A Christmas Melody (2015)

A gift of music transports people back to another time and place where they find their truest feelings.

Director:

Mariah Carey

Writer:

Jennifer Notas Shapiro

Stars:

Lacey Chabert, Brennan Elliott, Kathy Najimy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lacey Chabert	...	Kristin Parson
Brennan Elliott	...	Danny Collier
Kathy Najimy	...	Aunt Sarah
Kevin Chamberlin	...	Thomas
Fina Strazza	...	Emily Parson
Mariah Carey	...	Melissa McKean-Atkinson
Torie Wiggins	...	Principal Weber
Maya Farhat	...	Hayley
Raelle Wilson	...	Abigail
Sasha Brooklyn Stolper	...	Chloe
Sydney Lindsay Johnson	...	Hannah (as Sydney Lindsey)
Peanut Edmonson	...	Louis
Alexa Glaser	...	April
Katie Eichler	...	Holly
Tifani Winkfield	...	Angela (as Tifani Davis)

Storyline

A gift of music transports people back to another time and place where they find their truest feelings.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | f rated | female protagonist | single mother | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-G

Did You Know?

Trivia

Singer Mariah Carey's film directorial debut (although she already had experience directing a number of her own music videos)

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Goofs

Danny Collier is wrong when he tells Kristin and Emily that the Scotch pine is native to Ohio. It originated, as the common name suggests, in Scotland. It is merely grown in Ohio, and other American states, mostly upon Christmas tree farms. If it grows wild anywhere in America, it is purely as an invasive species.

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Quotes

Thomas: You act negative you can't expect positive result.

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Soundtracks

The Christmas Song

User Reviews

Could have been more harmonious

'A Christmas Melody' definitely had interest value. Hallmark have shown more than once that they were capable of making watchable and more films, a lot of them actually being a lot better and less mundane than they sound on paper. Lacey Chabert and Brennan Elliot have been quite good in other things, both have been in some not so good films but both are often among the better things of them. Expectations though were also quite mixed, as is the case with a lot of Hallmark films.

Namely because despite admiring Mariah Carey as a singer (beautiful and distinctive voice with a unique and quite insane vocal range), her acting in 'Glitter' left a lot to be desired and she somehow sounded like a very odd choice for director (first time for her too). 'A Christmas Melody' actually turned out better than expected, some of the usual Hallmark flaws can be seen here as well as a couple of new ones but there are also a lot of strengths that help make it watchable.

There are quite a number of good things. Chabert and Elliott are both immensely engaging and radiate in charm, playing likeable characters that have personality, have some character growth and any flaws are not overwritten. They connect beautifully together in their chemistry, they look at ease with each other and it was clear they at least cared for each other. The relationship didn't feel like it took too long to develop and doesn't move too fast. Fina Strazza gives one of the better child performances seen in a Hallmark film in some while, they have always varied in this aspect but Strazza was a natural in front of the camera and doesn't come over as too sickly sweet or petulant (her character actually came over as one of the more realistic ones.

Kathy Najimy is fun in her role. The chemistry between the cast is natural and any conflict does have some tension that doesn't feel dragged out. The story is far from perfect, but generally doesn't feel dull and is amusingly good natured, endearingly light-hearted and it has a warm heart without an overload of sappiness. The script flows naturally generally and doesn't come over as too cheesy or sentimental. The characters are not meaty but aren't too sketchy, while this is a case of the music being infectious and nostalgic. Most of 'A Christmas Melody' looks good, especially the scenery.

By all means, it's less than perfect. It is not at all hard to figure out how 'A Christmas Melody' is going to end, with most of them following a similar formula with not much variation complete with many long well worn out cliches. There are glimpses of that in 'A Christmas Melody', especially later on. The ending expectedly is a bit too rushed and too neatly resolved. It is a bit cheesy and routine early on.

A couple of the most distracting flaws involve Carey, whose scenes did not gel with the rest of the film and felt like they were inserted from another film made in another time slot. She still sounds great (though there could have been a little less emphasis, even for a film centered around it), but if she was trying to make her fairly irrelevant character impossible to like let alone root for she not only succeeded she also goes well overboard on it and does it in a monotone way. Didn't think much of her direction, too much of an over-reliance on unfocused close ups when she's on screen that also have too much of a "look at me" quality.

Concluding, above average but not great. 6/10

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mistletoe & Melody

Filming Locations:

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hallmark Channel, Brad Krevoy Television, Magic Carpet Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD