Leslie Vaughn

Forgettable mid-90's action movie. A waste of the actors' talents.. Very predictable and very formulaic. Like watching an action cartoon where the hero gets smashed flat but hops up to do more action stuff. No real character development, no explanation of how things happened. How did the bad guy get from jumping out a prison wall to Boston? Who is financing his endeavor? Why did he kill his cell-mate? Where did he get the supplies to build his bomb in prison? Who is financially supporting him in Boston?. How does he know where everyone lives and where they are staying? There may have been an explanation for some of my questions, but it was just not entertaining or intersting enough to keep my interest. The characters were flat and mostly one dimensional. Even in some bad movies the audience cares about some of the characters. Not so in this one. I gave it two stars because I have seen some movies that were a lot worse, but being better than the worst movies is not such a great recommendation

I really like Christine Baranski in anything she does. I love Dolly Parton's attitude and music but she is not a great actress. She is a woman of faith and at least some of her faith is shown with mentions of God and the bible are in this movie, so if you don't believe God should be in Christmas, don't watch. If you believe in serious movies, don't watch. It is a fun, feel-good movie with a diverse cast. Dolly has always been inclusive especially more so recently and it is nice to see that here. It is a little too long for non-stop music. I do love musicals, but in most there is conversation and dialog separate from the movie, but this one has almost no dialog which took a few minutes of getting used to. The plat is rote, but its Christmas and must have a happy ending and all stories have to have conflict and some pain to overcome. (spoiler alert) The ill treatment of teen pregnancy and forcing a mother to give up her baby was common until quite recently. This touched on it without judging the time, but showing how it affected the lives of young unwed mothers. Bravo for to Dolly for exposing that. It is a great story of redemption and forgiveness with a sappy delivery.

A grown up movie. No cars explode, no one chases anyone. It's humorous without being stupid. It's touching without being syurpy. It's a story even stonger than these excellent actors. It tells the stories of flawed people who do their best despite their past sins.