One Starry Christmas (2014 TV Movie) User Reviews

Give Bull a Singing Contract

[bookandcandle · 10/10 · 16 November 2014]

What a wonderful Christmas Hallmark movie. Great scenes, acting and western theme. The horseback riding made the movie even more exciting. And I especially love how Bull sang such a beautiful song. Someone should give him a singing contract. Keep making more of these joyful movies with love and happy endings. And thanks for keeping the music off when the actors are speaking, so one can hear every word clearly.

I loved this magical Hallmark movie and gave it a 10. I will watch this movie over and over. Every character was perfectly chosen, and I loved the respect for the parents. The parents were delightful in this movie. Wonder where Holly and Luke will live after they marry, since they both have jobs in different states.

Hallmark Movie

[InitforREEL · 10/10 · 12 November 2015]

I have been watching Hallmark movies for years and repeatedly, as I find that when you watch a movie more than once, you definitely catch something that you didn't initially. With that said, I recommend to any true Hallmark Movie fan that you watch "One Starry Christmas" it has become one of my favorites. For anyone who believes in following their dreams and trusting your instincts (as hard as that might be because we question ourselves too much), this is the movie for you. Sarah Carter and Damon Runyan do a wonderful job; they must both have believed in the characters they were portraying; otherwise, the roles of Holly and Luke wouldn't feel so real.

Cute Christmas Movie

[vpbrow · 8/10 · 16 November 2014]

I just finished watching this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, some of the rodeo and cowboy references were a bit awkward, but when people from the city make movies with cowboys there are generally a few of those. Plus, the movie was filmed in Canada, so there may be terminology or vocabulary that I'm just not used to hearing. I thought Holly's character was cute and that she and Luke did a great job. Her relationship with her parents made the movie fun and endearing. Yes, I did raise an eyebrow when he left the rodeo in New Jersey to run to her parents' home somewhere in New York, but it's a movie. Liberties are taken, and I'm quite sure that the horse really didn't run that far on pavement...it was probably done on a green screen and the horse was pampered through the whole thing. I really enjoyed the song. I thought that George Canyon (Bull) did a fantastic job and has a great voice.

Wow

[bamagirl2290 · 8/10 · 10 November 2014]

To the review before me. Hate John Wayne much or just Westerns?? Sure some of the dialog is always far fetch but that's not the point. It is how it makes us feel this time of year...love, generosity and spirit. That is what Hallmark Christmas movies are supposed to do. As the part of John Wayne movies and the horse. I am pretty certain that the crew of a major studio did not allow the horse to go far without water or attention. You really don't get the concept of dialog. John Wayne westerns were a pioneer for a great deal of movies. Western stars were very much appreciated and where our action movies started. Dale Rogers, Roy Evans, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, William Holden, and especially Clint Eastwood they were pioneers of this profession. It is refreshing that Hallmark put a western feel to this movie. It takes us back to some history in theaters. I am sure you would have recognized this coming from a different view. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Cheating isn't Christmassy or Romantic

[bcyhokie · 1/10 · 27 November 2019]

A Christmas movie about dumping your fiancewhile effectively cheating on him, in front of him?

Not sure any of this is about Christmas, as it seems to be mostly about unrestrained hormones.

Enjoyable Feel Good Xmas movie

[sjimmillar · 10/10 · 19 December 2014]

There are times when you want to watch movies where the theme is wholesome simple enjoyable and the underlying message is uplifting despite being unrealistic. This is a perfect example. A boy meets girl fall for each other .. she is an urban professional .. he's a cowboy. Set in New York. Enjoyed the chemistry between the two. Like the idea that family / feelings trump business. I like Westerns Texas country music , etc so that was an added bonus. At end of it I was interested enough to wonder despite the initial affection between the two of how it would work out eventually. A Texas rancher married to an Astronomer from Chicago? Would love to see a sequel to develop that! All in all not believable but who cares it was simply very enjoyable and something I will watch many times again.

Worst faux holiday love story ever!

