A Brush with Christmas (2022 TV Movie) User Reviews

Was an okay watch until the horrible end

[mamachikn · 5/10 · 2 January 2023]

The story was a little bit different. I didn't mind the flat acting and the dialog.

Some of it was silly and unrealistic, like the friend taking the time to "help" her look for the red paint she needed in the only box of paint there.

But I watched all the way through.

Unfortunately, as with so many of these Hallmark type movies, the leads know each other for a few days before they decide to give up everything for "love", which is just lust, because love puts the other person's best interests first before anything.

True love knows you need to know someone more than a week, would be willing to have a one year long-distance relationship if necessary for the good of them both. They can get to know each other at least!

Wyatt gets an amazing opportunity to go to London for one year. They double the initial salary. He asks her to go with him, but she's too selfish to consider it. She intends to stay in the little town forever and ever, apparently.

He goes to leave, then turns down the job of a lifetime because she's "his dream." He doesn't even know her!

Absolutely ridiculous! With the money Wyatt made, they could start their lives with a good financial foundation. One year is not forever.

So stupid.

Ugh!

Rated down to a 5. Maybe should be a 4.

The Mother

[Pvrspecialist · 6/10 · 26 December 2022]

Like others I have spent the last month and a half watching Christmas movies, GAF if I can get access, Hallmark, Lifetime and CBS. There are only a few that I must comment on and this is one. The story is cute, the female lead character is talented, thoughtful unlike some of them whose reasoning ability is missing or can't carry on a coherent conversation, and the male lead has a neat profession. Why I must comment is the MOTHER image. Not clear, but think she is to be the CEO of the restaurant with female lead and daughter the head chef. As a leader she is useless, her facial features never change. Monotoned, she is supposedly mooning over Patrick but even that is lifeless except for the ridiculous eye batting, Patrick by the way does have life and character. Maybe her lines were lame but she could have given some spark to them, at least shown some emotion but essentially she is one drab annoying actress. On the plus side, hope to see Joseph Cannata in more movies and TV series.

Second chance

[Jackbv123 · 6/10 · 4 July 2023]

My cable went out just before Christmas weekend 2022. During GAF's Christmas in July I was pleased to find this movie I had missed as a result of the outage.

I thought this was an interesting story even if possibly contrived. I can't think of another with a premise like this. One of the leads stumbles on a half finished painting made and abandoned by the other lead and then he submits it to a public showing. I say contrived because Charlotte's initial response seemed totally unnatural to me in more than one way. Regardless, this launches the story of these two spending time together and developing a relationship. Jillian Murray and Joseph Cannata have good chemistry. Murray makes an appealing Charlotte despite Charlotte's lack of any assertiveness. She does have a quiet sweetness.

This movie has a feel that I've come to associate with GAF. For one thing, it is very family friendly where the only controversy is in what it doesn't do. Another is simple sets and acting that just isn't top shelf. At times it seems forced. Likewise the dialogue which lacks any witty banter. And not much comedy for what should be a rom/com. The background music occasionally calls too much attention to itself which should be, well, background. In short, this movie feels unpolished.

And as another reviewer focused on, the mother stands out and not in a good way. She's not quite as overbearing as some but with some of the same results perhaps more so because one of those effects is to sap the life out of her daughter, at least for a while.

The story briefly stalls before the highly predictable and well telegraphed conflict, which is also a common conflict. I feel like the conflict was a bit early which was probably rushed forward due to the mid-story slowdown. The result is that the resolution is dragged out again stalling the pacing.

Overall I think the story was too simple. I mentioned pacing which I think was due to that. There were several potential subplots that weren't explored and could have given the movie a fuller feeling.

Sidenote: I'm not sure what there is about it but the portrait at the end was eye-catching.

Skip it.

[Avidviewer-02847 · 2/10 · 23 December 2022]

This film didn't work for me. It started with a poor script and dialog. The acting was stiff, IMDB doesn't list a director so I guess the actors directed themselves, that's the problem. The performances weren't natural, it's like the actors read their lines separately and they were edited together.

The leads Jullian Murray and Josepha Cannata are physically very attractive, but actors have to be able to deliver lines in a believable way so we buy into the story. It was plastic, I got no feeling from any of the actors. I blame the writers and director, if there was even a director.

If GAF wants to challenge Hallmark for the top rom-com network, they have to do a lot better than this movie.

A little better

[mbiv777 · 6/10 · 25 December 2022]

This was better than it looked in the previews, at least at the beginning. There at least seemed to be a point, even if it was on the trite side.

