Confessions Of A Christmas Letter is a bit of a departure from the usual Hallmark Christmas romance offerings. This one doesn’t actually focus on the romance! Instead, it hides in the background.

Settie (Angela Kinsey), the matriarch of the Rose family, loses the Best Christmas Letter contest every year. This year she has decided to hire Juan (Alec Santos), a Puerto Rican novelist, to write the letter for her. In order to make that happen, he’ll have to move in with the family so he can get to know them. At the same time, Settie’s daughter, Lily (Lillian Doucet-Roche), has come home from Italy for Christmas. Evil neighbor Sue (Colleen Wheeler), who happens to win the letter contest every year, assumes that Juan and Lily are engaged, meaning they now have to pretend to be engaged at every event in town.

I’ll admit that this is a weird premise for a movie. You would think that family Christmas newsletters would be a thing of the past. But the people who are into Christmas newsletters are INTO Christmas newsletters. The only part of this that seems really odd is the fact that they turned this into a contest. It’s begging for people to lie about what they (or their family) has done over the past year. The goal of the Christmas letter is simply to update people you don’t speak with frequently. Sending these letters to your friends and neighbors that we see you hanging out with is weird. It probably would have been better if this was a short story contest instead of a letter contest.

While a lot of people will complain that the acting in Confessions is over the top, it’s supposed to be over the top. The plot verges on ridiculous and it’s only the acting that keeps it from being Too Much. Crazy plot plus cheesy acting is a bit of a win in my book.

I do like that the romance isn’t front and center here. Since the plot revolves around Settie and the family dynamic, that is where the focus belongs. I would have loved to have seen a little more of the family and a little less of Settie vs Sue. Mostly because I think the central conflict of the movie is Settie going overboard to try to win the contest, not Sue being the Grinch of town. If they wanted to make Settie vs Sue the main conflict, they should have shown more of that. What is Sue’s motivation to be so mean to everyone? She already wins the contest every year. There isn’t a reason for her to try to tear the family apart. We shouldn’t have characters be mean just to be mean. There should be something more behind them.

So, should you watch Confessions? Sure. You may not love it but there are definitely worse movies out there this year.

Rating: “Once upon a time” is a terrible way to begin a letter

What if Romeo & Juliet took place in modern times? And what if, during the Christmas season, the feuding families decorated houses? That is pretty much the plot of Making Spirits Bright.

The Ryan family and the Scotto family used to decorate houses for Christmas together. When Bill (Garry Chalk), and Frank (John Cassini) started fighting, the business broke up. Now their children, Grace (Taylor Cole) and Tony (Carlo Marks), are trying to get them back together in order to beat a new decorating company in the annual neighborhood competition.

At first, I thought I already watched this movie. It seemed very familiar. It wasn’t until I realized that the male lead character’s name is Tony and his sister is Maria that it clicked. Making Spirits Bright is basically Romeo & Juliet. (Tony and Maria are the lead characters in West Side Story, which is a musical version of Romeo & Juliet.) Since this is a Christmas movie, no one dies but Tony’s father, Frank, does fall off a ladder.

I actually kinda liked this one. Sure, there are a few scenes that could have been shortened or cut completely and we didn’t really need the parallel story of Grace and her friend/business partner, Sarah (Sarah Surh). But, otherwise, it was quite charming. I would have liked to have seen a little more of the Christmas displays but I think that is just me.

Is this something everyone would enjoy? I don’t think so. There are a few parts where the movie does begin to drag and it’s easy to lose interest. But if you like the feuding family storyline and want to see it with a Christmas twist, Making Spirits Bright isn’t a total waste of time.