[stevepat99 · 4 December 2017]

Bah, hum bug on this film. I do like the actor who plays Adam. He did a good job playing the workaholic boyfriend who would rather watch jeopardy then cuddle out doors when Holly begs him to star gaze. Then, in the next breath he announces he's off to New York leaving Holly high and dry alone for Christmas. Also, after 2-3 years together he is clueless to the fact that Holly loves a real Xmas tree she can decorate.

The problems with her new 'we met on the bus' cowboy, potential soul mate is that their souls can never mate. His life is his ranch, born and bred. He is in love with that life style and gives no hint he would ever give it up to dwell on the pavements of Chicago. Holly's soul is her life long work. She wins a huge award and grant that fulfills her greatest academic dream. She gives a heart felt speech defining her deepest feelings for her future work at her school in Chicago. She tells Adam that she could never leave Chicago at this momentous moment in her career. we are convinced she means this to the depths of her soul.

Dumping Adam was a given in these types of stories. But this script leaves no ending other then a Christmas NYC fling between her and cowboy Luke. She is no 'big girl on the prairie' and the only viable end for their story would be nightly skyping from Texas to Chicago.

Many irritating scenes as well. Brother Bull interrupts a holiday dinner to play a guitar as the meal gets stone cold. How inconsiderate. Holly and Luke's hot slow dancing in front of her boyfriend Adam was another irritating scene. Getting into a car for a long drive to NYC with a virtual stranger made little sense. Why would her mother, aside from her dislike of Adam, be happy to see a working Texas ranch cowboy pull up with his horse to claim her daughter. Not only are their worlds apart but their 'minds' are also eons apart. Her mind could not be satisfied by mending fences and cleaning out barns. Remember, Adam is taking a bus with a saddle in his lap. He is not some wealthy gentlemen rancher. Her parents and Holly know Adam has an important Xmas party later that night yet parents and Holly invite Luke and his brother to dinner so that mother says: How can we go to your party, we have guests. Can Holly and her parents be any more inconsiderate? How will the creative writers resolve their 360 degree different lifestyles and thousands of miles that separate them? Easy... they don't! Making this the worst written love story ever.

Cliché and totally boring

[saliston · 3/10 · 20 December 2016]

This movie is just plain bad. You can tell what will happen before you even start the movie. Also anyone from Texas would just want to beat the writer for all the bad cowboy clichés they use. I know its a Hallmark movie but its like they don't even try. Its the same story. Pretty girl has jerky boyfriend she loves. Meets a hot stranger while traveling home. They hit it off the boyfriend shows what a jerk he is and she ends up with the new guy. Nothing to say she was cheating on her boyfriend at Christmas time. Seriously try something new. Apparently my review is two short and I have to add a couple more lines. Not a fan of this review process. Seriously you should be able to say "I love this movie" or I hate this movie" and not have to write a book.

Cute and Christmas-y!

[bicbic724 · 5/10 · 9 November 2014]

Normal Hallmark Christmas movie fare, One Starry Christmas is definitely cheesy and sappy sweet. Sarah Carter is completely adorable as Holly, she really made the movie worth watching. Her character also has quite an enviable collection of winter coat/hat ensembles for a student! The singing cowboy bit was a tiny bit painful to watch, but any scene with Kathleen Laskey and Neil Crone as Holly's parents was just a hoot! I can relate to her Dad's running obsession with sweets.

This movie has it all. Romance, cowboys, humor, horses, and true love. To boot, it's also chock full of pretty winter wonderland scenes and city lights.

I don't think many Hallmark Christmas movies will ever win an acclaimed award, but they always manage to capture some of the magic of the season, and for me, that's enough.

I hope they have fun while it lasts. A week? Maybe?

[rebekahrox · 4/10 · 17 November 2017]

I turned this on 15 minutes in and thought it looked pretty good. Attractive hero, cute heroine, a bus trip. then I looked it up on IMDb and saw that I had seen it before, and that I had given it only 4 stars. Hmmm. By the end of the movie the little annoyances and irritations added up and I understood. My main complaints echo some of the other reviewers.

