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"Christmas on the Vine" is one of Lifetime's 2020 Christmas films staring Julianna Guill and Liam Boland as a marketing firm and vineyard employee. His company hires her to boost their flagging sales and stave off bankruptcy. His local business cannot compete with larger wineries especially when they lack a distributor.
After last year's film, "Grounded for Christmas," I was excited to see Guill in another film. Guill's smile and facial movements really helped convey the emotion her character was feeling as it played. She was so good there as a woman who gradually falls in love with a conflicted man. That film has a heartfelt story that takes time to develop. I praised it for not being a collection of scenes that serve as background distraction, a cinematic Christmas decoration if you will.
Such is my tremendous disappointment with "Christmas on the Vine." There is no real story. The characters engage in nearly every cliché: snowball fights, dancing, baking Christmas cookies, and planning a get-together. Eventually, Guill finds a secret recipe for blended wine and a new label which of course saves the winery. They don't even have to sell out to the stock villainess who suddenly reforms herself.
Guill acts cheerful and bubbly the entire movie. Her character never seems to change during the runtime. How could she really? Boland's character is temperamental and unpleasant starting with his appearance. I believe the film was going for a rustic look for him so his hair is always disheveled. He looks as if he just finished showering and his hair isn't completely dry or a gust of wind just ruined his hairdo. He does wear a hat in a few scenes that aren't long enough for my taste.
The movie is just another formulaic Christmas experience. Writing this review was hard because if you see a lot of these mediocre films together they all blend into one unsatisfying experience.
score 1/10
doctorsmoothlove 26 November 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6312313/ |
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2-3-2021 18:07:11