Laura Osnes and Aaron Tveit star in this new Christmas film about a royal family who gets stuck at a Connecticut Inn due to a rigorous snowstorm. Run by a young woman, Anna, and her father, Ed, they are determined to show this royal family what their little town has to offer before Prince James and his mother, Queen Gabriella, have to leave. While the snow may not melt as quickly as James wants, he may find that Anna is thawing his stubborn ways and opening his eyes to the joys of Christmas.
We all know how much Hallmark loves its royal-themed Christmas films, so now I come to expect a lot from them. The first on my checklist for these films is the accents. Seeing as every royal family has to have some sort of accent (being that America does not have any LEGIT royal families, although George and Amal Clooney come pretty close…), the main character’s accent has to be flawless, don't you agree? I have to say that Tveit’s accent didn’t do it for me. That could've been because I’ve heard his actual voice in other works he's done, so I can hear the difference, but either way, it just didn’t hold up for me. On top of that, there was also the issue of his hair. I know this may be weird to pick on, but between his hair and his security guard's hair, I was left to wonder if there was anyone with a brush on set? Speaking of the security guard, Christopher, I also don’t buy for a second that any royal family, especially the Queen and Prince of a country, would be left behind with only ONE security guard. And NO WAY would he be allowed to frolic with a new love interest while he was on the job. Am I right or am I right?
What I loved the most was that Laura Osnes help to organize the cast for this film. Most of the cast, including Osnes herself, are Broadway veterans. Due to the pandemic and knowing that Broadway was shut down for the foreseeable future, she got a lot of actors that she knew were out of work to participate in the movie. From Tveit to Krystal Joy Brown, who plays Anna’s best friend and the new Mayor of the town, both actors are no strangers to the stage. My favorite of this cast, however, was Tom McGowan, who plays Anna’s father. I recognized him from the movie Heavyweights (which you all should watch), but aside from that, I just loved his character and I can only hope he puts more Hallmark films on his resume.
In and of itself, I thought that the story was very cute. It doesn’t get more Christmassy than a charming little Connecticut inn filled with a holiday parade and, of course, a Christmas Ball. I’m not gonna lie though — while the ball was probably more up a “royal” film's ally, I thought that the Christmas Pajama party idea was waaayyy cuter. Even though they did end up merging the two together, I still agree that I would rather be in comfy pajamas than in a fancy ball gown, but that’s just me. Nevertheless, this royal Christmas film did its job — it was full of Christmas cheer and had a love story you wanted to keep watching. I’m just eager to see what Hallmark has up their sleeve for the next Royal Christmas film…
What did you think about this movie? Let me know in the comments below!
***I do not own this photo.
Comments