1.) How many times does she flirtily call him "Cowboy"? a hundred?

2.) the boyfriend was unquestionably a jerk. He did not handle the competition well to say the least. and that proposal was cringe- worthy. But my lord, I kind of felt sorry for him. He was so painfully desperate.

3.)She flirted with cowboy right in front of said boyfriend. Not nice. In fact she was kind of a h0. She shows up at the breakfast table in a nice outfit to show cowboy New York City. Takes one look at him after he's had a chance to take a shower, and goes back to put on a sexier outfit and smack on some lipstick. Need I ask what her game was here?

4.) the horse ride through New York and New Jersey. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Yes, it was super corny. But it made absolutely no sense. Why didn't he take a cab? So here's the main thing:

5.) So she had a big problem with moving away from Chicago due to her position as an award-winning professor of astronomy. (don't get me started on that.) Yet she wants to hook up with a rancher in Texas, who can hardly compromise at all as to where he lives for the rest of his life. So what's the inevitable result? I guess Hallmark didn't think that through.

It wasn't all bad. I liked the parents, the boyfriend's acting was great. Damon Runyon as cowboy made a romantic hero. But her incredibly shallow behavior, the impossibility of a long-term relationship, the needless stupidity of the premise, and the corny clichés prevent me from giving it more than 4 stars. Nice coat wardrobe though.

Kinda cringeworthy

[chabertolivia · 3/10 · 26 July 2018]

As someone from Texas I'm a little offended by how Texans are portrayed. The whole cowboy hat, carrying his saddle and fake accent threw me a little. Not to mention the throwing the fact he was a cowboy out there at every turn and that his brothers name was Bull? How cliche. I really wanted to like this movie but i literally cringed at almost every turn.. especially the harmonic playing. Just was not what I was expecting.

so bad it is good

[jonathanrspalding · 5/10 · 11 November 2015]

I fundamentally agree with all the negative comments made in the reviews and posts about this movie. The plot is ridiculous. The Characters are idiotic. To call the movie 1 dimensional over states it depth. The misspelling of congratulations is classic. The girl falling for the cowboy who understands her with whom she has NOTHING in common. The jerk of the guy who wants to marry her. Everyone, everyone, knows how it is going to end. (I do admit there was one good twist on that, the only original thought in the movie).

However, I do say that I enjoyed it the first time I watched it. It is a sappy Christmas movie. If you can laugh at all the stupidity you will enjoy it. It has some cute scenes and the characters are kind of cute in their own way. If you expect Casablanca, it is not here. But if you want to watch a Christmas movie and have literally nothing better to do, you might enjoy.

A lot better than some would have you believe!

[jwayne_24 · 10/10 · 12 July 2015]

First of all I have to disagree with the reviewers who made fun of Sarah Carter as cheesy and her smile as annoying. I found her to have an engaging and warm personality as Holly. Plus, I thought her smile was dazzling and it was nice to see someone happy. After all, it was a Christmas movie. Second, other than the ending, the "singing cowboy" bit was the highlight of the movie for me. George Canyon did an awesome job singing "Wild Bill", so much so that I downloaded it and some of his other songs.

And I found Holly's dad's love of John Wayne and the cowboy lifestyle to be endearing. After all, isn't Christmas about dreams coming true? Then, there's the ending. Yes, we all know a horse wouldn't run all the way from New Jersey to New York City on pavement, but come on people use your imagination! Yes, Holly and Luke falling in love this quick could only happen on a Hallmark Christmas film, but so what? Christmas movies are supposed to be about love and happiness and this one fits the bill perfectly. In fact, it was my favorite of 2014's Christmas season, so do yourself a favor, ignore the critics and watch this gem of a movie!

What was not AWFUL about this uniquely AWFUL movie??

[adoptshelterpetstoday · 1/10 · 19 December 2014]

I like a unique plot, not a ridiculous plot......and this plot...along with the "acting" totally, and the lines...could not have been made any more uniquely ridiculous!

