User reviews

Listen, if you're watching Hallmark Christmas movies expecting them to be Citizen Kane, you need to stop watching. BUT, when they get it right, they are fun, idyllic and take you away from reality for a couple of hours. Of course they're formulaic. The Christmas House is fun, and formulaic. However, finally, Hallmark has shown that all families do not look the same. It is so nice to see the LGBTQ community represented, and not in a funny best friend way. Rather, as it should be, just like everyone else. It made me so happy to see this, and I applaud Hallmark for realizing the importance of representation. Is it my favorite Hallmark Christmas movie? Nope, but, I will remember it nonetheless. Well done.

Sweet and cute Hallmark movie, one of the better ones in the recent past. The cast is very good and Robert Buckley is so likeable in the lead and he co-wrote the story!

'The Christmas House' did sound like a lovely film on paper. While 2020 was not a consistent year for Hallmark when it came to their Christmas films, and actually their films in general, there were some real surprise gems that were so much better than expected. Was a bit worried about it being too predictable and that it would be a more of the same Christmas in the family sort of film that has been seen a good deal recently with varied success.

As said, 2020 did see some real surprises in a good way in what was an inconsistent (not unexpected, as all their years are that and also the terrible unforeseen circumstances) year for Hallmark. 'The Christmas House' is towards being one of the best of theirs from the year and was more refreshing and entertaining than most of them too. Am one of those that absolutely welcomed the inclusion of diversity and it was handled in good taste in placement and representation, not thrown in or shoved in the face. Do wish though on a side note that the subplot in question, which was a relatable one, was bigger.

It has a couple of slow-ish stretches early on and the whole mother and father relationship is rushed and resolved too patly. Formula wise, it is predictable.

Did think that there could have been a few less subplots and more time could have been devoted to fleshing out character motivations more, especially the reason for the planned separation which is agreed too vague.

Everything else however is on point. While Robert Buckley appeals in his role and has a lot of likeability, Treat Williams and Sharon Lawrence are even better, emotive and with a real feel for the lighter touch when needed. Lawrence has a very difficult character to like, but she doesn't make a control freak sort of character cartoonish and it's not too unrealistic a representation of this kind of person. The characters aren't too perfect but to me their flaws weren't too heavily exaggerated at the same time. The acting chemistry is sincere and natural.

Personally did think that 'The Christmas House' looked reasonably attractive, the at times tacky decorations aside. Especially the scenery, and the music has a pleasant and nostalgic quality that doesn't become overdone, over-emphasised or too syrupy. The direction was sympathetic but still gave the film momentum when necessary. The dialogue is heartfelt, thoughtful and flows well without being self-indulgent or too flowery. Was surprised at how refreshingly funny some of it was and how smile-worthy delivered it was. The storytelling is far from perfect, but it wasn't dull, was warm hearted, had heart and didn't become too contrived or overly sugary sweet in my view. Some of the situations were not too hard to relate to and were generally fun and heartfelt, even if lack of clarity and ridiculousness creeped in at points.

Concluding, not my definition of great but better than most of the 2020 Hallmark Christmas films. 7/10.

I love it very much. For freshness and atmosphere, for actors and delicate - precise explore of delicate themes. And for poetic realism, humor,for eulogy of family and crumbs of wisdome. And, not least, for the courage and well manner to use gay relations in a context not comfortable but familiar for this category. A house. Its family, a decision, secrets of family members and charming end. The images from past are just inspired support for this admirable mix of nostalgia, soft bitterness and small joys , significant as demonstration of family spirit. A lovely story, inspired cast , charming Christmas house and good supporting actors . Short, a beautiful film, for its high honesty.

6/10 - Hallmark's groundbreaking step to include a gay couple as part of the main storyline quite frankly deserved a better plot line altogether

Billed as the first LGBT Hallmark Christmas movie "House" is a little bit of a disappointment when stacked against that statement. Still any step in the right direction should be celebrated. The movie tells of a family who decides to ressurect the tradition of opening the Christmas house. In grand, privileged Hallmark tradition, a rich family spends thousands of dollars to move everything out of their house and set up an ultra festive experience. Along the way there are some generic subplots which include a high school sweetheart, a tv show and an adoption. Just to name a few. It's a predictable but entertaining enough watch if you find these tropes entertaining. Sadly the gay couple are side characters although they are given a decent amount of screen time as well as a few lip smacking scenes. I am however impressed in which the material is presented it's just accepted and that my friends is progressive and for that this otherwise generic piece of Christmas fluff should be applauded.