The lead actress was actually more attractive than I thought from the preview (although her eyebrow game is a little strong), and she matched up well with the lead actor.

Ultimately a bit better than most of the Great American movies this year.

On the whole, they showed some improvement this year, and there were four or five movies that will probably be around for a while.

I like that they are family-first, and unafraid to pray and practice faith.

I like that the relationships are heterosexual and they're not pushing mixed race agendas down our throats.

For these reasons, I will continue to support Great American during their growing phase. I'm confident they will eventually get there.

Merry Christmas.

Another bad one!!

[Marynewcomb2013 · 4/10 · 24 December 2022]

I don't know what happened to GAF this season! Last year, they made some really good Christmas time films to put them in head to head competition with Hallmark! This year, they fell flat on their faces with the movies!! This one is no different!!

The writing is flat, lifeless!! It has no "spunk" that last years had!! The actors have ZERO chemistry between them! It's not just the leads but EVERYONE that interacts here!! People that "knew" each other for years have nothing between them!!

The reason this gets a four star is for the location and set designer!! The lights you see as the drone goes down the street near the end showing Christmas lights was perfect!! The very next shot of an arched walkway & the lights were perfect!! Other than that, this film is a skip!!

Not bad

[susanrosshill · 6/10 · 22 December 2022]

I liked the story about the middle-aged couple. I wish the whole movie had been about them. That would have made it unique because of their age. I guess Christmas movies are only for young pretty people to fall in love lol Most of the acting was good with the exception of the male lead . So because the male leads acting was blah it was hard to feel a connection between him and the female lead. The town is pretty. The snow looks fake. The artwork was fun!

If the mail lead had stronger acting chops I think I would have liked this movie pretty darn well. I'm sure it's hard to come up with unique plot lines and enough actors that are good at acting. Especially on a channel that is new and growing in popularity.

Our last Christmas romance of 2022, and thank goodness

[VetteRanger · 5/10 · 20 December 2022]

We watched a total of 55 Hallmark and GAF movies this year, and I'd say between five and ten of them were movies we REALLY enjoyed.

This wasn't one of them. Very little about this story rang true for me, and the actors were mostly pretty flat. It would also have been nice if the writers knew ANYTHING about painting. Painters don't start a canvas and paint from left to right. LOL

We now have nine more movies to watch during the season, all DVDs or Blurays in our collection, of our true seasonal favorites. And we'll finish up that viewing with A Christmas Story and It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Day ... with White Christmas our tradition on Christmas Eve, and Holiday Inn the night before that.

I wish all reading here a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This is a 2022 movie but saw it today

[jptmujica · 5/10 · 12 November 2023]

I love Christmas movies even if these types are cheesy and basically the same thing just with different actors. I just like the feel of them during the holidays. This is my first year watching movies on the GAC channel. I have moved away from Hallmark movies. This movie was missing chemistry. The male lead actor did not know how to act. The lines that they gave the actors felt flat and short. Some of the cuts didn't make sense. That zooming action they did on Charlotte when she was looking at the painting was a no. The ending with the people clapping was a please stop moment. That was cringey.

Cute movie, but not one of the best.

[lucylouise-23546 · 8/10 · 10 November 2023]

"A Brush With Christmas" is a wonderful movie. I'm not a big fan of art, but the art in this movie is great. The actors are excellent. The lead actors are great in their roles. All the actors are very believable. I don't like this movie as much as my favorite Hallmark Christmas movies (like "Call Me Mrs. Miracle." "Eloise at Christmastime," "Crown For Christmas," etc). But it is a sweet movie. A head chef at her mom's restaurant loves to paint, and to stop working at a restaurant, but is working at the restaurant to help her mom out. She wants to be a full time painter. She meets another artist named Wyatt, who found the painting that she threw away. The ending of the movie is great.

Not a real painting in sight...

[warren-87235 · 4/10 · 27 December 2023]

Okay, it's that time of year to watch a few cheesy Christmas romance movies... The premise here is actually not that bad, the execution, however...

The lead actres, Jillian Murray, is decent, but the rest of the cast are rather wooden, not helped by a similarly wooden script.

