User reviews

It is an unexceptional Christmas movie, I'm afraid. The premise of the story is fine and quite relevant given the decline of journalism across many Western democratic states (it's difficult to find steady work as a journalist, e.g.). However, the script, at times, was rather generic, I thought. The writers could have done a better job (as other reviewers on here have pointed out) of setting up, developing the romance between the lead characters. The acting was decent. Danica McKellar, a Hallmark regular, had a strong performance, though it was not one of her better Hallmark movies (e.g., the scene where she gets fired seemed awkward, some strange reactions, I felt). Let's be honest, without her on the top of the bill, this one would have tanked. Dylan Neal is a good actor; I have seen him in many Hallmark films, and he usually comes off well on screen. However, casting got this one wrong, I'm afraid, as he and McKellar were not a good fit. The chemistry between them seemed forced, which is never a good sign. I still have the ice-skating scene with him chasing after her in my head. Unpleasant viewing, I thought. Simply put, they just did not work well on screen in this one. The chemistry was not convincing. The supporting cast was strong. For example, Andrew Francis (playing Stephen) had a strong performance. Indeed, it was the dialogue between Francis and McKellar, which stood out for me in this film; casting got this one right. The scenery, props, and sets were well-polished and festive (a Hallmark trademark). I did have a bit of a laugh reading another review on here: I agree, Hallmark needs to stop pushing hot beverages in their Christmas movies (if they do, make sure the actors' cups are full). No complaints about the music or music editing; this has been an issue in several Lifetime Christmas movies this year. All in all, it is a run of the mill Christmas movie with a Hallmark favourite at the top of the bill (which will no doubt draw many fans to this one). To be fair, I did not find myself grabbing for my iPad during the movie, so it did engage me; i.e., it kept my attention for 84 minutes at least.

Danica McKellar and Dylan Neal not a good fit at all. Story is so forced and boring . Hallmark writing not good anymore too busy making wine,selling publications selling ornaments balsam trees

6/10 - awkward chemistry dampened the festivity of this Hallmark flick

Danica did her best and so did Dan Payne, whom I love. He should have been the lead. Dylan Neal was so cold, stoic, and hard to like. Always dressed to the nines, even during a winter carnival. lol. Put some boots on that guy! This was not a good match personality wise for the leads but I did like the story in general.

New record for most romances in a single movie. If your character didn't end up with a significant other you must have annoyed the producers.

Suspend disbelief for 2 hours and you will have a good time.

As a long time fan of the Hallmark Christmas tradition, I have been appreciative this year with the expansion to include POC and LGBT.......this film unfortunately was a dud. It felt forced the wholes time and the ending was sub par. Zero Christmas magic and zero belief.

The coupling was unbelievable. She was too young for him visually. And the final Christmas magic was forced, to methodical and forced once again. Not the usual magic that you do.

I almost didn't watch the movie after I read the bad reviews but because I'm a fan of Danica McKeller I decided to watch it anyway. I really liked the movie! I will definitely watch this every Christmas season.

This story has to be the worst one of this year. That's not because of the diversity in types of couples, it's because the writers didn't even try. This story was a mess and not congruent. This is a skip

I really enjoy these actors so I couldn't give it any lower than 6/10. The relationship was fine but writing needed to be a bit more creative. The flow wasn't quite right. I enjoy the diversity that hallmark is sprinkling in to the movies. Still full of smiles and Joy.

It only took a few mins for me to give up on this one, unfortunately. Uncomfortable pair-up; unnecessary token characters. Storyline had promise...but those oddities just kept pulling it down.

Danica and Dylan, such an odd couple. Her ex doesn't match her either. Dylan could play Danica's father. I like Dylan with the detective.

As others have said, Danica and Dylan don't make a great match. I like them both in other movies, but her over-the-top perkiness and his sophisticated style just don't mix well.

But, I have to say I appreciate that Hallmark is at least trying, awkwardly, to make their communities more realistic by including people of color, gay characters and mixed race couples, especially in lead roles.