***/5

When I sat down to watch the 2020 Hallmark Christmas movie titled "The Christmas House", I figured it was going to be just another archetypical Hallmark movie, you know the type that Hallmark spews out by the dozen each holiday, given the movie's cover. But with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

And thankfully so, because "The Christmas House" turned out to be one of the more heartfelt and warming Christmas movies I have sat through this year, and believe you me, I have sat through more than my share of Christmas movies already. Actually, I will say that "The Christmas House" definitely transcends the archetypical Hallmark formula, which makes "The Christmas House" well-worth watching.

The storyline told in "The Christmas House", as written by Erin Rodman and Robert Buckley, was quite good, because it was so much more than your stereotypical Christmas cheese. The storyline essentially follows three very different story arches, each interwoven quite well, and each story arch offering something special. So "The Christmas House" was definitely more than your sappy Christmas romance of girl and boy disliking each other, but finding themselves having to work together and ending up falling in love.

Aside from an interesting storyline, well storylines actually, then "The Christmas House" was also made good by the cast ensemble that they had acquired for the movie. The movie had some nice and believable performances from Robert Buckley, Ana Ayora, Treat Williams, Sharon Lawrence, Jonathan Bennett and Brad Harder.

If you enjoy Christmas movies, and especially if you want more than the stereotypical Hallmark Christmas romance, then you should definitely give "The Christmas House" if you have the chance to watch it.

My rating of "The Christmas House" lands on a seven out of ten.

Absolutely horrible movie. Not worth watching at all.

Wow. This is a wonderful Hallmark Christmas movie. I am impressed. I mean, I like Hallmark films, but this is above and beyond what I have seen thus far during the 2020 Christmas movie season. It is a fun, warm and heartfelt story. The script is great. It is tough developing a story in 80 minutes. But the writers here have done an excellent job. The sub-plots were all engaging: Mike and Andi's romance, the development of Mike and Noah's relationship (teaching magic), the mother and father's marriage troubles, and Brandon and Jake's adoption. The writers do a good job too with the dialogue and interaction between the characters, the family members. Sure, it is a predictable plot, but it is a made-for-television Christmas movie (in a very predictable genre of film to boot). The more important element here for me is: did it pull me in, did it engage me? It did, from the start. Moreover, I found myself laughing out loud a little thru-out the film, which is a different experience for me when watching Hallmark movies; from the 'Handsom Justice' opening clip, father jokes, the competition between the sons, the advertisement Mike and Noah made, to the closing scene of the deodorant commercial, it was a rather funny/fun Christmas movie. The acting, overall, was excellent for this genre of film. Robert Buckley (as Mike) had an impressive performance. It is nice seeing him on screen again, as I liked his character in One Tree Hill. Treat Williams (as Bill), Sharon Lawrence (as Phylis), and Jonathan Bennett (as Brandon) all had strong performances. The remaining supporting cast was great, especially Noah and the magician. Finally, there was plenty of Christmas cheer; the scenery, props and sets were all very festive. Overall, a very good Christmas movie by Hallmark this year. It is well worth a watch.

Almost passable, but not quite.

'The Christmas House' is cheesy and the actual plot is lame, I do appreciate the additional bit of depth to the story though - admittedly that's relatively-speaking as it's still a Hallmark movie, but there's slightly more to it than is usual for a festive flick of this sort. There is some same-sex couple representation, which is definitely something you don't usually get with these films, so minor (belated, after all) props for that.

As for the cast, they bring what's required. I watched Treat Williams in 'Rocky Mountain Christmas' last year and found him to be the standout, he's solid again - helped by a better cast around him here. Robert Buckley and Ana Ayora are decent, as are Sharon Lawrence and Jonathan Bennett.

I'm always intrigued when these television films get a sequel, so I'm up for checking out 'The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls' - even if I'm not expecting much from it, naturally.

Mike is heading home for the holidays. His parents are doing a long tradition in their family, "The Christmas House" in which they set up the whole house with Christmas decorations, both inside and outside. While there we found out that Mike's parents are going through a rough patch in the marriage and that Brandon, Mike's brother, and his husband Jake are trying to adopt. Meanwhile, Mike is reconnecting with his childhood friend and neighbour, Andi.

It was such a nice film. I thought this was quite different of what Hallmark usually offers. Still predictable, still very Christmassy, but it followed a different structure. (you know, leads knowing each other, problem, happily ever after, done). In fact, Mike and Andi's relationship is a sub-plot of the movie. The focus is on the whole family and them figuring out their problems and relationship. The cast had great chemistry all together. I particulary liked the flashbacks scenes, they were such a emotional touch. Also, I laughed more than once, specially with Brandon and Mike who actually behaved like siblings.