What really doesn't help, is that a movie about two artists clearly didn't consult a single artist! Or use one to make a couple of paintings or sketches! Instead we're treated to a selection of photos run through Photoshop filters. But... even worse, when the characters are talking about drawing and painting, they treat them as two totally unrelated skills, and the male character acts like working digitally, doing a highly successful job, isn't 'proper work'. He can hold a pencil, but not paintbrush? What is this strange thing? And likewise the leading lady can paint with a brush but doesn't know how to use a pencil?! Really? It would be like a story with a baker and a chef, and the chef doesn't know how to turn on a mixer and the baker doesn't know how to use the oven...

There are other minor annoyances, such as supposedly drawing with pencils but resting your palm on the paper, but the worst offence is implying that the lead character paints from left to right, with quite literally half the painting complete and one half not touched, beyond a 'hint' of a sketch! It's even clearly digitally feathered out with a soft blend. To top it all off, you can see the crisp, sharp edges where it's been printed! Honestly, put _some_ effort in!

As for the story and script, the leading lady manages at one point to ask the leading man if his parents regretted giving up their careers to raise him... Charming! Talk about asking the guy if he feels guilty being alive!

Then, for the ending she makes him feel guilty for taking a fantastic work opportunity, after he offers to take her with him to London for a year! Mainly because after a few days seeing each other, she doesn't want to leave town, and doesn't want him to go anywhere. Bearing in mind, she's giving up her family job as a chef to paint... So she's not exactly tied down. As a result, they both end up giving up their existing jobs. Umm... where is their money coming from, exsctly? Dreamland? Do they think a few paintings and sketches are going to pay the bills straight away?

Having said all that, I've seen worse, so I'll still give it a 4 (that's on a scale of Christmas movies of this type). It kept us watching till the end, but only just...

It was okay...

[marissawharton · 4/10 · 7 November 2023]

It was a decent concept but not the strongest writing or acting. The male lead carried the movie while the others just kind of recited their lines. There were also some incredibly cheesy choices (cheesier than usual for these types of movies) made between the dialogue, delivery, and cinematography.

The mom especially was poorly written - very flip and flop about whether she wants her daughter to pursue her dreams or not. And the apple doesn't fall far apparently because the daughter seemed very flip and flop about her own dreams. It's okay to be lost and confused but sometimes her decisions just don't really add up.

I liked the wardrobe choices and the sets and the Christmas decorations but it was hard to finish the movie.

P. S. He shouldn't have given up the job, she should have gone with him!

Told in such an uninteresting way

[r96sk · 5/10 · 24 December 2023]

I dig the leading two, but 'A Brush with Christmas' is very dull.

It dragged to watch, it really did. It's your standard made-for-television festive flick, so includes all the cheese and cheer that you would expect. The story, though, is just told in such an uninteresting way, not helped by the (usual) heavy predictability either. I did, as noted, rate Jillian Murray and Joseph Cannata as a duo, they are (relatively speaking) well cast. That's the only positive I've got though.

Amusingly, you could easily write another movie based upon this from Brenda of Home Cooking's point of view - one two-week back injury and she loses her catering contract to a half-arsed wannabe artist, unfair if you ask me! There's just no loyalty in the food industry nowadays...

Predictable Festive Romantic Comedy

[lisafordeay · 5/10 · 3 December 2023]

Netflix has a string of Hallmark wannabe films on their site and this happens to be one. Starring Jillian Murray,Joseph Cannata and Jan Skene. Directed by Robin Dunne the story follows a caterer named Charlotte who works at her mom's restaurant. She dreams of becoming an inspired artist and wants to design a piece in her local art gallery.

Disheartened and struggling to find time for her art, Charlotte (Murray)throws out her latest painting, only to discover that it has been anonymously submitted to the Christmas art festival. It turns out that Wyatt(Cannata), a visiting artist, stumbled upon her discarded work and is now using the festival's exposure to find its mysterious creator.

Will romance blossom between Charlotte and Wyatt?. Overall it was a very predictable film but since its Xmas themed it's still decent.

More than family legacies

[glori1491 · 8/10 · 26 December 2023]

We must remember that the purpose of this type of film is not to win an Oscar or to be the best film with the best plot, but to remind us of the beauty of Christmas, to see them on a windy Christmas afternoon, in pajamas, with your family, since I see that it has very bad reviews. This film is about a girl whose father died, so she feels the responsibility to continue in the family business and not leave her mother, she is not bad at being a chef but her love is art, she meets another renowned artist in digital art but without motivation in her work since they tell her what to do, they both know each other and motivate each other, the only thing I would have liked is that maybe she would have left her comfort zone and gone to London However, I most likely wouldn't have done it either. It's a movie in a small town at Christmas time, with cute clothes, cute actors with great chemistry.