User reviews

I really enjoyed this movie. It is a warm, fun and entertaining Christmas romance, one of Lifetime's better movies this year, I thought. The story centers around Mandy (played by Jonna Walsh) and Lucas (played by Jesse Hutch), former high school classmates, who are both back in their hometown for the holidays and, more importantly for the plot, both competing to buy the same local Inn. The story is fun and cute with some entertaining dialogue, especially between Mandy and Lucas. It was quite a predictable story, of course, but it kept me engaged thru-out (i.e., it pulled me in from the start). What made this work on screen was the acting. Overall, it was brilliant. Walsh had this warm and happy vibe to her performance as Mandy, which was great. It was easy to connect with her character as a result. Hutch had a convincing performance too. Similarly, he had a sort of happy and kind (and a bit flirtatious) vibe to his performance. Together, it made for great chemistry on screen. It was one of the strengths of the film, I thought. The supporting cast too was outstanding. Jayne Eastwood (playing Gram) and Art Hindle (playing Ernie) were quite the cute couple, and Elena Juatco's performance (playing Jackie, Mandy's hometown friend) was fun to watch. The scenery, props and sets were charming and festive. The red dress Mandy wore to the Christmas party was stunning; it had a great cut, I thought. The performance (singing and dancing) at the Christmas party was great (a fun scene). It instilled a bit of festive spirit. All in all, this is a cute, fun and, more importantly, engaging Christmas movie. It is a nice new addition to Lifetime's 2020 lineup.

The leads, Jesse Hutch and Jonna Walsh, playing Lucas and Mandy respectively, are really very engaging in their roles. They have very good chemistry and great banter. Most of the supporting cast, from the best friend to the grandmother and the inn owner, fit very well into the movie and are quite likable. If the movie had sort of kept to this initial script, then I think it would have come off as a better movie overall even if it's something we'd seen before.

But they throw in a few ill-advised twists and diversions that really affect what was seeming to be a good watch. The closest thing this movie has to a villain is poorly conceived along with poorly written in the storyline. The character was too remote and unincorporated into the movie to have the influence they ended up having in throwing a wrench into the storyline. There's a "secret" revealed at an inopportune moment that didn't appear to be an actual state secret given that the female lead openly divulged this info to 3 characters in the movie before the reveal, didn't tell them to keep that info to themselves. This was more strange that bad, and it made you think less of the female lead that she was openly deceiving someone who trusted her after initially appearing to be upfront. And lastly, a truly jarring twist that though you might see coming as I did, makes it no better when it occurs. It's a strange twist for what they appeared to be trying to accomplish through most of the movie and it's like they suddenly inserted a game cheat code and fast-tracked everything to get to the finish line.

There really are some very likable and engaging parts of this movie. The former high school rivals getting to know one another again years later and liking what they see is a tried and true storyline that works and does so again here. Actually, the movie was good (I'd have probably rated it an 8 on a Hallmark/Lifetime TV movie ranking scale) through the first hour and 40 minutes or so. It's a shame the writing became rough and disjointed at the end and prevented this from having an ending that was more reflective of the movie as a whole.

Have said many times about my love of Christmas and getting a lot of pleasure out of in particular watching films, cartoons and specials during this period, something that most years has been much needed. Wanted to see some more festive films that were more recent, lower in budget and were not childhood favourites, so in a way to broaden my horizons and have been doing so since November 2019. The idea of the film did sound predictable and similar to other hotel etc-set Lifetime/Hallmark films.

Despite being a very uneven film, with a great first two thirds but a very disjointed and odd final one, 'Inn Love by Christmas' is one of the better 2020 Lifetime Christmas films. Have said in my reviews for other films from the batch reviewed already (some way to go before completing) about 2020 being a very mixed but far from terrible year for Lifetime Christmas films, and 'Inn Love by Christmas' compares favourably compared to some of the others from the batch.

'Inn Love by Christmas' is not perfect by all means. It is let down by the underwhelming final third, which is muddled and over the top odd as well as taking un-realism to extremes. With it being so inferior to the rest of the film, it makes the film feel disjointed. There is a twist that is very jarring and predictable, as well as adding absolutely nothing and introduced far too suddenly.

Also adding nothing is the villain, who is too much of a cartoon and felt shoe-horned in and out of place. The ending is too convenient, forced and too pat.

Much is great though. It looks lovely, with scenery that captures the festive spirit very well pleasingly shot. The soundtrack also adds to the atmosphere and is easy to remember, the music does vary in Lifetime films and can be intrusive but it wasn't here for me. The script mixes amusing comedy, sweet romance and not too sentimental drama with ease and good balance, having personality too. The direction is more than competent and seems at ease with the genre.

Furthermore, despite having an underwhelming final third, the rest of the film is very well done. Charming, heart-warming, light-hearted, with momentum never being a problem. Jonna Walsh and Jesse Hutch are very engaging leads in roles that are not too perfect or over-negative, while Jayne Eastwood is great fun. The chemistry between the leads is warm and genuine.

Overall, really liked most of the film but the final third lets things down significantly sadly. 7/10.

So happy to see something different on the seasonal movie front. Quite frankly I happened across it by chance and didn't intend to watch the entire movie. The cast kept me with it. Jesse Hutch (Lucas) and Jonna Walsh as Mandy are very good together but what really hooked me? Veteran Canadian actors Jayne Eastwood and Art Hindle. Yes--a simple story line but who cares? The actors (one and all) are excellent and make it work. Highly recommended!!