Those who are offended that there's a gay character looking for love are offensive to those of us who have gay family and friends. Your "family values" don't seem to value families like mine.

Absolutely adore Christmas and Hallmark have done some above decent and more Christmas films over the years. As well as a fair share of misfires. 2020 was a typically inconsistent year for Hallmark in all their seasonal blockings, but considering the circumstances it turned out quite a lot better than expected. Part of me was expecting all the 2020 films of theirs to be mediocre or below but quite a lot were the opposite, some were surprisingly very well done.

'Christmas She Wrote' sadly is not one of those very well done efforts. Actually thought it pretty lacklustre, with one good performance surrounded by pretty much almost everybody else being pretty bad to put it lightly. As far as the 2020 Christmas Hallmark films go, 'Christmas She Wrote' is down there with the weakest. It is a case of me really liking the premise, which is a relevant one, but really not caring for the execution of most of the elements, the worst affected being the most crucial ones.

Starting with the good, Danica McKellar gives a charming lead performance, that isn't affected or dull. The role itself is very similar to those she plays a lot but it doesn't feel tired this time. Andrew Francis, the only other good performance, is strong and their chemistry is far more believable than the central one.

It is a very attractive film visually, very nicely photographed with beautiful scenery and festive decorations. The music is well placed and isn't too loud or constant, it appeals on the ears on its own too.

Dylan Neal however does not work at all. Far too uptight and with so little charm or charisma. Disliked his character too, who is a complete jerk and often for no reason, and his chemistry with McKellar is non-existent and completely mismatched due to being at a loss constantly as to what anybody would see in him. The personalities also contrast too much. The rest of the cast make little impression in stock roles, some hamminess going on too.

Too much of the dialogue is too cheesy and schmaltzy, and the flow in the first half is not natural. The interplay between McKellar and Neal is really contrived throughout. A lot of the story badly drags, and it is also very slight and predictable for most of the length. Some of the later plot developments like the underwritten and forced conflict is rushed and not developed enough. The ending is too easy.

Concluding, lacklustre. 4/10.

I actually really enjoyed this antagonistic hate-to-love romance. A New York paper's lifestyle columnist, Kayleigh (Danica McKellar), loses her boss to retirement only to have him replaced with Tripp (Dylan Neal) who is determined to make the paper more efficient by cutting out the fat. That starts with him laying off a large number of employees, including Kayleigh, two weeks before Christmas.

When Kayleigh's column's fans revolt, Tripp is tasked by his boss to get her back whatever it takes. This ends up in a cross country trip to Kayleigh's small town to try to convince her to comeback to the paper...only she is not going to be so easily convinced. In fact she takes a job offer from the local paper just to spite Tripp, but then she throws herself into her new column hosting Christmas events in her local town. As Tripp starts to attend them, the two slowly get to know one another...and discover both of their real passions.

I liked this antagonistic report turned reluctant acquaintances turned something more. I highly recommend this to romantics who enjoy a Hallmark holiday film.

I agree that the title suggesting that this would be a murder mystery set at Christmas was misleading, but if you can get past that you'll find a decent and enjoyable Hallmark film.

Yes, it follows the standard formula, but there are attempts at trying to rejig it a little bit. The increase in diverse castings and non same sex relationships is a step in the right direction too.

For me the two most important things in a Hallmark film are whether the story holds up, and whether the leads have chemistry, and I thought both of these boxes were ticked here.

Danica McKellar is a real loss to Hallmark, because she elevated all the films she appeared in for them.

Overall, I don't understand the negativity - this was fun.

