“A Nashville Christmas Carol” aired on November 21, 2020. The movie was filmed in both Nashville, TN and Charlotte, NC. It starred Jessy Schram and Wes Brown with special guest appearances from such country music stars as Wynonna Ryder, Kix Brooks, Sara Evans and RaeLynn as well as Kimberly Paisley-Williams. Dawn Wilkinson directed the script by Eric Brooks who also wrote “Love Takes Flight” and “One Winter Proposal.”
In a nutshell
I definitely liked the movie, although not as much as I hoped. To be honest, as someone who lives in Charlotte, I was hoping to see more recognizable aspects of the city. That might have affected my feeling about the movie, but as I said, I definitely liked it despite not seeing much of Charlotte in the final cut!
Plot of “A Nashville Christmas Carol”
A television producer is forced to work with the man who broke her heart on a country music Christmas special while being interrupted by Christmas spirits determined for her to revisit her past.
Actors
When Jessy Schram has the right materials she is really good (I’m a fan of her in “The Birthday Wish”). Even though I didn’t buy her being a workaholic (that was more a script thing than a Schram thing), I did buy the rest of her portrayal as Vivienne.
Wes Brown is always solid and I’ve always enjoyed him in the Hallmark movies he chooses. I think his hint of salt & pepper hair is delicious.
But the folks who really stood out for me were the secondary characters. Kix Brooks was fantastic, Kimberly Paisley-Williams was fun, and Wynonna Judd was great.
Chemistry
I thought the entire cast was great together. Sarah Borne as Georgia, Vivienne’s sister, was really good. All the country folks were really great. And lastly, Schram and Brown worked really well together and in this instance I appreciated that I got the friend vibe for such a long time with a sprinkling of attraction here and there for good measure. That worked for me this time around.
Tropes
This movie had so many tropes I almost ran out of room on my page for notes. Let’s see. Vivienne was a workaholic, who met up with her former friend/flame. She wore a big scarf, and together they went to the Christmas festival/market. They had a heckuva almost kiss (one of the best this Christmas movie season) and the house had a front porch.
Throw in some baking, some crafting (making wreaths), and at least one scene where Vivienne was wearing a circle necklace. Finally, we had a cute dog, some tree decorating and some empty cider cups courtesy of Sara Evans and RaeLynn.
Bingo Card Score for “A Nashville Christmas Carol”
Would you believe that even though I covered 12 spots on my bingo card, I was still one spot away from getting a bingo? SO CLOSE!! Feel free to download my free bingo cards and play along!
Did I Hear/See That Right?
There were a few things that were very distracting. Notably, there was a heavy reliance on green screen work, and I don’t know why. Surely there were enough locations between Nashville and Charlotte that wouldn’t have necessitated using green screen so much.
I also had an issue with the amount of snow we were to believe had fallen in Nashville. Nashville DOES get snow, but usually only an inch or two during the entire winter season. The last heavy snowfall (read: more than 5″) was in 2016, and before that it was 1988. So the amount of snow they kept showing was ridiculous.
At some point Vivienne and Georgia were in a fancy restaurant/bar, and their drinks were hot cider in huge mugs. I don’t know of any fancy bar that has huge Christmas mugs as a choice for beverages. Small 8-10 oz mugs, sure, but not giant 20 oz mugs. C’mon. That bar required martini and high ball glasses. Not ginormous coffee mugs.
Feelgoods
I didn’t really have any feels during this movie, sadly. Nothing stood out for me in that regard.
Re-watchability
Yeah, I’d probably watch this one again if I was changing channels and saw it was on. It was interesting enough and the cast was great, so it’s got that going for it.
The Ranking
“A Nashville Christmas Carol” is currently at the bottom of the top third. Confusing to say, but it’s a good thing.
