Amazing Grace
Grace Gibson (Desiree Ross) is a talented teenager with a great singing voice and a drive to learn to play the guitar when she finds her father's he left behind after her parents split up. But her mum Jenny (Megyn Price) would prefer her daughter to focus on anything other than singing as not only did Jenny once perform but so did Grace's father who left to pursue his career leaving Jenny a bitter woman. But having found encouragement from elsewhere Grace enters a country singing competition to be hosted at Dollywood which leads to Dolly Parton herself offering Grace some words of advice and encouragement.
I know it's only a title but when a movie mentions "Christmas" in a title I expect, well I expect a good dollop of Christmas. So when I came across "A Country Christmas Story" I thought great a Christmas movie with a country twist and who better than Dolly Parton to star in said movie. Well whilst we get some Dolly Parton, not enough I must say, we get hardly any Christmas and it makes me wonder whether or not a movie could be had up for false advertising because if that was the case then "A Country Christmas Story" could face big trouble.
The annoying thing about this is that "A Country Christmas Story" is a decent Lifetime movie where we have a daughter with a desire to sing, a mother who is bitter due to her musician ex husband and a way of people doing a lot of learning, bonding and forgiving along the way as young Grace sets about entering the music competition at Dollywood. Oh and it is not a spoiler when I say that Grace makes the final because in annoyingly typical fashion "A Country Christmas Story" starts with a scene of the competition with Dolly Parton just about to say who won before jumping back to a year earlier when all this started.
But whilst "A Country Christmas Story" has various and obvious shortcomings it does have the music side which could well appeal to some. From Dolly singing a bit of Jingle Bells to Grace singing her song along with a surprising rendition of "Amazing Grace" it is the sort of thing which I would say might appeal to those who not only like "Glee" but also country music.
What this all boils down to is that "A Country Christmas Story" is not the movie the title suggests it is and is for me not a Christmas movie. But ignore that shortcoming and a couple of others and what is left could have been a decent movie with a typical story about music, conflict, forgiveness and bonding.
Tags: Christmas Movies, TV Christmas Movies
