User Reviews

Actually really liked the premise for 'A Christmas Wish'. Unusual but if done right it had the potential to be entertaining and sweet. Things that Christmas films can be, though there are quite a lot too that are cheesy and over-sentimental. Lifetime are a very mixed bag when it comes to their Christmas output, and overall their 2019 efforts weren't too special. Just to say, whenever watching a Christmas film from Lifetime or Hallmark there have never been expectations for it to be a masterpiece, merely judging it on what it set out to do.

On that front, 'A Christmas Wish' is something of a mixed bag. As far as Lifetime Christmas films go, it's neither one of the best or worst. As far as their 2019 Christmas output goes, 'A Christmas Wish' is again neither one of their best or worst. It is somewhere in the middle on both counts, not a terrible film but not great either and could have done quite a lot more with its premise. A case of a good premise with very hit and miss execution, have seen too many of those kind of films overtime and it is a bit frustrating.

Will start with the good. One of 'A Christmas Wish's' better aspects is the acting, with two very likeable leads (especially Hilarie Burton) that to me had a lovely far from disconnected friendship and their romance charmed and developed without being unrealistically rushed or taking too long to get there. The supporting cast are well above average too, a standout being Pam Grier.

It is a genuinely charming film more than once, warms the heart and has touching moments, such as the interaction with the students. The film looks quite attractive, the scenery having a picturesque look. Parts of the soundtrack are pleasant. Didn't find myself bored or annoyed by the characters and thought that the same sex couple were handled in good taste actually.

Do have to agree with people though, though this is not the case of one aspect alone bringing the film down (there are very few films etc out there like that), that the music is over-scored and over-bearing. It could have been used less too and the balance between it and the dialogue was off. The dialogue wasn't really anything all that special though, much of it is very cheesy and sugary. Including an increasingly tired running joke that got repetitive very quickly.

For my tastes, 'A Christmas Wish' executes its premise too conventionally, meaning that it all felt too easily foreseeable and safe. Some of the story, as well as predictable, felt contrived and occasionally muddled from trying to do too much and with not enough time to fully explore it all. The ending is especially forced and left me scratching my head with confusion, some decision making coming out of nowhere.

Summing up, watchable if rather average. 5/10

We had to use captioning because the soundtrack drowned out the dialogue, especially when the characters were speaking softly. This is the second movie today where we had to pause, reverse, posy, and pause Judy to read the text on a smartphone-white letters on a pale blue background doesn't work, even with wide screen HD. Other than that, the story and performances were, . . . cute.

I honestly don't know how to take this movie. The premise is on the less common side. There's a wish box and Faith wishes for True Love. Then things go a little crazy. Faith starts having random encounters with guys. Many of them are the bump-into variety and several include having drinks spilled on her. Later in the movie she gets mad about all the guys "ogling" and touching her. This seems to me to be perilously close to not being PC to have that result from a "wish" which is apparently being fulfilled somehow magically. Faith certainly buys into that theory. Is that really OK to have a wish fulfilled in that way by some mysterious force, or the wish box, or by Pam Grier all dressed in red like Mrs. Clause? If you can avoid being insulted by it, it is kind of funny. I honestly don't know. I am insulted for Faith's sake and the sake of innocent women, but I also see the humor. Does that make me insensitive to see the humor, as the writers obviously intended, in having Faith "handled" that way ?

The Wish is so much a factor in the story that it is almost as if it were a character of its own.

The premise is slightly unusual, but many of the usual tropes jump in quickly. Faith has a very attentive male BFF. The audience quickly picks up on where this is going because it has been done so many times. There's a community program to save. There's a big community get together on Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile there is another sub-plot that is much more altruistic. Stella's mom gets one of the wishes to fulfill (kind of like Make a Wish) and it turns out to be a lot more complicated than it originally sounds.

Hilarie Burton does a nice job as the lead who manages to take all the attention with a combination of frustration, hope, and sometimes humor. Faith goes along with it, but at times she resists blaming her sister for talking her into it.

I rate this 7 stars mostly because I'm not really sure how I feel and 7 is my default for OK, not great, but not bad.

