User Reviews

7.2 stars.

There is a lot to say about this very strange movie. First of all, I don't recognize any of the actors, literally not one. I've seen a million movies and how could I not recognize one? The lead female looks familiar, so maybe I've seen her, but I couldn't say for sure. The lead male, same story. The rest of the cast, nada.

'Journey to Christmas' feels like the first try for the director and most of the actors as well. It feels new, fresh, but amateur and green for sure. This is what I would imagine the final product would be if you took a bunch of skilled people doing it for the first time. Literally, all of them doing their first movie, but they are all very charismatic and intelligent, so it might turn out pretty good. And guess what, it actually works, overlooking the fact that the acting is so rudimentary and wooden throughout. Some of it was so cheesy and basic, as if they only did one take for every scene and we are stuck with the end product. What's amazing is that the last act is endearing and moving, even it it still feels robotic and wavers throughout. I just can't emphasize enough how freakish this film is to me, the acting is so bad, yet all the actors are so likable that I felt I could overlook the whole fiasco.

All the overly positive reviews are not realistic, so you know there are proponents of the movie with an agenda (whatever that may be) that are padding the results in their favor. That's fine, you can get an unadulterated opinion right here, go no further my friend.

GAC's fourth installment in their 2023 Christmas productions comes with new faces, Ash Tsaj, who plays the role of a famous influencer, turned model, and Joey Heyworth, the limo service owner/driver that takes her in a winter charity tour and journey, through bad weather and unplanned deviations, to an L. A. destination, important for her career. Forced to stop at his family home, they bond, while she revels in the simple joy of a family's Christmas activities and he deals with the ghosts of a previous relationship. What makes the story somewhat original, and typically GAC, is that she is absolutely no diva, a wholesome, kind person, totally unselfish and genuine. I found Ash Tsaj quite charming in her part and hope GAC plans to grace future productions with her talent. Joey Heyworth looks, perhaps, a little less at ease in his acting, though he does contribute to the atmosphere of warmth that the entire cast and the story creates. The only harsh character is the manager, who fails at molding her into a self- absorbed, greedy personality. Which makes me ponder on the difficulties self imposed by GAC and Hallmark of old. How can you create entertaining drama without the crude situations, stunning effects, perverted feelings, flawed characters, and scandalous behaviors that are main, when not sole, ingredients of much of modern cinematography? When all characters are, admittedly, unrealistically wholesome and good? As far as seen in the initial entries of their Christmas movies line-up, GAC appears to have successfully achieved their intent and provided real Christmas movies.

This is a very unique take on the concept of strangers meeting at Christmas. The characters are well rounded, believable and just enough of their backgrounds are explained so the viewer can understand motives and root for the best ending. This movie is entertaining enough for adults and safe for the whole family. Sweet is the best word to describe it. I would love to see a sequel and more movies with such believable characters. I was surprised that even the young girl was well cast and fit so well into the family dynamic. All too often a tween/young teen will be way too bubbly for no apparently reason or spoiled. This was a refreshing change.

A lovely story with "real people." It's a road trip rom com, with the usual twists and turns along the way--it is winter solstice after all!

Our protagonists discover Christmas as a season for expressing love by having the eyes to really see each other at their best.

While both leads are "easy on the eyes," one handsome and one beautiful, their attractiveness goes beyond the physical to the hearts we see revealed and softened throughout the movie.

If you love romcoms, add this to your list. If you're still feeling the blows of a breakup in your own life, add this to your list. If you are single and a workaholic, add this to your list. If you love the message of the meaning of Christmas (without any sermonizing), add this to your list.

It's only year three of the Great American Christmas movies, so you can't expect all of them to be winners. Journey to Christmas will not be among the more fondly remembered of the year by most people.

The plot is at least somewhat original: limo driver taking a famous model across the country at Christmas time until weather forces them to stop, not coincidentally at his boyhood home, where he hasn't been for several years. They naturally fall for each other, until a misunderstanding, well...you know.

The problem here is the acting. Everybody seems so stiff and unnatural at times you think you're watching a rehearsal for the high school play.

A theme among GAF actors I've noticed is they don't speak clearly enough to understand, exacerbated by the fact they talk so fast.

The lead actress is certainly pretty, tall and thin enough to be the supermodel she portrays (although this one actually eats), but there was zero chemistry with her costar.

They're just getting started. I know they'll get better, but I doubt I'll be watching this one again.

A lot is predictable but it's worth watching. As I age, these movies have more meaning. Nice to watch a movie with no violence, profanity, or weird storylines. Good acting all around and the scenes have a decent production quality. These are good movies to watch year-round, but especially as we celebrate Christmas each year. Movies like this remind us that it's fine to slowly develop a relationship with somebody the two main actors do a really nice job. I've never seen them in anything else but I'm sure they have been another movies and shows. It's nice to see up-and-coming actors do a good job.

I don't know what movie other reviewers were watching, but I think this movie has some of the worst acting I have seen in any TV movie. This includes the whole cast. GAC just doesn't have the stable of actors that Hallmark does. Really painful to watch. People may enjoy the values portrayed in GAC movies but please don't say the acting is anywhere near that in most of the Hallmark films. I suffered thru the whole movie just so I could legitimately rate it.

The story was ok, even though we've seen similar in other TV rom coms. It just needs better delivery. And, thank goodness I record the shows to watch later which means I can fast forward thru the My Pillow commercials. Way too many of those on GAC!