Let me start by saying the acting here was good, and it should be, because most of these actors have probably done these same scenes over and over. It played like a checklist of predictable, rushed scenes, that all seemed forced, especially with the reappearing ex. Not only was the chemistry bad between the leads it bordered being creepy. Recycling scripts is expected with Hallmark movies, even still they can still be enjoyable, this one was not for me

I really wanted to like this movie. I love Dylan Neal in the Gourmet Detective series and I often enjoy Danica McKellar's movies. They just didn't have any chemistry. Their characters were very poorly written. She was perky to the point of being sickeningly sweet and his character went from the grouchy budget minded boss to Mr. Sensistivity within the space of about thirty seconds. Scenes that were supposed to be comically sweet just seem contrived and poorly written. They tried to cram as many perky "holiday" moments in as they could. The overall effect was too much frenzied activity and the inevitable glitch that always happens about twenty minutes before the end just seemed thrown in. It all gets fixed very quickly, as usual. Hallmark needs to either produce fewer movies so they can pay more attention to them or they need to hire better writers. Hallmark fans are looking for sentiment but not cheesiness.

Whoever cast Tripp should be fired. I am a big Danica fan but I couldn't last more than half an hour with this movie. Tripp's character is so unlikable that it really ruins the movie.

Wow, I beg to differ with so many of the reviews here. This was a wonderful movie.

The entire cast was superb.

The chemistry between Danica McKellar and Dylan Neal was great. So often she is awkward and stiff, but not so here. Danica and Dylan really clicked.

This is possibly my all time favorite Hallmark Christmas movie ever, and there are many HM movies that I have loved.

My advice - watch the movie.

This was so poorly written I couldn't make it to the end. Also, another match that wasn't. This couple had no romantic attraction at all. What a miserable job of casting. Again, Hallmark believes they can throw any two people together and make a romantic match. What is actually does is completely ruin the movie, as in this case. Watching him act is like watching paint dry, boring!! I have only watched a handful of Hallmark Christmas movies this year that were worth watching much less watch them a second time. I don't know if they just tried to throw these movies together just to get them done because of Covid. It doesn't seem to to me a lot of them were really thought out. Hallmark obviously believes all they can just put anything out there and the Hallmark faithful will be alright with it. Not the case, as you can see with the vast majority of the reviews believe as I do.

We love Danica Mckellar. She is likeable and a fine actress. But the casting was bad. The guy was totally wrong for her. Its hard to watch mismatched couples. Zero chemistry. And they fell for each other WAY too early. Her "sister" is a ham actress. Canada must train actors to overact, most do. These movies are ALL made in Canada and pretend to be America. These movies offer; Over emoting, over eyes darting, over smiling. Teeth galore. Ugh. Its Hallmark that peeves us off. Every movie they just cast anyone with no concern about reality......sisters with 4 or 5 inches difference in height. One has natural red hair, the other brown. One has dark brown eyes, the other bright blue. Every movie has empty cups. They have no weight and their first sip has the cup tilted 3/4 of the way back. Like viewers are stupid or something. Take a couple minutes and actually care about the viewers. Make things believable. Its bad enough that Hallmak has their token gay, token black assistant and token Asian in every movie, just to shut up critics and complaining groups. Sickening. Life in a make believe world.

In my opinion Hallmark have tried to move away from the recipe that us fans tuned in for. They have mixed up the almost tried and tested ensemble cast which is my criticism with this particular movie. There is zero chemistry.

When I first heard about the movie I wasn't so sure about it mainly the match up between Danica Keller and Dylan Neal. I didn't think they would be a good fit... but boy was I wrong. They were a great match together and I loved all their scenes throughout the movies as their characters got to know and later fell for each other. I was also surprised to see Andrew Francis as he previously worked alongside Danica in Coming Home for Christmas, but as part of a love triangle. In this film, however, he plays her best friend. They were much better together as friends as they were so much fun to watch and the friendship they have is super strong. Another thing I love about these latest Hallmark Christmas films as they begin to show more of LGBT romances.

Overall, this was an excellent film. The acting was excellent and all the characters had chemistry about them. No doubt one of the best Hallmark Christmas films of 2020. Exactly what we need to lift our holiday spirits.

Hallmark what happened to family friendly movies? Also, the main characters did not have any chemistry together, although both are good actors separately.