is a way of keeping people at arms distance."-dad
The life you want to or the life you are supposed to.
The message I appreciated the most though was one of ditching the phone and enjoying the moment.
Best line...
"I have never, Kiss scared someone out of town."-Hunter
This is a recommendation to anyone who enjoys a good Christmas movie, especially the hallmark romance variety. Have patience through the beginning...you will enjoy it in the end.