I was not familiar with the leading cast members prior to this movie. I have become a fan of Ash Tsai and Joey Hayworth now. The two have excellent Chemistry throughout the movie - Fresh, sweet, appear genuinely enamored with one another. I love the way the couple meet and how the relationship develops, something that is completely rare in 99 percent of Hollywood movies today. Kuddos to the writers! The scenery and sets are realistic for common people . I feel the set designers did a wonderful job creating "real life" at the various stops and the main home used in the movie. Once again, a thank you to all invoved for making a movie that I happy and uplifted at the end. This is a good one for a sequel!

Where's the complication? Here we have two leads who are such nice -- dare I say saintly? -- people that they face no challenges and are just exemplars for a life well lived. Things just progress swimingly well. You can't even view the bad weather as a bad thing because it just gives the two leads even more opportunities to do good deeds.

Surely Cali Caldwell (played by Ash Tsai) should have some element of selfishness which, thanks to the thorough decency of the family of Jack Swanson (played by Joey Heyworth) is converted to pure selflessness? If you start out so perfect, how can you take a captivating journey to perfection?

So, not at all what I was expecting of what was described as a "comedy" and was rated 4 stars out of 5 in my UK TV listing magazine.

Totally enjoyed it. It was a refreshing departure from the Hallmark Christmas movie line up with all the same actors, repeated storylines, and over-the-top home, office, and town decorations. Although the storyline was somewhat predictable with love interests getting snowed in along their journey (but that's why we watch these romantic holiday movies, right?), the "non-Diva" influencer/model lead was unexpected. She was cast well to be a likable character and build the needed personal connections. I found the mother and her home to be relatable and realistic but think some other actors fell short. The manager, brother, and younger sister over-acted. Good script but heir line delivery felt unnatural. Still, it was a sweet movie worth watching.

Nice, original story line/script (not the usual "family-owned-hotel-is-going-to-be-turned-into-condos-by-an-evil-devoloper", or "bored-prince-meets-clueless-waif-at-Christmastime"), great cinematography, camera work, background music/sound effects, production techniques. Really top notch.

HOWEVER, if GA wants to make inroads against Hallmark's Christmas movies, GA is going to have to invest in some acting coaches for its second string actors. I've seen better acting in some of our large regional high school plays. I'm really surprised some of this stuff made it past the producers' final cuts.

Other GA movies with former Hallmark actors are excellent. But this one and others with newer actors? Mmmmm....oy vey.

Going into this movie I wasn't familiar with either of the main actors. I really liked both of them and hope to see more of them in the future. This movie wasn't super deep and to be honest most of these type of movies aren't lol. So for me, these movies are super hit or miss. I'm care taker for my 98 year old Grandmother whom is the reason as a 41 year old man I watch them in the first place lol. Both my grandmother and I really enjoyed this one. It was lighthearted and fun and cheery. The movie was very predictable as they all are, but that's why we watch them right?! Both of us rate the movies when we are finished watching them, and we both gave it a 9. This one is worth the watch 👍

Don't pay too much attention to the intolerant reviewers who just want to complain about the main actor's lack of experience and to compare one network's stable of performers to another's--and even whine about the commercials shown during the TV broadcasts of a film. How are people like that even fans of the genre? In this instance, no, the main stars have not been doing the same old stories that many actors have been doing for fifteen or twenty years, but in my opinion that made them sound fresher. Sometimes the "experienced" actors just sound bored, or tired of the same old lines they are delivering. Of course, what I like best about Great American Family films is that they are not trying to socially manipulate their viewers like Hallmark does. GAC stories are family friendly--some of us really appreciate that. But even if you don't, or don't care, this is an enjoyable film regardless. That's the bottom line.

I know the 'GAC' chanel is still carving out their spot in the Made-for-TV Holiday-Movie landscape, but this is scraping the bottom of the barrel. This movie lacks originality in every aspect from plot to scenery, is completely void of chemistry between the male and female lead, and just too idyllic and removed from reality. While all of those features were commonplace for strictly televised movies a decade ago, Hallmark has changed the game and if GAC is going to compete, they need to ditch scripts like this and spend the extra money on seasoned pros until they've earned the credit to slack a bit.

My main issue really was with the leads, the way they were written AND the way they interacted. The female lead was written in the same fashion main characters of teen shows in the early aughts. She was just too good to be true: a beautiful model who was also ridiculously altruistic , humble, talented, and laid back. There is absolutely no relatable qualities to her as she's just too perfect. The male lead is just bland, his literal only personality trait they bothered to flesh out was 'heartbroken'. The actor was decent, but literally had more chemistry with his on-screen sister than his love interest. It was awkward and unpleasant. The sister was by FAR the most talented of the cast, but was written to be some sort of old-maid who was obsessed with her brother's love life- I give the actress a lot of credit for being able to bring a little life to the role .

There were a lot of small oddities to the script that detracted even more from the film's believability and enjoyability- mostly having to do with the way a model's career was handled. It very much made it seem like they have complete control over their schedules and the designers they work for. I'm not a model by any means, but I would be upset with the representation were I one.

As for the plot- I mean it when I say not one original idea or concept. There was nothing special about any of it, and I'm surprised it was made. If you were trying to describe this movie to a friend to see if they had seen it, there is not one notable and unique concept you could mention that would give it away. It is just scene-by-scene a ripoff of the Hallmark Christmas movies of Yesteryear.

The 9 and 10-star reviews really threw me, and I have to agree with another review, either the contributers are directly involved with the film, or they have not seen any other movies. There is nothing at all in this film that deserves a perfect rating. I think I was generous with the three stars I offered.

GAC- please don't ruin the careers of the actors and actresses that left Hallmark and had faith in your network. I hope more heart and more work are put into the 2024 Holiday releases.