Hallmark For All Seasons

“Christmas In Harmony,” starring Ashleigh Murray and Luke James, aired on October 29 during 2021’s Countdown to Christmas on Hallmark Channel.

This is screenwriter Jessiline Berry’s first full-length script.  Rusty Cundieff directed, which tickled me pink since he played Abe Carver’s son Theo briefly in the 1980s when I was BIG into “Days of Our Lives.”  He’s done many things since then – including directed multiple episodes of The Wanda Sykes Show, and Chappelle’s Show, to name just two.

The movie takes place in North Carolina, and for once the movie was actually filmed “on location” in the actual place!  Wilmington, NC was the city, and they filmed this in mid-August.  As much as I love snowy Christmas movies, I’m glad this one was honest about NC not getting much snow!

This is my favorite movie poster thus far.  So bright and cheerful! And once again, the musical notes are featured, to show the that the movie is music-focused.  Love it.

Music: The opening jazzy version of “Jingle Bells” was from Adrean Farrugia’s album A Jazzy Vinyl Christmas. The song Mama Matthews put on when they were baking pies was Never Let You Go, which can be found on the Richard Myhill album, History of Rock and Pop 1965-1975.  Sadly, the two best songs in the movie (the one Kyle sings at the bar and the Christmas Star song) are not available to download, and that’s a real shame.

In a nutshell

I wanted to love this one, but it dragged for me.  At some point I paused it to see how much was left of the 2 hours and found I was only 42 minutes in.  Despite this, the movie had a lot of positives going for it, and it snagged a decent score from me in the end.

The Plot of “Christmas In Harmony”

Harmony is tricked into auditioning for the Holiday Chorus – directed by an ex-boyfriend. By Christmas Eve, they could be harmonizing in the key of love. 

Actors & Chemistry

My favorite scenes in the entire movie all involved Mama Matthews and her two daughters. I have adored Loretta Devine for decades.  She was on “A Different World,” in the 1980s.  I loved her in “The Preacher’s Wife” in the 1990s. I loved “Eli Stone” in the 2000s. And she even showed up in a few episodes of “Black-ish” in 2019.  When she shows up on my TV screen I always smile because I know she’ll be fabulous.  And that was the case in this movie.

As for Ashleigh Murray and Luke James, I thought they were fine as actors, although I didn’t necessarily feel any chemistry between them except for the scene at the bar where they danced and quietly sang to each other. That was a great scene.

Tropes

Opening shot of the movie was a big city drone shot.  Harmony returned to her hometown from the big city, and her family’s home had a front porch. Harmony did NOT get along with her ex, Kyle.  We saw a tree lighting (of sorts – we didn’t see the big tree but all the stuff around it). Harmony had an old snow globe that her father gave her.

Eventually we had some CGI snow in a shot of the town, and I’m not sure why because they never showed that snow had fallen. And a pie baking scene.  And we had a LOT of empty coffee cups in one scene. Harmony and Kyle went tree shopping and then we came in just as they finished decorating it. The mission the church helps has a Christmas Eve deadline to come up with another money to beat out a developer’s offer.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Two people cannot direct a choir at the same time.  Let me repeat: two people cannot direct a choir at the same time.  At best they can divide and conquer the songs, but in at least one scene they were attempting to direct the choir at the same time.  And 12 people singing cannot create a full choir sound.  And when those same 12 people go caroling, it does not sound like it was recorded in a studio – complete with instruments.

Did the sister really bring out a VHS tape to play?  I daresay the majority of homes today do not have VCRs.  Now, I have to say this.  *I* have a VCR.  BUT, I’m in the extreme minority and I only use it maybe 1-2x a year to show my daughter a super old movie that I only own on VHS.  But a typical home will NOT have a VCR readily hooked up to the TV in the family room.

We need to talk about that Christmas tree lot that Harmony and Kyle visited.  They didn’t even TRY to hide the fact that none of those trees were real.  On one tree you could plainly see the fake tree stand at the bottom, and one another they didn’t even fluff the tree fully, so you could see the center pole.  C’mon, props, people.  Get your act together.

Feelgoods

While I never believed for a second that the movie’s choir was actually singing, I did love every song they sang.  I’m a sucker for a good gospel choir.

General Thoughts

I felt the conflict in this one was difficult to accept.  She was mad at him for not coming to NYC with her all those years ago, and in all that time they never talked about it? Did she never come home to visit EVER in the years after she left?