Hmmm....where to start??

Sarah's continuous, dopey smile throughout the movie........the dopey cowboy she meets......the meddling cowboy's brother, (another cowboy), who can't sing the awful song anyway...and thinks he is "Dear Abby" with advice about love to his "little brother".........the father who behaves like a silly 10 year old over cowboy stuff...and insists on taking in a stranger just because he is a cowboy..........the mother added nothing of value...

...the mention of rodeos in NYC (barbaric, juvenile events!)...the purposely imposed immature embarrassment of the line dance at an up-scale Christmas party.......and it continues to be awful, along with Sarah's continuous, dopey smile...

Snoozefest.

[Anonnamus · 3/10 · 24 December 2018]

My standards aren't high. At all. Not even a little bit. This movie took me two days to watch because I kept getting distracted by more interesting things, like Candy Crush and clipping my toenails. In case us viewers are completely drunk and not fluent in English, we are reminded every six seconds that the male lead is a cowboy. The word is said so often I had to pause the movie and check IMDb to make sure that his name wasn't actually "Cowboy".

Holly is an astronomer with the personality of a wet potato sack. Cowboy is a cowboy from Texas with a terrible southern accent. Holly's boyfriend is so over-the-top with his jealousy issues that it is pretty much the only entertaining aspect of the movie. The only thing that made me actually sit and pay attention was when Cowboy's brother Other Cowboy sang a cute tune. He had a great voice, and I enjoyed the song. People in New York are all fabulous dancers who can pick up intricate line dancing without even learning the moves first. I'd like to tell the writers that not even people in Texas line dance. I should know. I'm a line dancing fanatic and am usually the only person on the floor doing it.

If you have to watch this movie, make it a drinking game. For every single time the word "Cowboy" is mentioned, take a shot. You'll be drunk by the first commercial.

Poor dialog, poor actors.

[retiredalice · 2/10 · 2 November 2014]

I usually like Hallmark movies, but this is one of the worst I have seen. They spent a lot of time talking about old John Wayne movies and this one was as poorly written and acted as one of his old B movies. Pardon me mam, did you "borrow that idea"? Yuk. And the singing cowboy. He even sings a badly as his namesake. The poor horse is run through New York city only to be forced to carry two riders off set. They should have put the script in with the bus motor when it blew up. There is one saving thing in the movie. They did not have the girls line dancing in short skirts and boots. And I am glad they stopped to water their horses halfway through the ride in Central Park.

But overall, the dialog is so bad, even a good actors could not have saved the movie.

Cute feel Good Christmas movie

[juneebuggy · 5/10 · 16 August 2019]

Standard Hallmark Christmas movie fare, feel good, sweet romance, family stuff, you don't have to think too hard, nobody gets murdered. Here a woman with a successful boyfriend - who leaves her alone for the holidays -finds the sparks a-flying with the handsome cowboy she's been seated next to on the bus trip home to her parents. Their unexpected encounter makes her contemplate weather she longs for safety or adventure.

This was cute, not so much a Christmas movie more a romance centered around Christmas as an afterthought or reason for them to meet. Damon Runyan as Luke Shelton was sure pretty and made this worth a watch. I also enjoyed Canadian country singer George Canyon as his brother Bull.

Starry Nights

[USN-Retired · 1/10 · 3 November 2014]

It must be difficult to write an original storyline for a Christmas movie because this one fails in so many areas. The plot is layered with tried and true situations blatantly taken from other, more successful efforts. Given that viewers are asked to suspend reality when watching fantasy movies, this should not be the case for romance dramas. In no way is this plot remotely believable. The characters are created from some secret method book for screenwriters. The self-centered male, antagonist. His sweet and pretty female protagonist and a potential love interest. Stranded during a bus ride from Chicago to NY. Throw in the quirky Texans. Strain the ill-fated relationship with issues of career. Add an unwanted and public proposal. Throw in a climatic horse ride from New Jersey to NYC and you'll be laughing more than you feel any true empathy or emotion in the end. This is a movie you have seen already, stitched together from other, more creative work. Best to pass this one by and see the original component movies, going so far back as It Happened One Night (1934) and most recently The Christmas Card (2006).