The Christmas Listing - but that movie was far worse and slightly different in that the leads didn't know each other from high school and they had to live at the inn they wanted to buy. There's also a resemblance to Once Upon a Main Street. After you get past why the two leads are thrown together, it's the same old stuff. The two keep working together on things and guess what - surprise - they rekindle their relationship. Don't have to wonder how this is going to end. The conflict was a slight twist as to how it was engineered and the lead's response to it was not quite the usual either. So it wasn't totally the usual. The last part was a little over the top unreal, but only slightly more than average in these movies.

Some things were confusing. Why did Lucas basically help Mandy and sabotage himself? That starts pretty early. Also I didn't think it was clear that Mandy not staying in town to run the place was a secret. Lucas knew it.

There was some chemistry between Jonna Walsh and Jesse Hatch. They could have had a little more screen time together. They avoided the usual animosity at the start and started almost immediately with upbeat banter and teasing.

While there were no great big highs or lows, I think there was the one slight surprise.

I wondered about Mariah Campos as Ginny Zee. There was a nice song performance. She sings a song I never heard and assume it was original although IMDb gives no specific credit as of this writing.

Yes, the story line is the same as all the boy meets girl Christmas movies but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Jesse Hutch is one of my favourites. I didn't know Jonna Walsh before this but I will watch for her now. Old favourites Jayne Eastwood and Art Hinkle are an added bonus. Filmed in Hamilton, ON is pretty cool too. Close to home.

The usual ... girl goes home and runs into old boyfriend. They're still attracted to each other. Guy's old girlfriend is two-faced. Same old story line...

Twist: Girl is friends with a rock star - but I'm not really sure what that had to do with the story. Seemed like fluff. I guess the rock star helped bring guests? Never really explained why she was there ...

Jonna Walsh is just a tad bit too perky. Jesse Hutch is stiff. I guess that might be why they aren't "a-list" actors ... even on Lifetime.

Gave this one 2 stars only for Jayne Eastwood - always entertaining. I've seen the lead actress in other TV movies and she's very awkward to watch - a lot of over acting. Combine that with a 'cheesy' Lifetime script and it's not good. The best friend/coworker ends up being much more likeable. Typical story line. The 'twist' at the end - a random rock star - was a little confusing. And there was nothing about the play that made this a 'Christmas' movie. Could've taken place any time. Not a must-see.

This movie was ok, but very slow and boring. I don't recommend it

Mandy Leeds (Jonna Walsh) is a regional manager at a hotel conglomerate in Miami. She's visiting her grandmother (Jayne Eastwood) for Christmas. She runs into old rival Lucas Menzino (Jesse Hutch) who stole her rental car. The rivalry continues when both end up chasing after the same local hotel.

Their rivalry needs better banter. They are too nice and too bland. There is no heat in the rivalry and the inevitable relationship. Instead, they seem to be low-simmering and stalling the inevitable conflict. Then there is the hotel. They need an interesting looking hotel. If they're fighting over it, it needs to be the central piece. This is Lifetime trying to fight back against Hallmark. They are certainly not doing anything more than that with this one.

A Kiss For Christmas/Inn For Christmas (2020) -

I usually love Jesse Hutch, because not only is he gorgeous, but his characters have generally been endearing and had attractive personalities too. However they have all started to become the same "Dude" like roles, which not only make him seem like an idiot, but also that his characters don't care that much either. As such, it was hard to see him falling for Mandy in his role as Lucas and it was as if the producers, etc were trying to age him down to match the leading lady's playing age, but he still came across as much older, despite there only being four years between them.

And I really didn't like his hair in this one.

Mandy (Jonna Walsh) was actually a little bit plain for a leading lady and I wasn't really keen on her character, which was a bit plain too.

In fact the whole film felt a bit basic and unprepared.

There was a lot of filler to it, including Jesse singing at one point and the singer Mandy used to gain points with the townsfolk, Ginny Zee (Mariah Campos) really wasn't necessary, but was actually quite cringeworthy and probably trying to get a pop career by sleeping with the director for this opportunity.

But that wasn't all that seemed to be filler, because they had really struggled to make a tired and overused story interesting. Everyone knows that these films use the same formulas over and over, but it was as if they hadn't even bothered to try and freshen it up with this effort.

Or to work out any kinks, for instance, surely both of them could see that a falling out was inevitable, regardless of their "Good (Selfish) Intentions", as they both fought to prove that they were the right one to buy a hotel.

The measures Mandy went to seemed a bit extreme and personally costly just for that purpose and why/how would his menu persuade the previous landlords to sell to Lucas. The factors being taken in to consideration all seemed a bit obscure.

The frisky grandparents were a bit over the top as well and maybe because it was February by the time I watched it that I found it to be really quite boring and definitely not very Christmassy.

Please give Jesse a proper romantic lead role, about a gruff lumberjack in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, who rescues a lost maiden fair in something akin to 'Joshua' by Dolly Parton, but they make warm winter food and put up a tree, before making mad passionate love in front of an open fire! Or maybe a lost man? Luke Macfarlane or Travis Van Winkle perhaps?

But stop making Jesse silly.

If I do return to watch this again, it will only be because I've forgotten that it wasn't his best, because the rest of the story wasn't enough for me.

4/10.

I use, very often, the term nice for define Hallmark movies. In this case , correct sounds some better.

First for supporting actors beautiful job.

Second for main actors, beautiful and good workers for the nice sparkles of characters.

For fine define of values , from friendship and love - in various forms- to the fair decision and the feminine version of Peter Pan syndrome.

But the story ? You know it so well than it becomes a sort of pretext. Nothing serious, same recipe and same ways for craft it but the nice portraits proposed by. Art Hindle, Jayne Eastwood,Tammy Isbel and especialy Kelly Van der Burg are just beautiful and. Jonna Welsh and. Jesse Hutch are pretty in many senses, reminding , in fair way, old classic fairy tales.