Much Ado About Christmas

A beautiful setting that is supposed to be somewhere in England but is clearly Bucharest. The indoor scenes are very nicely decorated. An attractive cast forced to chew through some pedestrian dialogue and head smacking plotting. It is snowing in every outdoor scene. The main characters fall madly in love in just a week.

Modern riffs/updatings on literary classics are very variable, there are some very clever ones such as 'Clueless' and then there are others that are rather derivative and lazy such as the Hallmark updatings of Jane Austen. Shakespeare's timeless 'Much Ado About Nothing' (one of my favourites of his) given a modern festive makeover fascinated me from the get go, and even more so seeing a lot of positive feedback on it from some not easily pleased. It did sound and look good. And it was. For a film from an non-major and relatively recently rebranded network, 'Much Ado About Christmas' was to me very impressive and as good as the best of Hallmark and Lifetime. Also on par with the best of Hallmark's inconsistent 2021 festive output. As far as lesser known modern updatings on literary classics go, 'Much Ado About Christmas' (again from personal opinion) is one of the best, cleverest and most charming and one of the best of GAC Family's output (the biggest interest point of the film being that it is the first film from them under their rebranding). It isn't perfect, with the ending being a little too neat and rushed and it being slightly too vanilla to begin with. Torrence Coombs is a little stiff to begin with, but that he is based on a character who is very bland in the play plays some part in this. Once he relaxes however, he becomes very easy going, subtly charismatic and charming. He also shares great chemistry with radiant and immensely likeable Susie Abromeit that has a real cheerfulness and charm, while not being too romantic too soon. Really connected to their characters, Abromeit's in particular is relatable without being too perfect. The supporting cast are great, especially the witty turns of James Rottger and Emma Colling, Colling has the most interesting role and relishes it without overacting. Loved the playfulness and initial tension between them. Production values are attractive enough, especially the scenery, while the music has personality without being intrusive. The script has plenty of cheerful wit, light hearted charm and heart, with no cheese, awkwardness or over sentimentality. The story is both lively and heart-warming, with the take on the play full of liveliness and nothing lazy. Summing up, very well done. 8/10.

Yes, another Christmas movie, not extremely original and predictable. Yet, the production is rich enough, the characters are pleasing and the story flows well. All together, the results are charming. A nice start for GAC channel.

The leads Susie and Torrance sold this story as Haley and Claude. I loved their chemistry in this movie. Good Christmas movie to enjoy with the whole family!

This first GAC Family Christmas movie has a lot riding on it. Bill Abbott left Hallmark (he was CEO of Crown Media) and went to GAC Family to recreate it (but, presumably, the 'old' Hallmark, before they cared about, you know, diversity). So anywho, how was it? I'd say this movie out-Hallmaked Hallmark--which isn't necessarily all a good thing. Every scene was *Christmas done to the 9s*. Visually, they couldn't have crammed in one more nutcracker or ornament, and the production was high-end, glitzy, and perfect. So they nailed that. The female lead (Susie Abromeit) was very appealing. The male lead (Torrance Coombs) less so, but decent. I'd rank him in about the middle-to-low-end of current Hallmark male stars. The romance plot was fine. Nothing groundbreaking, and not as well-written as the 5 new Hallmark Christmas movies to debut so far this season, which have had above-par scripts for Hallmark (all except You, Me and the Christmas Trees, which was meh). But I liked the "billionaire/prince in reverse" angle because this time it was the girl who ws the secret heiress. (shocking, I know) And she was sweet. There were some major annoyances. The story takes place in some mythical European (I think) town. Which apparently required all the American actors to use terrible British accents. I mean, BAD. And then the female lead's accent was 100% American despite her mother and everyone else n this city trying to sound British. So go figure that one, A few Christmas-y bits were way, way overdone in a bad way. I'm looking at you, Christmas karaoke scene. But the visuals were a feast of Christmas cheer and the romance had some sweet moments. The ending was as happy and glamorous as you could hope for. So. Not a Hallmark-killer, at least not this movie. But worth watching once. And I'm all for even more choice in holiday fare.

The lead actress in this film is ok. The rest of the cast is total cringe. I had high hopes for the new holiday offerings from GAC Family. With the former head of Crown Media on board, and their poaching of Hallmark Channel movie actors for the 2022 season, I really thought they would have their stuff together this year. Everything about this film and this channel comes off as Hallmark's low rent cousin. For example, the promos for upcoming movies look like they were made in the 90's. This movie is even more white bread than Hallmark, resulting in a tepid love story about tepid people.

OMG what a waste. I know GAC is trying to clone Hallmark, but why copy everything that Hallmark does not do well. Like taking a classic and putting a modern spin on it. The story had nearly nothing to do with Shakespeare, and the acting was slow and boring. It was just cringeworthy all the way through.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and it was fun to notice the similarities to Much Ado About Nothing. It was well acted, beautifully staged, and held my interest throughout. I am so thankful for good, family-friendly movies from GAC Family!