User reviews

The cutest 90 min card commercial Ive seen

Different storyline, which I appreciate. Still manages to hit certain tropes like getting upset because you can t just TALK to each other. Cute, funny, multiple romances, and nary a small town, a high powered Christmas hating exec, or a single parent with a precocious matchmaking child in sight. Worth a watch.

Also, if you send people Hallmark cards, you too could fall in love and positively impact absolutely everyone around you

An excellent movie, a little different from the usual Christmas romance, evolves from a number of different subplots that all come together to create a very satisfying experience. Well worth a watch. Acting and chemistry are good in almost all of the main characters.

At the core, it is still pretty much a typical dumped-before-Christmas movie, but it adds a little twist that sets up some endearing moments. Jessica was going to send her boyfriend 5 Christmas cards on successive days, but being dumped, she changes her plan. Instead she sends one card to each of five people that were important in her life. The cards bring some surprises to these receivers.

The dialogue, especially between Jessica and Luke, was lively and fun. Combine that with Jessica's optimistic and generous qualities and it makes this a nice romantic movie.

We follow three other couples and a fading boy-band celebrity. Spreading the story among 5 people and the people around them is both positive and negative for me. The positive is seeing what follows receiving the card for these people. The negative is that it diverts screen time from the central characters, Jessica and Luke. It's done pretty well, so the down side was minimized.

There are musical mini-performances. One is a short cello instrumental and the other is an original song by the boy-band although the latter is distracted by a conversation.

I could say it is a typical Hallmark ending, which it is, but some of the things that might be part of a typical ending are spread out a little.

A profound charming Christmas romance , so different, for structure, performances and ...cards/ dog by many other Hallmark films of genre. It is comfortable, sweet, nice and just useful for discover the importance of family and messages and gifts. So, more than nice.

Lots of familiar TV faces populate this Christmas movie. Feel like there's more than 1 movie going on at a time. Torrey DeVitto shows her skills playing the cello. She sends cards to a variety of people in her life. Chad Michael Murray plays her love interest.

A positive story about sharing and concern for folks. We need a little more of that today. Enjoy a nice, feel good movie.

Jessica sends five letters to people who had any kind of influence in her life. Those letter somehow affect their lives for the better, including her own. Original and beautiful premise, which was well developed.

I had low expectations for this one, and I'm glad I did. Torrey DeVito and Chad Michael Murray had great chemistry. And Drew Selley, that's a face I haven't seen in a while, it was a nice surprise.

It kind of reminds you of Love, Actually, different stories but all of them connected. I'm glad Hallmark gives us, even if it's once in a while, something different than the predictable movies we get all the time.

Really was intrigued by the premise, while the structure is not a new one in film overall it is different and unconventional for Hallmark. Which was appreciated, after seeing so many Hallmark Christmas films overtime that follow a similar formula. There have been understandable comparisons to 'Love Actually', which will intrigue anybody that likes that film (myself included, duck). And while Hallmark's festive efforts fit in the quite big in quantity average and less group, there are winners as well.

'Write Before Christmas' on the most part is one of those winners. It is a refreshing change of pace for Hallmark, and is not too predictable a film surprisingly in its own right as well. As far as the 2019 Christmas films go, 'Write Before Christmas' is one of the better ones in my view. When comparing it with other Christmas films of Hallmark too, it fares pretty favourably as well. It's not a great or flawless film but it was a very charming watch and kudos to it in trying to do something different.

Lets get the not so good things out of the way. Do agree with somebody else that 'Write Before Christmas' does feel over-plotted at times. The film does not have a dull moment and is eventful, but considering the number of subplots and characters this is a Hallmark film that would actually have benefitted from doing less. Having not as many subplots and as many characters, and developing what and who was left more would have helped.

The dialogue is not always great, some awkwardness and cheese at times early on. Like most Hallmark films, there are parts that feel over-scored and the ending is over too soon and wrapped up too neatly.

However, there are a lot of things that 'Write Before Christmas' does well. The production values still manage to be pleasing. It's not too drab or garish in photography, the editing didn't seem rushed or disorganized and the scenery has a real charm to it. Enough of the script is thoughtful and doesn't come over as sickly sweet or cheesy. The direction is accommodating while also having enough momentum.

A further big benefit is the acting, Torrey DeVitto is appealing in the female lead role as is Chad Michael Murray (who shows that he has grown as an actor compared to the teenage heart-throb roles he did fifteen plus years ago) in his. Lolita Davidovitch amuses and charms. While there are too many subplots, 'Write Before Christmas' does better than expected at balancing them and connecting them together, the light-hearted heart-warming tone being consistent. The characters aren't meaty but were still not too hard to get behind.

Concluding, not great and a bit too cluttered but quite well done and pleasant. 7/10

If you've ever wondered what happened to former teen star Chad Michael Murray then worry no longer, because here he is in a wonderful Hallmark film.

Using 'Love Actually' as a little bit of a spring-board, this is wonderful stuff, featuring Torrey DeVito as the female lead.

The story works, the leads have good chemistry, and there is an awful lot to like about this film.

This is a well-intentioned break from the Hallmark tradition in that it sprawls beyond the network's predictable and cloying formula to focus on several couples - and, if you can believe it, a further subplot that doesn't involve romance at all. That said, any one of these storylines could have fueled an entire film, and if you know how sketchily drawn the average Hallmark movie's characters are, imagine how little you'd get to know about them if you multiplied by four. Obviously, this entry is overplotted and bursting at the seams, even more so because the screen time between plots is uneven, so some characters are allotted only a small handful of scenes with which to register. Some actors look alike (is it Jax or is it Luke?), which often makes it challenging to register which subplot we're in. The seasonal charm is there, and the performances are true, but the end result is a hodgepodge embarrassment of riches. That said, it's encouraging to see Hallmark finally starting to expand its horizons in terms of scope and formula.

