The Road Home for Christmas

Its basic virtue - it is more than the expected Halmark Christmas film. For music and acting. For a story escaping, în smart, nice manner, from the cage of cliches. And for the freedom of performances, source of fresh air . A trip, few places, two musicians, few great scenes. Not the last, the fair dialogue. So, more than nice. Especially for smart plea for family, vocation, love and (self)acceptance, for the carolers and for energy. And, not the least, for great job of Anna Daines.

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime and Hallmark. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. And 'The Road Home for Christmas' did have the sort of premise where the execution could have gone either way. Luckily, for me, on the most part, 'The Road Home for Christmas' is in the former category. Having seen a lot of Christmas films that were in the latter category prior to seeing it, that was something of a relief. It is not perfect and not a Christmas classic, with a few common (for Lifetime's festive output) flaws, but as far as 2019 Lifetime films go 'The Road Home for Christmas' is to me one of the better ones and a nice way to spend 90 minutes. By all means, 'The Road Home for Christmas' isn't flawless. Some of the dialogue in the early portions is a bit too on the corny and gooey side, not unusual for Lifetime. It is a bit of a slow starter as well with it feeling a bit thin to begin with. However, 'The Road Home for Christmas' also has some very attractive scenery quite photogenically shot. It is directed sympathetically without being routine and musically it doesn't feel over-scored this time. The film is helped hugely by the very appealing performances of Rob Mayes (in one of his better performances) and in particular perky and radiant Marla Solokoff, both managing to make their characters rootable and interesting. The supporting cast fare well too, with a wonderful looking Marie Osmond bringing a lot of heart and zip to her role. Really liked the chemistry between the two leads, which was very easy-going and charming. Not to mention that it looked genuine and like they cared for each other. While not starting off on the right foot perhaps, the dialogue does improve drastically and flows better. Also being in general a lot less cheesy and over-sentimental than too many previously seen Christmas films, not to mention being thought-provoking in a sincere way without patronising. The story, even despite its lack of originality, is heart-warming, sincere and has enough of a light heart to avoid things from getting heavy. Really appreciated that the central relationship took its time to develop and did have more depth than most central relationships in the company's festive outings. Also that the ending wasn't abrupt ot too pat, which cannot be said for too many Lifetime festive films. Concluding, a road really well worth taking. 8/10

The perhaps not truly original premise is extremely well photographed and edited and ticks off every button viewers expect of a Hallmark Christmas Romance. After merely an interesting and somewhat enticing opening scene the rest of the film is pure dynamite

I like it because it has got originality and a past famous singer 'Marie Osmond' in it. Some of it is corny, but it's a dreamy movie. Enjoy it at least once over the holiday season or whenever. You won't be disappointed.

This is one of the better movies that I have seen in a while. I have been changing the channel from hallmark to life because the movies are better. Rob Mayes is a great actor. Rob and Marla have great chemistry together and I would like to see more of both of them. Would be nice to see a sequel to this movie. It touched my heart, inspirating. Thanks, Karen

This Lifetime movie feels different from Hallmark and in a good way. It's a bit more sparkly and the cast is good. Also it doesn't use the overdone Hallmark formula. Marla looks quite good- better than on the Practice. Rob Mayes suits the easy going musician. Marie Osmond looks great and her voice is so good. Wish she would act more. The music does keep this one going.