I enjoyed this one. Hilarie Burton is a delight and the movie has some fun moments. Not sure why everyone is complaining about the music... I didn't notice anything like that. It's no award winner, but if you like the mindless Christmas movies, this is one of the more enjoyable ones I've seen lately.

The background music kept playing over the dialogue very loudly. Very annoying and hard to watch the movie at a normal volume level. Sounded like a live orchestra playing in the background of the entire music. Took away from the desire to see the movie and made it hard to Follow the story line

Shame on you Lifetime. A fabulous story, acted out by the wonderful Hilarie Burton and you ruin it with the loud music. This is the second Lifetime movie I have watched this season that the music was so loud you could not hear the dialogue. Why would they do that? Very disappointed.

So most Christmas movies seem to have annoying music tracks. But this one takes it to a new level. Turn on subtitles or you will not be able to tell what the heck anyone is saying. Terrible.

This movie is boring. I only watched because I have been recently watching One Tree Hill. I thought it might turn out to be good but it was terrible. Nothing interesting happened within the fifteen minutes I watched. Skip it and watch One Tree Hill instead.

This movie was overall good can have some cheesy moments but enjoyable plus one tree hill reunion

The "background " music drowned out most of the dialogue and became so distracting that I couldn't follow the story line. I had looked forward to this since I love many of the actors. Couldn't finish watching it.

This film may be a mediocre run of the mill Christmas movie. But what separates from others is the lead actress Hilarie Burton has infectious good vibe about her which sets the movie apart.

Hard to hear what anyone is saying. If it wasn't for subtitles I'd give up. Music is loud enough ! Fed up of movies where the volume is too low for speech !

Sorry...I just didn't care for it and I normally love most Christmas movies. There are always a few not great ones and this one was worse than that. I just can't stand Hilarie Burton in anything though so that is part of the problem. There is just something about her I don't like and she is not a very good actress at all. Its hard to watch something when you don't like the lead and they aren't believable in the role. She has such an arrogance to her acting and I just never believe her in her roles. Never! The lead actor was just okay for me. I have to like the leads to like the movie honestly or they need to make me like them at least.

An absolutely horrible Christmas movie. I'm used to seeing HB play better roles this one was not good at all. Watch it yourself and see what yall think. I WOULDN' recommend it

Wow, not a fan. Zero chemistry between the two leads. Supporting actors just bad, over acting. Nothing feels real, lots of forced emotions. Supposed to be magical, really missed the mark. Loved her in Naughty or Nice, funny and real with that one. Not going on my next years Christmas watch list.

A Christmas Wish (2019) -

I really struggled with this one. It may be that I'm so shallow that I can't enjoy a film without a hottie to stare at, which it was definitely lacking, or it may be that it was just a bit meh.

I liked Hilarie Burton in the lead role of Faith, although she had some terrible wardrobe choices that even the fruitiest of art teachers would avoid. It felt like they had chosen the clothes before they had cast her, assuming that someone older would be in the role. Some of them didn't even fit that well.

And her Dad must have been the oldest policeman in America. The casting overall felt a bit odd and maybe a bit rushed or careless.

Tyler Hilton as the lead male, Wyatt, looked weird in his strange collection of clown clothes too. I felt like they were trying to hide the fact that he was a funny shape underneath or something.

In fact, none of Faith's potential romantic interests had much going for them except maybe Andrew the Chilean guy, played by Cristián de la Fuente.

Faith certainly had a lot of frogs to deal with before finding her "Prince" - friends, family, random gay guys on the street and a weirdo with a drink problem all included.

Apart from Faith, the only other one that I did like was the gay brothers husband, James and we didn't get to see that much of him.

And although I do love a bit of LGBTQ+ representation, the gay brother, Grant, played by Colin Fickes, was so annoying as the massive stereotype he portrayed and his acting was far too much, way over the top. I really didn't like him. It got really corny because of him too.

Although Tyler didn't help with that either. He may have been successful in 'One Tree Hill' (I don't know, I've never seen it and have no intentions to start anytime soon), but he was just a bit too kooky in this. He wasn't really leading man material at all in my opinion.