I like that Hallmark is being more inclusive, and the scene of Brandon and Jake kissing and the final scene must have made so many people mad that makes me so happy. Hallmark, keep it going! I literally don't have anything to complain, it is such a heartfelt movie. I'm adding it to my favorites for sure. Kudos to Robert for being so involved in the story.

Most Christmas movies are feel-good films with a cheesy moment or two. 'The Christmas House' is no different, but I must confess to really enjoying it.

The Mitchell family is about to transform their home for Christmas. (As we learn later in the movie, there is a reason why they decided to do it again after a few years.) The family consist of Bill (Treat Williams) and Phylis (Sharon Lawrence), and their sons Mike (Robert Buckley) and Brandon (Jonathan Bennett). Brandon is gay and married to Jake (Brad Harder), and they are in the process of adopting a child. Mike is an actor, whose show risks being cancelled. And then there's the family friend Andi (Ana Ayora), who is an estate agent, and Mike's subtle love interest.

We soon realize there are certain issues lurking underneath the façade of happiness, and that all might not be as well as it appears to be. I enjoyed the characters, and thought the casting was well done. 'A Christmas House' is a film about rekindled feelings, and the Christmas spirit! This was a nice watch.

I was excited to see quality actors such as Treat William's & Sharon Lawrence in the cast, but yet again the story line seems to be written from a High School drama class. Overall the cast presented a less than believable effort.

Is Hallmark losing their magic touch?

6.8 stars.

This has a lot of reviews which usually indicates mass interest. If I had to sum it up in a sentence I would say it's a slow moving film about two parents who aren't happy, a TV star who is searching for the love of his life from his past, and his brother who is trying to adopt a child with his husband (yes, he's gay).

It's a slow moving production about the TV star coming home to decorate their family home for Christmas. But they don't just decorate as most families, they go all out with ornaments, lights and animatronics inside and outside all around like a Christmas decorators museum. People come from near and far to see it.

We also get to see flashbacks from when the TV star was a child and he loved to do magic and his #1 girl (whom he never ended up with) was his magician sidekick. Now he's teaching her son how to do magic and she might be the helper again, and maybe they will get the second chance at a first chance (that's sort of a quote from the movie, not exactly word for word) at love. Mom and Dad are unhappy and this is explained (but I won't tell you because it's a spoiler).

It's a so-so story, but not executed for maximum enjoyment.

Predictable. Cheap production. Bad acting. Not up to Hallmark standards. No spoilers.

I am sad for those who refuse to watch this movie because of the so called 'Not Family Friendly' content. You missed a real beauty, a Christmas story of family, love and working through problems along the way. I was taught that is what Christian values are all about. The cast were well chosen and the acting was excellent. I throughly enjoyed this movie and I will certainly be looking out for more NFF movies in the future. Well done Hallmark and keep up the great work. Thank you.

Multiple story lines cross over into a mess. No chemistry. Actors looked like they didn't want to be there. Awful. Won't watch again.

Not the usual Hallmark movie, it's refreshing. Kudos to the writing and teleplay teams and the great casting. The usual Hallmark is a formulaic focus on a single woman who finds romance, it's soapy and can be sickly sweet. This is about a family, actually three families, a house and cultures and real life. Kudos to Hallmark.

If I was around a woman who blew a d...mn whistle when issuing orders I would feel inclined to do something unmentionable with that whistle !!!

I think the established actors clearly did this film for the money, it was far toooo sweet and "aw shucks mum" - these are GROWN MEN ! , and if Hallmark are going down the woke /pc/diversity route, then lets have a bit of realism and have real men baulk at being offered a hot chocolate instead of a beer !

I had high hopes for this movie and looked forward to watching Sharon Lawrence again as I loved watching her in the NYPD Blue series.

Sharon looks amazing and is obviously still a talented actress however the plot was missing romance and that special Hallmark quality that makes you love it. Sorry to say that this one fell flat for us. It just seemed to lack that special quality that Hallmark movies have and with so many options available we were sorry to have watched this through to the end.

The acting wasn't the problem, honestly I think the story was not romantic enough and the sets were just too cheap and low budget that it never felt special enough to live up to the name of the Christmas House.

I was excited to watch the first Hallmark Christmas movie with gay couple (though I recall a lesbian couple in a recent one...). This is a feel good family movie with various subplots. The newly retired parents have grown apart, the actor son has career issues, and the younger, gay son and his husband are trying to adopt a baby. They all converge to put on a crazy, over-decorated house that's open to the public like they did years ago. Nice, feel good movie. I really enjoyed the inclusion of an LGBT storyline and that the couple was just a normal part of the family. Well done, Hallmark!

Such a good movie. It was a heartfelt family film and was made with high quality. Great acting, good writing.