- One Royal Holiday (air date: Oct 31) – 722 pts – weighted score: 121.8 (85.5%)
- On the 12th Date of Christmas (air date: Nov 1) – 707 pts – weighted score: 119.2 (83.6%)
- Sweet Autumn (air date: Oct 17) – 693 pts – weighted score: 118.5 (83.1%)
- A Timeless Christmas (air date: Nov 14) – 700 pts – weighted score: 117.7 (82.6%)
- Deliver by Christmas (air date: Oct 25) – 697 pts – weighted score: 117.4 (82.4%)
- Christmas With the Darlings (air date: Nov 8) – 691 pts – weighted score: 117.2 (82.2%)
- Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater (air date: Nov 7) – 681 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
- The Christmas Bow (air date: Nov 8) – 676 pts – weighted score: 113.2 (79.4%)
- Cranberry Christmas (air date: Oct 31) – 650 pts – weighted score: 112.1 (78.6%)
- Matching Hearts (air date: Feb 8) – 640 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
- Winter in Vail (air date: Jan 4) – 623 pts – weighted score: 108.8 (76.4%)
- Wedding Every Weekend (air date: Aug 15) – 639 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
- Love in Store (air date: Feb 22) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
- Christmas in Vienna (air date: Nov 14) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.0 (75.1%)
- A Nashville Christmas Carol (air date: Nov 21) – 634 pts – weighted score: 107.0 (75.1%)
- Love on Harbor Island (air date: Aug 8) – 634 pts – weighted score: 106.9 (75.0%)
- Holly & Ivy (air date: Oct 31) – 615 pts – weighted score: 106.8 (74.9%)
- The Secret Ingredient (air date: Feb 15) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
- The Christmas Doctor (air date: Nov 15) – 605 pts (weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
- Country at Heart (air date: Oct 3) – 611 pts – weighted score: 104.1 (73.1%)
- You’re Bacon Me Crazy (air date: Apr 4) – 591 pts – weighted score: 104.0 (72.9%)
- My Best Friend’s Bouquet (air date: Oct 10) – 599 pts – weighted score: 103.4 (72.5%)
- The Christmas Ring (air date: Nov 7) – 609 pts – weighted score: 103.3 (72.5%)
- Fashionably Yours (air date: Apr 11) – 594 pts – weighted score: 102.6 (72.0%)
- Follow Your Heart (air date: Oct 4) – 585 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
- Christmas Tree Lane (air date: Oct 24) – 574 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
- A Valentine’s Match (air date: Feb 1) – 562 pts – weighted score: 99.8 (70.0%)
- Love On Iceland (air date: Jan 18) – 563 pts – weighted score: 99.4 (69.7%)
- Hearts of Winter (air date: Jan 25) – 561 pts – weighted score: 98.2 (68.9%)
- Jingle Bell Bride (air date: Oct 24) – 558 pts – weighted score: 97.9 (68.7%)
- Just My Type (air date: Mar 28) – 565 pts – weighted score: 95.4 (66.9%)
- Meet Me At Christmas (air date: Nov 15) 532 pts – weighted score: 91.1 (63.9%)
- Bad Date Chronicles (air date: Feb 28) – 520 pts – weighted score: 91.0 (63.9%)
- Love in Winterland (air date: Jan 11) – 508 pts – weighted score: 90.7 (63.6%)
- Nature of Love (air date: Apr 18) – 520 pts – weighted score: 90.3 (63.3%)
- Chateau Christmas (air date: Oct 25) – 502 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.3%)
- Amazing Winter Romance (air date: Jan 20) – 487 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.1%)
- Love Under the Olive Tree (air date: June 20) – 473 pts – weighted score: 85.0 (59.6%)
- In the Key of Love (air date: Mar 14) – 470 pts – weighted score: 82.5 (57.9%)
- Love in the Forecast (air date: Jun 13) – 440 pts – weighted score: 72.5 (50.8%)
- Midway to Love (air date: June 26) – 410 pts – weighted score: 69.0 (48.4%)
- Falling at Look Lodge (air date: Sept 26) – 350 pts – weighted score: 64.0 (44.9%)
- Romance in the Air (air date: Aug 1) – 367 pts – weighted score: 63.2 (44.3%)
- Follow Me to Daisy Hills (air date: Sept 19) – 337 pts – weighted score: 62.8 (44.1%)
- How to Train Your Husband (air date: May 16) – 350 pts – weighted score: 62.5 (43.9%)
To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
Programming note: this coming week there will be a new movie every night. So far I’ve been able to write up 3 of the 4 movies from every weekend. I’m very doubtful that I’ll be able to write a review of every single movie this week. But I will do my best!
In any event, what did you think of “A Nashville Christmas Carol”? Comment below and let me know!