Lee Norris will always be an odd choice for any part as well. I couldn't get along with his character Ryan and I think the actor was just a bit too quirky for the role.

His side storyline with Faith's sister took away from the main plot too much as well, leaving less time for it to become the story it should have been.

Because it reminded me of the episode of 'Buffy, The Vampire Slayer' (1997-2003) where Xander makes a wish that goes wrong and all the women start chasing him, but that was done in a farcical way which worked with the series, whereas in this film it didn't really go down that root enough to really show it driving her nuts or the magic of the wish, with its potential downsides too. It would have been an ideal way of delivering this message in a festive, maybe silly, but also magic way, because I actually liked the concept, but it lacked a polish and the cast really weren't good. Hilarie Burton had it much better in 'The Christmas Contract' (2018), where at least Robert Buckley seemed more appropriate for her and the rest of the production was delivered more carefully.

The other reviewers were right about the musical soundtrack too, which was far too loud over what they were saying. In fact the sound in general was awful.

And the dead trees again!!! Why do the props people keep getting employment when they deliver "Fresh" Christmas trees that look like they were the same ones used to film these TV movies the year before?

The whole production felt a bit flat, like they weren't prepared to commit too much to it and the end seemed a bit lame and half-arsed too.

Can someone please remake it with better actors and direction. I'd like to see the story done some justice and much nicer Christmas trees.

4.25/10.

Let me start by saying that Hilarie Burton is probably one of the best actresses in any Hallmark movie. She is a delight to watch. She is beautiful, her face lights up with joy, her eyes open wide with surprise, her voice is a delight to listen to..She can act! There is nothing ordinary or cookie cutter about her. That said, there is very little more to recommend this movie. The plot is completely contrived and unbelievable..The background music drowns out the dialogue. The romantic lead characters are strangely unmatched, so much so that the leading lady looks old enough and far too smart to be in any way drawn to the man she finds "true love" with. He looks young enough to be her son. Their friendship is believable..Their romance is not. But, as with all Hallmark movies, a happy ending, with a final kiss.. is expected. And this movie delivers that expected ending. Sadly, it feels forced and more than a bit contrived. There is also a second relationship in the movie, that of the leading man's brother and his husband. Credit goes to Hallmark for introducing a gay couple into one of their films. Bravo for bringing reality to your viewers. However, there was a tendency t o portray this couple in much too stereotypical a manner, almost bordering on making a caricature of the gay men. Sadly, this movie had some good potential but it did get lost in the confusing story, the overbearing g background music and the unrealistic pairing of the main leading characters.

The main reason I even attempted to watch this movie, is Pam Grier. I have admired her career and was looking forward to seeing her in a more recent role. While it was great seeing her, the rest of the movie was very difficult to watch. I was frankly... bored. I like Megan Park from her role on The Neighbors. Other than that...snooze. Zzzzzz.

This movie is from Lifetime Not Hallmark It was pretty good too

I enjoyed the film. I'm curious why so many One Tree Hill cast members were reunited.

The music was fine and it was not too loud everything about the movie was great

This film is for me the little chocolate in are golden packaging that shines among the others in its big package !!! I just LOVE. The choice of casting is perfect. Hilary Burton gives us a touching and realistic performance. A good Chemistry Tyler Hilton. The fact of reuniting with his friends from the series "The Scott Brothers" has me much more.

All characters matter and are very well developed. Lee Noris li's character fits perfectly. Nevertheless "Mary" played not Pam Grier did not touch me, I found mediocre.

The realization is well above the Christmas movies that I could see, dynamic, a fluid editing, a background sound always present (which by the way not my mind of the disturbed)...

The atmosphere, the Christmas atmosphere is present, no forcing on cotton egg snow, we immediately understand that the region is a mild climate. The story got me a lot more, it was care for detail.

However the fact that several men want to go out with "Faith" after a while it appears as a piece of meat.

I couldn't enjoy the movie as I couldn't hear anything the actors were saying. The music was so loud it drowned out the voices! Im finding that a lot of the Christmas movies in the last couple of years are like that, but this is the worst I've experienced.