'Country Christmas Album' sounded like a film that would get marginal enjoyment value by me, even if it was formulaic. Christmas is my favourite time of year. Music is a big part of my life and very important to me. And while country is not my favourite type of music, that has not stopped me from having always appreciated it, the singers that revolutionised it and its importance. The concept sounded interesting.
While 'Country Christmas Album' is a long way from being among the worst Christmas films ever and it is not even among my very worst recent festive film viewings, it is in the lesser end and could have been much better considering the potential it had. My review summary does sound harsh, it is not a must skip though it is a long way from an essential and doesn't have enough to it to be worth playing more than once. Even getting through the whole thing is not entirely easy.
It does have good things. The soundtrack is a charmer and affectionately handled without being random in placement. Hannah Barefoot is a very likeable lead with a lot of personality that is easy to engage and identify with. Found her character a breath of fresh air amidst a film that was sore need of more of that.
The photography is also quite nice if exceptional, it doesn't look cheap at least.
However, the rest of the cast are poor. A mix of bland and annoying and the male lead is devoid of charisma and charm. He has no discernible chemistry with Barefoot, any attempts are stilted and like they actually did not get on, and does not have a voice strong enough to make the premise of his character being a former pop star halfway believable. Only Tess is worth liking or engaging with of the characters, one can care less for the others. The story is really dull in pace and has no personality of any kind let alone charm, which makes that one is at least two steps ahead of the film in knowing what is going to happen next the entire film impossible to forgive.
Likewise with the constantly forced and cheesy dialogue that has no flow or direction throughout. The direction is routine at best.
Concluding, very lacklustre apart from one good lead performance. 4/10
