"If an opportunity presents itself and it's the one you want, you go towards, not away."
Hello everyone!
Merry Christmas!
I'm not taking a break this year because I feel like I'm in a pretty good rhythm at the moment, plus it really doesn't take all THAT long to write up a blog post like this, at least I don't think so. I tend to have them typed a little in advance and I just edit the whole thing later on, anyway.
With the Christmas season basically in FULL swing now, there's really nothing stopping us from putting up more Christmas-based reviews!
I'll admit though, that I'm starting to feel the burn out; I want to watch and read different things and themes after indulging in Christmas for a solid month.
I like to keep going throughout December, however, because it's pretty fun, not to mention there really isn't any other time you can safely indulge in movies like this. That weird June/July thing Hallmark does definitely doesn't count.
So enough dawdling, alright? Let's take a look at A Homecoming for the Holidays.
Our story begins on Christmas when a company of soldiers is rotating out, which is in itself sad because, hello, holidays!
But that's reality for you if you're in active military service.
Charlotte, an aspiring singer and songwriter, is there to say goodbye to her brother Ryan, and runs into another soldier, Matt, whom she thinks is attractive and gives her guitar pick to, but at the same time, with him leaving and her on the hunt for stardom, it makes no sense to start anything.
So we fast forward to a time afterwards, though it isn't quite clear how long it's been; with Charlotte a big country music star now, however, it's safe to say SOME time has passed.
She finishes up her tour and heads home for the holidays again because her brother is coming home for the final time from his last deployment, and for a split second I thought Hallmark was going to do us dirty and have him not get off the bus.
Thankfully, this is still Hallmark (even if it is Hallmark Movies & Mysteries), and Ryan happily rejoins his family for the usual festivities that only really feel right when everyone's gathered round.
This is the point where Matt comes in again.
Having finished with his deployments earlier than Ryan and retired from active service, he's now working with Operation Homefront and helping military families in any way he can.
He's also still pretty much attracted to Charlotte, too, and because this is a Christmas movie her parents immediately invite him to tag along and hang out with them while they bring the Christmas tree home, decorate it, bake cookies, that kind of stuff.
It should be noted that Charlotte and Ryan's father was also in the military before retiring to run a construction company, so he knows a thing or two about what it feels like to come home.
At this point, we have several plotlines weaving through one another:
one is obviously Matt and Charlotte spending more and more time together, and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at Laura Osnes (who I'd never seen before in a Hallmark movie) and Stephen Huszar both, because their chemistry really comes into play the more the movie goes on. Stephen especially has some really great material to work with, FINALLY, after watching him do the best he could with some of the less stellar that was given to him in previous Hallmark works;
the second is Charlotte helping an orphaned music student of her mothers with her songwriting and encouraging her to keep going, as she reminds Charlotte of herself at that age;
the third is another retired veteran who works hard to rehome animals, especially with other vets, because dogs are especially known for being really good when there are medical issues involved, like PTSD;
the fourth is Matt's work options, which are a couple of jobs NOT at his current location;
the fifth is Charlotte's ex and occasional co-singer Taylor suddenly popping up and making just about everyone roll their eyes;
the sixth is Ryan, Charlotte's brother, not actually retiring but going for a translating position within the military instead of taking over the family business;
and finally there's the Homefront plotline, where the group builds a home for a widow and her daughter.
That's a lot of ground to cover, but really, as it's a Christmas movie, it's fairly simple in that Matt and Charlotte basically do everything together and grow very much closer, while she's worried what might happen once her parents learn about Ryan's decision (hint: nothing massive, because their parents are wonderful people who want their children to be happy and doing what they love). A light spot in this worry is Charlotte paying off the mortgage on the family home, because she can at this point.
Throughout the movie we also get some really lovely scenes of people coming together to help the house go up, and Charlotte spends a lot of time with Hadley, the student, just quietly encouraging her and eventually asking her to work with her, with credits on the album proper, which is MASSIVE for a teenager!
The Taylor plot was only really thrown in to make sure Matt and Charlotte couldn't have all smooth sailing, although it's true that Matt is a lot more reasonable and less dramatic about it when false news breaks that the singers are getting back together (when in reality they were saying goodbye when Taylor left to be with his family). This was a refreshing change from the usual.
However, it does lead to him reevaluating whether this relationship is something that could work, given he isn't used to life in the spotlight like Charlotte is, but this one is resolved when Ryan speaks to Matt about it, and Matt admits he handled things badly, showing Charlotte the guitar pick she'd given him all that time ago.
With everything personal now settled - and the last homeless canine rehomed! - it's time for that Christmas concert everyone wanted Charlotte to do, and she pulls it off right in front of the newly built home for Hadley and her mom, drawing interest to Operation Homefront and helping out in her own way.
And with Matt now deciding he's not going to be taking one of those long-distance jobs, only time will tell just how happy these two will be in the end.
My bet is: very happy!
Fun, full of simple lessons about kindness, and some real issues regarding PTSD, rehoming, and military veterans, this is one of those fell-good movies you should really look into if you need an hour and a half of tuning the rest of the world out. Laura and Stephen are delightful, and the supporting cast is amazing too, especially the parents.
Another hit for Hallmark, for sure, and I highly recommend it!
xx
*images and video not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment