User Reviews

One should never expect classic status from a Lifetime film. Actually find a good deal of them watchable and have been pleasantly surprised by enough of their Christmas output. They are inconsistent and have done a fair share of unimpressive work, including their Christmas films, but it has been interesting seeing them for completest sake. Which was my main reason for seeing 'Christmas in Louisiana', as well as loving the holiday so much.

2019's 'Christmas in Louisiana' is neither one of Lifetime's best or worst, both Christmas and as an overall whole. If to land it in any category it would for me be in the average middle one when it comes to talking about their variable festive output, with a number of major good things but also a number of equally major bad things. So a bit of a mixed opinion here on 'Christmas in Louisiana' even when more or less knowing what to expect.

'Christmas in Louisiana' has its virtues. Jana Kramer is very charming and alluring in her role and makes her character likeable and interesting. Dee Wallace and Barry Bostwick also shone, bringing fun and sincerity to their parts, they are also equally endearing and their dynamic was the most believable by far. Most of the acting actually was above average, with one exception which will be come onto later. Some parts are heart-warming and have a nice charm.

It is an attractive looking film, especially the scenery. The music had pleasant moments.

However, there are drawbacks. Do absolutely agree about the criticisms in regard to Percy Daggs III, who came over as unintentionally goofy and quite annoying. Also about the practically non-existent and totally wrong chemistry between him and Kramer. The characters are a mixed bag, really liked Sarah, Doris and Timothy. Luke however was annoying and difficult to take seriously and the rest seemed underdeveloped.

Did find too much of the story on the dull and padded side, doing nothing new with familiar ground. Charm and heart come in spurts, but too much of the film is bland and erratically paced. It has too many subplots and under-develops almost all of them, especially the central romance, so there is a sense of trying too much, but the basic story felt too over-stretched and thin. The ending is too pat and too hastily wrapped up. The script can be pretty corny and has too much schmaltzy froth. The direction gets the job done but with not much distinction.

Overall, a bit mixed here. 5/10

I love watching Lifetime movies during the Holidays. Most of them have regurgitated storylines (i.e., successful big city man/woman goes back home to their small town) but they are still usually very entertaining. This, although very entertaining, missed the mark incredibly with their co-leads. Percy Daggs III was a little too goofy to be taken seriously as a love interest for Jana Kramer. They literally had ZERO chemistry. However, I loved the dynamic between Dee Wallace and Barry Bostwick.

After seeing Christmas in Mississippi, I was looking forward to this one. Jana Kramer was so good in the former, despite the fact she didn't perform any song. This movie needed something more than it had and perhaps her doing a song or two would have helped.

I will say that the premise of the story was a little unusual, but unfortunately after setting that up it fell flat. This movie also has three couples, with each couple being previous winners of Mr and Mrs Christmas awards and each woman being a succeeding generation of the same family. The most senior has been married for decades, the middle generation lady no longer has a husband, and the youngest had her Mr Christmas break up with her publicly almost instantly after being crowned. The movie focuses on the three as the middle lady is courted by a stranger, and the youngest spends a lot time with the former boyfriend.

Perhaps the story suffers from spreading the focus out to three couples. As a result, we don't get to see enough of any of the relationships. Perhaps this movie suffers from having no sentimental moment like Kramer's previous movie.

But as other reviewers have said, the biggest problem is Luke. Something just doesn't click with him. There is no chemistry and perhaps that is because Percy Daggs III is trying too hard. Perhaps I find it harder to forgive Luke for his youthful mistake than Sarah does. I was much more interested in Moira's budding relationship.

I hope that if Lifetime does Christmas in Alabama next year, they give Kramer a chance to sing. Meanwhile I will watch Louisiana again, but not Mississippi.

Unlike other reviewers, I enjoyed the movie and I liked Percy's performance. The problem I had with the relationship between he and Jana was her willingness to just reject out of hand. Years have passed and Luke seems genuinely contrite for his part. And face it, they were what...16 when they got crowned? That was 15 years ago! Move on for pity's sake, Sarah! I felt the pace of the film would have been better had she thawed a bit sooner. I enjoyed the relationship between Doris and Timothy and watching the budding romance between Charlotte and Mark. I also enjoyed the lighted boat parade and a peek into how places without snow celebrate the holidays.

Is it a typical Hallmark formulaic movie? Yes. While they couldn't build a snowman or have a snowball fight, they had the other ubiquitous scenes we see each year over and over.

And please tell me why every time the main characters go in for a first kiss some inane thing happens and they immediately break apart like two kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Come on, just let them be adults and kiss!

And WHAT IS UP WITH THE HALLMARK LADIES' HAIR? Almost every female has dead ends and their hair is curled until the last 2 or 3 inches and then it just hangs there. It doesn't look like their hair has been combed through or styled; it looks like someone curled it with a curling iron, then just pulled the curls down. In point of fact, Jana Kramer's hair looks dull and stringy through this whole movie. For God's sake, you can't be on THAT much of a budget. Every woman in America (and a fair amount of men) watch these movies annually and buy the products that you so casually (cough cough) display in scenes. The hair spans the gamut from thin, baby-fine and lanky, limp and listless, to dry and stringy, to brittle and dull. Spring for a professional hair stylist for heaven's sake! Many times this is so distracting that I turn the movie off.

Here in the UK it was titled Christmas on the River, so this film was difficult to find on IMDB. Have to agree with others on here that Jana Kramer needed a more mature lead to play opposite than Percy Dagss III. Cant think what the Casting Director was aiming for, but it certainly didn't work. It was more interesting to watch the relationship develop between her mother and the photographer. At least Barry Bostock brought some maturity to the film.

Luke and Sarah had absolutely no chemistry! But the Grandparents were adorable and so was Sarah's Mama!

Having been born and raised in the town of New Iberia, this movie perfectly depicts the small-town charm that my city has; I was so happy to see so many familiar faces and places. I hope we get more people to come and see what we have to offer now that Christmas is actually around the corner. It would be amazing to have another movie filmed here again; the experience was wonderful and everyone was so kind.

I liked the concept and the supporting cast was great, however the movie fell flat on it's face. Agree with many of the reviewers, the leads lacked chemistry and appeared awkward in their interactions. Maybe a change in one or both leads could have made this a better watch.

I loved this movie. She's beautiful, he's handsome. I thought they had wonderful chemistry. As for the accent not being there, I for one, being born and raised in Alabama, still Iive here, HATE when someone/actors try to talk "country" or have a different accent than they're born with because they sound ridiculous, so I appreciate them using their normal voice. I've watched many movies with people trying to sound southern and I wanted to scream. Ugh! This movie was one of the best this season. Would definitely recommend.

The description certainly was generic cliche- big city girl goes home to christmas festival blablabla. Nothing spectacular there. Someone had the bright idea in the writing dept to shine the light on the relationships of 3 generations of the Winters family. In fact at the outset I was more interested in Moira Kelly and the photographer. Could have been flushed out a bit more. I will say the 2 older couples had a natural chemistry probably just coming from years of acting and knowing how to be charming/flirtatious etc without looking like they're trying too hard. I think I've seen Percy Daggs in other stuff and felt the same way, he ddidn't seem natural with his female lead. Like fish out of water. But even with Lifetime or Hallmark you do see younger leads actually melding together naturally. This time wasn't it. But kudos for the 3 generations of stories idea. Just needed to build them better. Certainly doable in 90 minutes, especially since the whole thing was relationship based. There was no plot time spent on big city person developer buying up town real estate, or whatever the big city corporate leads usually have up their sleeves by going home for Christmas, or to save a parade or festival etc. Good start lifetime. Keep on this track.

3 generations: grandma and grandpa, mom (Moira) and Sara (Jana). They all won't the Christmas festival.

Sara won in 2004. It's now the 50th anniversary. Gran won 50 years ago where she fell in love with her husband Mr. Christmas. 50 years ago. 1969. Her granddaughter was a senior in 2004 so born 1986. 21 years late. The mom is said to have won in 1989. That works out with when her parents won but by that then she would have had her daughter when she was 15?!? It's driving me nuts.

It's too spread out over too many characters. Sara and Luke have zero chemistry. Jana has done some ok stuff but is also annoying.

This is a miss for me.

Hallmark does such a great and dedicated job to providing endearing love story movies. We don't have to cringe or cover our grandchild's eyes or mute the volume. It's just pure and simple. And every now and again they even have an exceptional story to portray. Anyone who gives ANY of these movies a ONE STAR should not be watching this channel! You're on the wrong channel! These movies are not meant for you. But for many, many other people they provide so much love and hope or just plain escape from this world of bigoted or negative people. THANK YOU Hallmark, over and over for providing so much goodness to our lives. And specially Home & Family!! Once in awhile I may give a 4 or 5 star rating. And sometimes I may give an "8" movie a 10--just because I see so many messed up votes. But I really enjoyed this. I love the interracial relationships and the depth of family. Happy Holidays!!

Christmas On The River/In Louisiana (2019) -

So the main theme of this film was that anyone who got nominated as the candy cane King and Queen (I think that's what they called it) always seemed to end up together and the further magic was that they stayed together.

The Grandparents played by Dee Wallace and Barry Bostwick were living proof that the wonder of it worked and those characters, Doris and Timothy were really quite enjoyable to watch and aspirational too. As much as I loved him in 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (1975), this was definitely one of Barry's better roles, certainly in more recent years.

The next generation and the leading ladies Mum, Charlotte (Moira Kelly) didn't seem to have been quite as lucky, as her husband had passed on leaving her without the forever part of the magic. However, the story that developed between her and the photographer Mark (Brian McNamara) was actually far more interesting than that of the "Leading" pair and the scenes in which the two older generations featured were the better ones, that carried the film and made it worth watching. It would be nice to see people of a certain age as the focus and getting their chance to shine in romantic roles, for a bit of variety and diversity and I'm sure it could be just as cute with the right directors and actors. Older people still find love too.

As for the third couple, the troublesome element, that had separated at the actual crowning ceremony, when they were teenagers and essentially the main plot of the film, it was obvious how things were going to go down and in itself that was disappointing, but I saw no connection between Percy Daggs III as Luke or Jana Kramer playing Sarah. Percy was cute enough, I wouldn't have continued with it if he hadn't been, but their chemistry was just all over the place.

Firstly, I missed why she changed her mind about him at the beginning? And they quickly got really silly and then they became friendly very suddenly and easily too. But they never really resolved the previous issue of why he dumped her all those years before?

Also the barrier she put up against their relationship happening at the end was stupid.

So overall this film was a mixed bag of good and bad, with missed opportunities to deliver the nicer romances and to show the love of the Grandparents, interspersed with the boring standard nonsense of Luke and Sarah. In some ways it could have been directed by two different people, because the scenes and delivery were so very juxtaposed to each other.

5/10.

The first temptation was to be very critic about this film. Not for cliches but for unrealism. But indulgence wins for the nice story of three generations, for the charm of Dee Wallace and Barry Bostwick, for compasion for the character of Moira Kelly and for the atmosphere.

The return home of a young woman, an energetic grandmother and a poor mother, prepaires for events about Christmas, including a boats contest and one of the most fake ends of Lifetime films.

For be complete entire show, low acting.

The result is so ugly fake than difficult to imagine be more than intrigued. And Louisiana ... where is real Louisiana in this film about three love stories , each being more than bizarre ?