Reunited at Christmas (2018) Reviews

• Hallmark actually leaves a few cliche's at the door.

  rebekahrox2018-11-26

  Reunited at Christmas is not a typical Hallmark Christmas movie. I don't know what got into those folks at Hallmark, but I hope we see more of these presentations that don't follow the usual bone-tired formula. Not that it wasn't predictable or anything or had a sad ending, God forbid. But they did break free a little bit. Briefly the family's beloved "Nana" dies and her final wish is that her Son, his ex-wife(who she loved like a daughter) and their two daughters spend Christmas in the family homestead, which is now going to be sold. Our focus is on the daughter played by Nikki Deloach. She is a writer and has a serious boyfriend who is an anchorman. He accompanies her to the family gathering where he pops the question. She says yes, and immediately freaks out because she has abandonment issues(dead Nana and her former fiancé practically left her at the altar.) Believe it or not, steady city boyfriend does not get dumped for a local boy. Instead they work out their problems and resolve her doubts and fears. There is hope that the divorced parents just might get back together eventually as well. Nikki and all of the cast members do an excellent job. On the negative side, most of the movie consisted of Nikki moping around being indecisive and her father pining away for his independent ex-wife, who appears to have moved forward quite nicely without him. All in all this was a Hallmark Christmas movie that was a very mature and sort of realistic approach to a family at Christmas. No magic Santa's, time travel, bad boyfriends, or failing businesses, or hate turns to love conflict. It was quite refreshing.

• Not the normal sappy Hallmark movie

  dempsey-086602018-12-06

  Not sure why this movie got such poor reviews.... acting was refreshingly realistic. So nice to watch a Hallmark movie that does not follow the same tired format. Loved it!

• Relatable with Refreshing

  puffinsb2018-12-12

  Hallmark hit this one out of the park... despite what some of the other reviewers think. The storyline is so much more realistic and relatable than most of the other sappy cookie cutter movies. The characters are actually believable and the acting well done with excellent casting. This movie warrants a follow-up part 2 for next year's Hallmark Christmas movie line-up.

• Something Different!

  marliz7112018-11-26

  I was pleasantly surprised by the pleasant surprises in this Hallmark movie. At the beginning, I was waiting for the boyfriend to make a rude remark about Christmas, or cancel a date because he was too involved in his work, or complain about real Christmas trees dropping needles--you know, all the deadly sins of the Original Hallmark Boyfriend. I thought for sure that something like that would happen so Samantha could fall in love with the delivery man (played by Andrew Walker) and later learn that he is the king of a small country that none of us ever heard of. Instead, the original boyfriend turned out to be a nice guy who was devoted to Samantha and her family. Furthermore, while there were issues between them (primarily Sam's fear of commitment), they didn't have that misunderstanding which occurs around the 1:35 mark and could be resolved in two minutes if they'd just have a conversation, and then, of course, they manage to work everything out seven minutes before the Big Kiss and the end of the movie. The relationships, problems, and conversations in this movie seemed more like real life. This movie simply didn't follow the traditional Hallmark formula, and for that, I give it a couple of extra points. Kudos, too, to the casting: Nikki Deloach and Lisa Durupt really looked like sisters. I enjoyed this movie and hope to see more Hallmark movies that contain the warmth we expect from Hallmark while not being quite so paint-by-the-numbers as some of them are.

• It's all about family.

  MIssM192018-12-21

  I happen to disagree with most of the reviews. I thought this was amazing. Not your typical Hallmark movie, in which the leads kind-of date the whole movie (they just don't know it) and kiss at the end. In this one, they have been dating for a year and go to Sam's house (Nikki Deloach) after her decesead grandmother reunited the entire family after a long time. I thought the chemistry was amazing. The relationship between the siblings and the whole family was probably my favorite part. Yes, there was very little plot, and it was kind of stupid, but I really enjoyed it. Nikki Deloach is always a pleasure to watch in these movies. And after than ending this is basically yelling for a sequel, which I would watch.