The Christmas Card (2006)

Many of the movies of this type fail when it comes to chemistry between the leads and even more so, fail miserably when it comes to developing their coming together. This movie excels with both of these things. The chemistry is wonderful (totally lacking with the boyfriend) and the way the writers had them discovering it was real.It doesn't hurt when the leading lady has such beautiful eyes that are so expressive. And the male lead with his silent approach of wooing her was perfect. If you love romantic story telling, you will love this one. Ed Asner was wonderful as well as Lois Nettleton. You can't go wrong with this one.

The story carries the day, on this romantic adventure - backed-up with solid performances by Edward Asner (Luke Spelman), John Newton (Sgt. Cody Cullen), and Alice Evans (Faith Spelman). The beginning of the movie lands you in Afghanistan, with the U.S. Military. Maybe because I am an Army Dad, I was not particularly impressed with the realism depicted (in the movie) of the Army Base operational environment, as portrayed in the initial scenes, at Nurestan (in the movie) - The only reason I did not rate this movie higher than an (8). The acting fell a little short there, but this is not crucial to the compilation of the story, which quickly evolves... stateside, at the beautiful and picturesque small California town of Nevada City (CA). Filmed on location. Sgt Cullen is drawn to the small town, because of fallen friend (KIA), and because of a Christmas Card sent for the troops, in support of their mission abroad (during the Holiday Season). This romantic story has the audience rooting for Sgt. Cody Cullen, and Faith Spelman.. with plenty of support coming from Luke (father - ex Vietnam Vet), who would rather see his daughter be envolved with a 'fellow grunt', rather than with her current boyfriend, who has delayed in 'tying the knot' with his long-time steady. Highly recommended as one of the best of the Hallmark Christmas Movies.

I give this 9--highest I can give to a modern Christmas movie. Ten is still reserved for It's a Wonderful Life, The Bishop's Wife, and the original Miracle on 34th Street.There are more low budget Christmas movies out there than anyone could try to watch. Most are clearly either Lifetime fare, kids' flicks, or just cheesy Christmas formula movies. This one stands out head and shoulders above those. Production values are somewhat higher than standard TV movie grade, and while the story is not really special, it's adult without needing an R or PG13 rating. What really makes this movie is the performances. The characters are all likable (or not), and they are believable. Performance kudos split 50/50 to the actors and the director.If this shows up on your local station or cable, I think it's worth your time to give it a look. I think we first saw it maybe five years ago, then again a couple years later, and again last year. This year, I found myself searching for it on Netflix and Amazon and disappointed that it wasn't there. Still, it's early (Dec 5), so maybe it will show up. If so, we'll watch it again.

Although a bit flimsy, the plot is not to bad. A Christmas card from an unknown woman as the trigger for the lead character to find love, well I haven't seen that before.Throughout the movie the story offers enough emotional moments and where Asner and Nettleton are rather convincing, Newton and Evans seem to just have had a Botox treatment. Almost the whole time without any emotions except for the final seconds at the Vietnam memorial. That looked genuine. Probably because their faces weren't visible.Still, I think the movie is worth your time. I enjoyed it, despite the poor acting.