USS Christmas was the only new film that Hallmark Movies & Mysteries debuted this weekend. Starring Jen Lilly and Trevor Donovan, this movie follows Maddie (Lilly), a reporter who is guilted into joining her sister on the Tiger Cruise. There she meets Billy, a naval officer who has no interest in anything but his job, including Christmas. As Maddie soon learns while on the cruise, there was a couple who found love for themselves during the Tiger Cruise at Christmastime years ago, and while she is unable to find the officer’s name, both Billy and her work together to uncover this mystery as they also fight their unavoidable feelings towards the other.
While the film was interesting, it sort of dragged on for a bit, especially as Maddie was tracking down the mysterious couple for her article. I understand that finding this couple was going to help Maddie overcome her fear of falling for someone in the line of service, but it took too long for her to realize it. At the same time, I wasn’t really invested in the mysterious couple’s story. I was more interested in Maddie and Billy’s storyline. I would’ve preferred watching them fall in love on the tiger cruise. We got a little hint of it, but as soon as Maddie leaves to go back to work, it stops being interesting to me. Maybe if the whole movie took place on the ship and we got to see more of Billy and Maddie being together, in close quarters, as they figured out the mystery on the ship, it would’ve held my interest longer.
As you can imagine, USS Christmas became predictable within the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Again, this is something that comes with most, if not all, Hallmark movies, but when you’ve got a lackluster storyline with the holiday as more of a backdrop in this movie than anything else, this movie didn’t really do anything for me. Lilly and Donovan did the best they could with the story they were given but, sadly, it just didn’t work. Hopefully, they can do another film together that has a bit more meat to it.
I will say that this movie did a great job of showcasing the lives of the men and women serving their country. I loved that they didn’t coast over (no pun intended) how hard it is for both the officers and their partners to make their relationships work. What Maddie soon realizes is that while it does take a lot of hard work to make that kind of relationship work, the benefits outweigh the cons. I’ve mentioned this before but I love that Hallmark is consistently including the stories of men and women all over the world serving our country, showcasing not only how important and brave their work is, but how much we are all indebted to their sacrifice. Recognizing all of this is such an important message and I’m so happy Hallmark continues to make this an integral part of their movies, especially during Christmastime.
All in all, USS Christmas didn’t really hit the Christmas mark for me. Despite taking place during Christmastime, the film focused more on Maddie and her quest to discover a mystery couple who found love on a Tiger Cruise. Although Maddie and Billy do find love at the end, they almost became the secondary love story in this uneventful film. While it’s not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, it’s definitely not one that I’m going to seek out anytime again during the Christmas season.
What did you think of this film? Let me know in the comments below!
***I do not own this photo.
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