Hallmark For All Seasons

“Lights, Camera, Christmas!,” starring Kimberly Sustad and John Brotherton, aired on Hallmark Channel during the 3rd weekend of 2022’s Countdown to Christmas, on November 5, 2022. It was filmed in Vancouver, Canada. Gary Goldstein provided the fun screenplay, with David Weaver directing.

In a nutshell

The movie leaned hard into Hallmark tropes, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Add in the delightful as always Kimberly Sustad, this one scored high for me. I liked it a lot!

The Plot of “Lights, Camera, Christmas!”

When a holiday rom-com movie shooting in her town needs a costume designer, Kerry, a local shop owner, steps into the role. While working on the movie, she rediscovers her passion for costume design and finds herself falling for Brad, the film’s famous leading man.

Actors & Chemistry

Kimberly Sustad is the best of the best.  She’s one of the few Hallmark actresses that can not only do comedy but do comedy well.  Throughout this movie her facial expressions were amazingly funny and I could have done so many screenshots to create incredible GIFs to use.  But in addition to the comedy she does emotion so, so well, and the scene where she was holding back tears while talking to her mom about losing out on a potential career path was powerful.

John Brotherton was entertaining in last year’s The Christmas Contest.  He was just as entertaining in “Lights,” and I’d love to know if he was riffing on an actual actor he knows, or just imagining what a blowhard egotistical actor might behave like.  I appreciated that Brad lost the ego as the movie progressed, becoming more real as his relationship with Kerry blossomed.  It was very well done.

Together, Sustad and Brotherton had great chemistry.  Dare I say better chemistry than Sustad with Paul Campbell (which I NEVER thought I’d say because I adore Paul Campbell)?

Find the Tropes!

Local business in trouble. House with a front porch. Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Marble laptop cover. Balsam Hill product placement along with tree decorating. Twice. Does it count as a snowball fight if Kerry picks up fake snow and throws it at Brad? We also had some empty cups at some point. Kerry had a LOT of winter coats. We had a mid-movie kiss. Slow dancing to a Christmas song (albeit not a carol).

Did I Hear/See That Right?

The lighting throughout this movie was so strange.  I know it was deliberate to have the Christmas movie scenes be clearly brighter and more sparkly, but the interior shots of “real life” were so darkly lit that it cast shadows on the actors’ faces.  It was distractingly dark in many of those scenes.

Feelgoods

It’s funny they showed this movie right after A Magical Christmas Village because those movies were literally shot on the same street setup.

The Santa suit was straight up AWESOME.  I thought Brotherton looked fabulous in that modernized Santa suit!!

The slow dance was steamy and fantastic.

Re-watchability of “Lights, Camera, Christmas!”

I’d totally watch this movie again because Sustad and Brotherton had great chemistry, the script was fun, and I loved the meta-ness of the Christmas movie being made.  Yes, even the horrible green screen in the last shot with the 4th wall wink to camera.

The Rankings

Lights, Camera, Christmas! is another FUN FUN FUN movie, and its score proves it.  Unless Hallmark is holding back the best for last this Christmas movie season, I don’t see LCC! being kicked out of the Top 5.

1. Ghosts of Christmas Always (air date: Oct 30) – 732 pts – weighted score: 122.4 (85.9%)
2. Lights, Camera, Christmas! (air date: Nov 5) – 671 pts – weighted score: 113.1 (79.4%)
3. A Kismet Christmas (air date: Oct 24) – 664 pts – weighted score: 113.2 (79.4%)
4. Two Tickets to Paradise (air date: June 25) – 664 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
5. Just One Kiss (air date: Apr 2) – 660 pts – weighted score: 111.2 (78.0%)
6. The Presence of Love (air date: Mar 13) – 650 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
7. Wedding of a Lifetime (air date: Sept 17) – 640 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
8. Dating the Delaneys (air date: Aug 20) – 638 pts – weighted score: 106.5 (74.7%)
9. Love, Classified (air date: Apr 16) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.1 (74.4%)
10. A Royal Runaway Romance (air date: Apr 9) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.9 (74.3%)
11. Jolly Good Christmas (air date: Oct 29) – 625 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.2%)
12. We Wish You a Married Christmas (air date: Oct 22) – 623 pts – weighted score: 105.7 (74.1%)
13. Rip in Time (air date: May 22) – 622 pts – weighted score: 105.3 (73.9%)
14. We Need a Little Christmas (air date: Oct 22) – 614 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
15. Campfire Christmas (air date: July 16) – 621 pts – weighted score: 104.9 (73.6%)
16. Noel Next Door (air date: Oct 21) – 609 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
17. Caribbean Summer (air date: June 11) – 636 pts – weighted score: 104.7 (73.5%)
18. A Cozy Christmas Inn (air date: Oct 28) – 626 pts – weighted score: 104.6 (73.5%)
19. Always Amore (air date: Apr 3) – 618 pts – weighted score: 104.5 (73.3%)
20. Hidden Gems (air date: Jun 4) – 611 pts – weighted score: 102.3 (71.8%)
21. A Magical Christmas Village (air date: Nov 4) – 592 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
22. Pumpkin Everything (air date: Oct 8) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
23. Autumn in the City (air date: Oct 15) – 594 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
24. Love in the Limelight (air date: Aug 6) – 604 pts – weighted score: 100.0 (70.2%)
25. Second Chance at Love (air date: Mar 26) – 585 pts – weighted score: 99.7 (69.9%)
26. Christmas Bedtime Stories (air date: Oct 29) – 575 pts – weighted score: 98.8 (69.3%)
27. Romance in Style (air date: Aug 13) – 562 pts – weighted score: 97.2 (68.2%)
28. Big Sky River (air date: Aug 7) – 568 pts – weighted score: 97.1 (68.1%)
29. Game, Set, Love (air date: Aug 27) – 552 pts – weighted score: 95.3 (66.9%)
30. A Tail of Love (air date: Apr 23) – 557 pts – weighted score: 94.4 (66.2%)
31. The Perfect Pairing (air date: Jan 15) – 563 pts – weighted score: 92.7 (65.0%)
32. Christmas in Toyland (air date: July 23) – 544 pts – weighted score: 92.4 (64.8%)
33. The Wedding Veil Legacy (air date: Feb 19) – 543 pts – weighted score: 92.0 (64.5%)
34. Welcome to Mama’s (air date: Feb 26) – 540 pts – weighted score: 91.9 (64.5%)
35. Butlers in Love (air date: Jan 29) – 527 pts – weighted score: 91.3 (64.0%)
36. Feeling Butterflies (air date: Mar 12) – 542 pts – weighted score: 91.2 (64.0%)
37. To Her, With Love (air date: Sept 11) – 536 pts – weighted score: 89.4 (62.7%)
38. The Wedding Veil Unveiled (air date: Feb 12) – 515 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (61.0%)
39. My Grown-Up Christmas List (air date: July 9) – 514 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (60.9%)
40. Road Trip Romance (air date: May 14) – 492 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.3%)
41. Don’t Forget I Love You (air date: Jan 22) – 508 pts – weighted score: 85.8 (60.2%)
42. The Wedding Veil (air date: Jan 8) – 508 pts – weighted score: 83.3 (58.4%)
43. Where the Heart Belongs (air date: Jan 1) – 435 pts – weighted score: 74.5 (52.3%)
44. 14 Love Letters (air date: July 31) – 420 pts – weighted score: 73.5 (51.6%)

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

What did you think of “Lights, Camera, Christmas!”?  Comment below and let me know!