I understand Kyle wanting to protect Harmony’s relationship with her father (who is the one that told Kyle not to go to NYC lest he distract Harmony from her reason for being there), but when Harmony  arrived home and immediately had conflict with Kyle, I felt it was Mama Matthews’ opportunity to set the record straight about what her husband did, and she never did that.

Re-watchability

Music not withstanding, I likely won’t be watching this one again.  But I really hope that Hallmark figures out a way to release the songs from this movie, because that’s a soundtrack I would totally buy.

The Ranking

“Christmas In Harmony” is in the upper half for the year. And starting from its spot at #16 thus far, it’s a good place to be because I really like all the movie above it, and can take or leave most of the movies that end up below it.

1. The Santa Stakeout (air date: Oct 24) – 730 pts – weighted score: 122.3 (85.8%)
2. You, Me and The Christmas Trees (air date: Oct 22) – 716 pts – weighted score: 121.3 (85.1%)
3. Crashing Through The Snow (air date: July 10) – 705 pts – weighted score: 118.1 (82.8%)
4. Boyfriends of Christmas Past (air date: Oct 23) – 673 pts – weighted score: 116.1 (81.5%)
5. It Was Always You (air date: Feb 27) – 668 pts – weighted score: 114.2 (80.1%)
6. Christmas In My Heart (air date: Oct 23) – 675 pts – weighted score: 113.9 (79.9%)
7. You Had Me At Aloha (air date: June 5) – 675 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
8. Sweet Carolina (air date: May 15) – 648 pts – weighted score: 110.1 (77.2%)
9. Taking a Shot at Love (air date: Jan 2) – 641 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
10. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (air date: Mar 27) – 636 pts – weighted score: 108.5 (76.1%)
11. Right in Front of Me (air date: Apr 18) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
12. As Luck Would Have It (air date: Apr 10) – 638 pts – weighted score: 107.7 (75.5%)
13. Her Pen Pal (air date: June 19) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.1 (75.1%)
14. The Baker’s Son (air date: June 13) – 637 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
15. Love Strikes Twice (air date: Oct 2) – 608 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
16. Christmas in Harmony (air date: Oct 29) – 605 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
17. A Winter Getaway (air date: Jan 23) – 620 pts – weighted score: 104.4 (73.3%)
18. Love, For Real (air date: July 31) – 607 pts – weighted score: 103.6 (72.7%)
19. Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (air date: Oct 1) – 595 pts – weighted score: 103.0 (72.2%)
20. Mix Up in the Mediterranean (air date: Feb 20) – 590 pts – weighted score: 102.5 (71.9%)
21. Advice to Love By (air date: Oct 16) – 599 pts – weighted score: 102.2 (71.7)
22. Two For The Win (air date: Jan 16) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
23. Taking the Reins (air date: Sept 28) – 574 pts – weighted score: 101.2 (71.0%)
24. Raise a Glass to Love (air date: Sept 18) – 590 pts – weighted score: 100.7 (70.7%)
25. Chasing Waterfalls (air date: Mar 20) – 570 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
26. Roadhouse Romance (air date: Sept 11) – 571 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
27. Sweet Pecan Summer (air date: ) – 576 pts – weighted score: 97.3 (68.3%)
28. Sand Dollar Cove (air date: June 26) – 557 pts – weighted score: 96.8 (67.9%)
29. Hearts Down Under (air date: Apr 24) – 547 pts – weighted score: 95.2 (66.8%)
30. Fit for a Prince (air date: Mar 6) – 546 pts – weighted score: 94.6 (66.4%)
31. A New Year’s Resolution (air date: Jan 9) – 516 pts – weighted score: 90.5 (63.5%)
32. Finding Love in Mountain View (air date: ) – 504 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
33. A Little Daytime Drama (air date: Aug 21) – 511 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
34. Baby, It’s Cold Inside (air date: May 8) – 495 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.0%)
35. Playing Cupid (air date: Feb 13) – 466 pts – weighted score: 82.6 (58.0%)
36. Beverly Hills Wedding (air date: Feb 6) – 431 pts – weighted score: 80.6 (56.5%)
37. Journey of my Heart (air date: ) – 450 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
38. Snowkissed (air date: Jan 31) – 402 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)

To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of “Christmas In Harmony”?  Comment below and let me know!