Colorado Christmas is a lightweight romance that fits right into what has become a holiday tradition for American TV, but there are some pretty big flaws. I could point to a long list of elements where it falls short in quality, most of which I will chalk up to budget constraints, including limits on salaries for more experienced actors, but I'llll focus on the main problems: writing (several poor transitions, and a serious lack of character development), direction (problems with scene blocking and inspiring the best performances), cinematography (so many missed opportunities to improve the story, but they may also have suffered from a lack of good equipment), and - a real biggie - casting.
Starting positively, I will call out the casting of Paul Anthony McLean as a huge coup. His character interpretation was natural and credible, and rose above the limitations of his director. McLean definitely classed up the joint in his few scenes. Unfortunately, other casting choices baffled me. I'm sorry to seem harsh, but the two leads, Luba Bocian and Brit Ellerman, lacked the talent to carry this film, and there was zero chemistry between them. Less than zero.
What confused me the most was why they had former American Idol contestants Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young available but didn't make them the leads! They were the obvious best choices and, come on, they were RIGHT THERE! Their talents as musicians and singers would have been invaluable in this story, and their real life marriage would have ensured the necessary romantic chemistry between Melody and John. DeGarmo and Young were both more talented actors than Bocian and Ellerman, most especially DeGarmo. Her characterization of Sierra Snow was entertaining, and that's exactly why they should have seen she had the chops to carry the lead role. I just cannot imagine what happened during auditions to inspire these casting choices.
I also really wish we would have been allowed to see if Young might have been able to improve that painful "Happy Birthday as a hit song" scene. His singing voice and stage presence alone would have helped it immensely, but as a performer, I suspect he could have suggested a better way to interpret the writer's intent, even if it meant scrapping the whole, limp idea. Any number of possibilities were available to create a reason for Johnny Colorado to take a local stage and end up with Melody being mistaken as a birthday girl, but the birthday gimmick didn't seem all that important to the story. (Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, Johnny Colorado as a stage name? Really?? It could not be more on the nose - which is a bad thing, if that's not clear - and it's way too close to John Denver. I mean, it's been done, y'know? I suppose the stage name choice was one way to justify the title of Colorado Christmas, but it would have been better to change both the title and John's stage name than to make that lame choice.)
Anyway, for the restaurant scene, it would have been so much better if John had coaxed Melody to the stage for a duet, perhaps of that song of his she had re-interpreted as a ballad. (So sad they missed that chance for a perfect callback.) All the folks in the crowd would have taken videos for social media, which Sierra Snow would have seen and flipped out over, etc. That would have created momentum to progress things to a huge confrontation between all those characters, and Sierra would have had more believable incentive to write Melody's name on that dear Jane note. Instead, the director deemed it best to stick with a really awkward scene where an actor with a mediocre voice struggled to convincingly portray a superstar country singer, a scene that helped move the story along not one bit.
Again, I understand budget constraints, and I love that they found a way to shoot a movie in Colorado despite the dismal filming incentives there, making it even harder to stretch the pennies. That was brave. But trained filmmakers know that good writing, good direction - which includes bringing the best out of actors - and good cinematography are the main ingredients needed for a good film, and they can definitely be achieved on a shoestring.
Starting positively, I will call out the casting of Paul Anthony McLean as a huge coup. His character interpretation was natural and credible, and rose above the limitations of his director. McLean definitely classed up the joint in his few scenes. Unfortunately, other casting choices baffled me. I'm sorry to seem harsh, but the two leads, Luba Bocian and Brit Ellerman, lacked the talent to carry this film, and there was zero chemistry between them. Less than zero.
What confused me the most was why they had former American Idol contestants Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young available but didn't make them the leads! They were the obvious best choices and, come on, they were RIGHT THERE! Their talents as musicians and singers would have been invaluable in this story, and their real life marriage would have ensured the necessary romantic chemistry between Melody and John. DeGarmo and Young were both more talented actors than Bocian and Ellerman, most especially DeGarmo. Her characterization of Sierra Snow was entertaining, and that's exactly why they should have seen she had the chops to carry the lead role. I just cannot imagine what happened during auditions to inspire these casting choices.
I also really wish we would have been allowed to see if Young might have been able to improve that painful "Happy Birthday as a hit song" scene. His singing voice and stage presence alone would have helped it immensely, but as a performer, I suspect he could have suggested a better way to interpret the writer's intent, even if it meant scrapping the whole, limp idea. Any number of possibilities were available to create a reason for Johnny Colorado to take a local stage and end up with Melody being mistaken as a birthday girl, but the birthday gimmick didn't seem all that important to the story. (Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, Johnny Colorado as a stage name? Really?? It could not be more on the nose - which is a bad thing, if that's not clear - and it's way too close to John Denver. I mean, it's been done, y'know? I suppose the stage name choice was one way to justify the title of Colorado Christmas, but it would have been better to change both the title and John's stage name than to make that lame choice.)
Anyway, for the restaurant scene, it would have been so much better if John had coaxed Melody to the stage for a duet, perhaps of that song of his she had re-interpreted as a ballad. (So sad they missed that chance for a perfect callback.) All the folks in the crowd would have taken videos for social media, which Sierra Snow would have seen and flipped out over, etc. That would have created momentum to progress things to a huge confrontation between all those characters, and Sierra would have had more believable incentive to write Melody's name on that dear Jane note. Instead, the director deemed it best to stick with a really awkward scene where an actor with a mediocre voice struggled to convincingly portray a superstar country singer, a scene that helped move the story along not one bit.
Again, I understand budget constraints, and I love that they found a way to shoot a movie in Colorado despite the dismal filming incentives there, making it even harder to stretch the pennies. That was brave. But trained filmmakers know that good writing, good direction - which includes bringing the best out of actors - and good cinematography are the main ingredients needed for a good film, and they can definitely be achieved on a shoestring.
