With Holiday Harmony, we are now up to six Christmas movies about singers. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, we have had less movies featuring random businesspeople or marketing executives (which are usually the big careers in Christmas movies) than we have had singers. Fa la la la la, I guess.

Gail (Annelise Cepero) is an up-and-coming singer who gets an opportunity to open for the I Heart Radio Christmas Eve concert. As she is driving her trusty VW van across the country, she crashes the van after almost running over an alpaca in rural Oklahoma. Stuck in Harmony Springs for two weeks, she stays with repair shop owner, Van (Brooke Shields), and her son, Jeremy (Jeremy Sumpter). Despite living in the middle of nowhere, the two help Gail figure out where she truly belongs.

I have to admit that Holiday Harmony was a sweet little movie. Sure, some of the accents are a little cringy. And there are a few moments that are a little too schmaltzy. But, as a whole, I thought it was sweet. I think my favorite character out of all them was Rosemary played by Jordyn Curet. Curet was able to give Rosemary the appropriate amount of shyness and uncertainty before belting out that final song. We’ll have to keep an eye out for that kid.

If you are looking for those sugary sweet romance movies that we all expect from channels like Hallmark, this would be a good upgrade for the genre. We don’t get the “Big city woman comes home for Christmas” trope that is way too tired and the romance isn’t shoved down our throats like they have to convince us that these people actually like each other. What we do get is a couple of young people who have emotional baggage and aren’t sure where they fit in the world. And it’s only when everyone comes together that a family is truly created.

I didn’t realize how much I missed Cheri Oteri’s comedy until I watched Steppin’ Into The Holiday. She may not be the lead of the movie but she is definitely the best part.

Billy Holliday (Mario Lopez) is a former Broadway star who just got fired from his hit TV show, “Celebrity Dance Off.” As he returns home, he reconnects with Rae (Jana Kramer), the daughter of his former dance teacher. Rae now runs the local studio and is running into problems trying to organize her winter recital. Billy steps in to help and the two fall in love.

To be honest, there were only a couple of times I found myself interested in Steppin’ Into The Holiday. One: The scenes with Billy’s manager, Dallas, (Cheri Oteri), and her dog, Shakira. Two: The scenes where the kids were dancing. Sorry, Mario, you looked ridiculous in most of your dance scenes. Even Billy’s nephew, Junior (Enzo Rodriguez), didn’t look great in the dance scenes. I’m talking about the kids that were dancing during the recital. There were some good dancers in there.

Other than those couple of times, I found the movie to be the same middle of the road fare we always get. It wasn’t terrible. Mario Lopez is rather charismatic so that helps. But it wasn’t great either. It always feels like he’s trying not to overact, which makes him overact. Jana Kramer is fine but she isn’t really given any room to be present. She’s there to dance and make googly eyes at Mario Lopez. Shrug.

If you decide to watch it, and I’m not telling you not to watch it, do it for Cheri Oteri and Shakira. They seriously are the best parts of the movie, even if they only have like three scenes.