One star(ry) is too many

[prime-mover · 1/10 · 24 November 2015]

If it is possible to get a doctorate and win an award in astronomy for a lame series of anecdotes on the constellation Orion in society throughout history, then the college system is worse than I thought.

It doesn't matter, of course, because apart from giving her an excuse to look at the sky with a cowboy, the fact that the protagonist has just acquired such a doctorate, and earned such an award, has no part in the plot except give her something to feel blandly good about.

Nobody shows any real emotions, there is not the slightest smidgeon of drama, nothing of any importance happens, every single person is a cliché (cowboy = good guy, corporate lawyer and boyfriend of doctor at start of movie = bad guy, dot com millionaire = nerd = socially awkward skinny guy in specs with the emotional maturity of a 12-year-old and is too scared to talk to girls, etc. etc.) and the plot is non-existent.

Utter, utter, utter, utter, utter, utter, utter, utter rubbish.

Cute and aw-shucks-y

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 22 December 2020]

As is the case in nearly all Hallmark movies, the fellow from the big city is an insincere workaholic, and the fellow from the country is real and romantic. Sometimes that pattern gets a little old, but not in One Starry Christmas. Sarah Carter is such a doll, it's really fun to see her try to choose between her big city boyfriend Paul Popowich, and a new cowboy in town Damon Runyan (yes, that's really his name - check the spelling), who fits right in with her family and her lifestyle.

There's a particular moment of One Starry Christmas that's extremely memorable. Paul makes a very public makeup after they've been on the rocks. Why were they on the rocks? Because he chose a business trip over Christmas, and in the Hallmark world, that's unforgivable. After a romantic dance, he gets down on one knee and gives a speech about all her wonderful qualities. In front of everyone, he proposes, and Sarah hesitates. She hesitates! I was ready to throw something at the television; how could she embarrass him like that? Thankfully, Paul whispers through gritted teeth, "Answer the question; you're embarrassing me," and she does. Ladies, if you're ever in that position, accept the proposal and tell him how you really feel later.

This one's pretty cute, probably because the leads are cute. If you like aw-shucks-y stories and small-town charm, especially at Christmastime, you'll love this one.

pleasant, memorable

[holograf · 9/10 · 30 November 2020]

I liked it, a memorable one for me

It was very pleasant. breaking down in the middle of nowhere on a snowy night with a love interest will always pique my interest. that was my favorite scene. the girl was very appealing to me, so that helps too. the romantic song about two-thirds through was great, and her parents were great too. the back and forth between the existing bf and the future bf were quite funny. "law sounds exciting" - "yes well 6 figures is exciting, what's the farm paying these days?"

Who doesn't like a cowboy movie?

[majoq · 9/10 · 19 November 2020]

I love them!! The movie is nice to watch. It has a twist that makes it more interesting. Please watch it!!

Cute...

[RosanaBotafogo · 7/10 · 13 June 2020]

Totally cute... No matter how cliché these "sugar water" novels are, here the country soundtrack adds an extra touch, and everything is very cute and pleasant, even though it is totally predictable ... Cute...

This One Made Me Like It

[cathed · 9/10 · 1 June 2020]

I'm pretty well done with country Christmas movies and have been for years. I checked this one b/c I recognized Sarah Carter from Shark and was curious. It's a really cute, feel-good movie with lots of chuckles and a memorable song (sung by George Canyon) too. The parents (Neil Crone and Kathleen Laskey) are excellent. I really liked this movie and saved it to watch again.

It's a Hallmark Movie

[google-02238 · 4/10 · 23 December 2019]

Like every other Hallmark movie, the plot is a white girl named Holly has to choose between handsomely rugged and ruggedly handsome ... spoiler alert: she chooses ruggedly handsome because he's nice . My Hallmark scale runs from 0 to 4 ... so this one gets a 4!