The cast really makes the characters come to life, acting that brings real feelings to their relationships. The most touching movie I have watched this week! Hallmark does it beautifully.

Peter Petretich

After being dumped just days before Christmas, Jessica (Torrey DeVitto) is inspired to write and send Christmas cards to five people who've made an impact in her life. We then see how this, in turn, sparks them into certain actions. One of the cards is intercepted by an old school acquaintance (Chad Michael Murray), who invites her to join him for his kind of Christmas. A well made production with some good performances, which you may want to return to for festive cheer.

Write Before Christmas is an entertaining ride that is probably good enough for Top 5 in 2019's run of Christmas Hallmark movies. It pleasantly diverts from the normal formula by actually following 4 connected but not interweaving stories: 3 romances and 1 boy band reunion (as odd as that sounds). The main couple, Jessica and Luke, are cute with charming enough chemistry. The older couple is entirely predictable but works mostly thanks to the guy. And then you have the military couple, which is not only a unique plot thread for Hallmark with a male soldier wooing a female soldier but is also probably the best written arc of the movie. The fourth thread has to do with the lead member of a split-up boy band. Jessica's card to him eventually inspired him to reunite the band and appreciate his brother more. All necessary only to precipitate the end of the movie. All four of these threads bring something a little different to the show, which is a good thing. Different viewers will have their favorites of the four threads, or at least, the 3 couples. The down side to this, of course, is that if you really liked a particular couple, you don't get to spend a lot of time with them. In the end, all the characters and especially all the romances end up pretty thin. The lead couple meet in one scene, have basically one day together in a prolonged couple of scenes, and then aren't together again until the end of the movie. The end is straightforward, predictable, but satisfying, especially the final scene with both couples together.

6/10 - perfectly predictable holiday movie with the charming Chad Michael Murray

This movie was a fun diversion from the usual Hallmark formula, kudos. Though it did somehow manage to squeeze in several tropes - dumping someone on a holiday, coincidental meetings, widows and orphans, and the big misunderstanding.

What I don't understand is why Torrey couldn't have fake played the cello more convincingly, especially in the store scenes. She's a violinist, I would expect her to be able to move the bow properly. It's not like they have to actually record the sound. Shame on the directors and producers. When you have an actual musician go ahead and use their talent.

I can't quite put my finger on why, but I'm not a fan of Torrie de Vito. At least in this one. She was the one sour note in this generally pleasant interest-holding offering. Chad Michael Murray was wonderful: personal charisma and a good actor. The 5 or 6 separate stories kept my attention. I liked them all enough to not skip through to the end. So that's worth at least a 5 or 6. CM-M, Lolita Davidovitch, and the young man who played Carter were enough to add on two extra stars.

As far as Hallmark movies go this story line was very refreshing and easy to watch. The cookie cutter plots are typically painful to get through. Yeah there are never any surprise endings. It's always happily ever after. But how the movie gets there usually boils down to a small handful of scenarios. Big city boy or girl goes to small town for work or other reasons and ends up finding him or her self and meeting mr or mrs right on process and probably losing uptight workaholic gf or bf in the process. Some misunderstandings often inserted to make the journey from A to Z more entertaining. But generally from A or B you have the entire movie figured out. Enter the 2 older characters and luke and jessica I wasnt sure what to expect. The actors were both on 1 Tree hill and Chad especially was flat and aloof and a wannabe James Dean in my opinion. The older dude was on Melrose place. I need not say more. Lolita and he had a super chemistry. I really enjoyed their part in the story On that note the other thing made this more complex and interesting to watch was having a few main story lines. Not just boy and girl and their predictable love story and a few minor characters on the way who end up being just wallpaper. I will not spoil anything about the story. The whole girl gets dumped in public had me worried but the events following were not remotely predictable in a Hallmark setting. Bravo. Of 100s of rom coms watched in my entire life this is in the top 5. Which is saying the other 95 are in the bottom 95 lol Please watch this to restore your faith in a good romance movie.

The story seemed great. I was really put off by Torrey Devito and Chad Michael Murray. I tried really hard to overlook them and enjoy the movie. Some actors don't deserve a renewed career though. I honestly don't want to watch Chad Michael Murray. The guy was such a creep back in the day and in the media and I don't believe that he's not still the same person. I just can't get into a character played by an awful person. Torrey Devito isn't much different, she played every awful mean girl character too perfectly. She made you hate every character she played, and now it's hard to watch her as a nice girl getting her happily ever after. She was also pretty crappy in the media back in the day. I'd rather watch actual nice people portray nice characters if I'm supposed to become invested in them for an hr and half. This would've been so much better with other people as the leads. Hallmark please take some consideration in who you cast. Some choices are just polarizing and ruin the movie.

I had to create an account just to rate this terrible movie. Next time hallmark decides to feature the military in anything, maybe do a quick 5 second search to make sure they're not looking jacked up and wearing everything incorrectly.

All the actors and actresses in this movie did a great job including the dog 😊. It was such a refreshing and lovely movie. This is definitely one of those movies I would definitely watch again.

I watched write before Christmas on my sky q today I found the film very enjoyable and sappy for family audiences and I liked scene were army officer Dawson gets a card from male army colleague and they kiss that scene was so romantic and I also liked the couple with the dog who is trying to find new owners there scene a beautiful choreographed in the tv film and it had great USA Xmas holiday music in the film and I liked the scene were the man dressed has Santa sees the pre school kids and the little boy says I love you Santa he says back I love you too that scene was very heart warming and good.