Under the Christmas Tree

Love love the movie Need more like it at least 1 every year. The actors were amazing. Plus every year continuing-action of little Christmas where they had twins, sister & hubs adopting, other sister expecting. Just a fun holesome movie.

Also its first. An almost all-Canadian cast, and Ottawa locations, portray small-town Maine adequately. The sweetness gets almost cringeworthy - until the script finally cooks up some convincing Christmasy conflict in the last half-hour. The only real disappointment was the big crane pullback shot at the end, after the leads' reconciliation and second kiss. You'd think they could have at least casually parked a U-Haul on the street?

Substantial holiday flourishes, immediate meeting of the main characters and obvious mutual attraction, and a contrived conflict precipitating the eventual inevitable pairing: This is a Christmas movie, and a Lifetime original movie. We get all the expected themes and notions - unending charm and pleasantness, small towns, professional clashes and personal interest, cute character idiosyncrasies, and so on and so on. There aren't any major surprises here, save perhaps for one: This is, accordingly, Lifetime's first Christmas lesbian romance. Though characterized by the same ham-handed silliness as any other Lifetime production - if the sharp writing and earnest attentiveness we see here is any indication of what we might expect from future sapphic holiday TV romances, I'm totally on board for many, many more. I may be a tad biased, but I adore 'Under the Christmas tree.' Michael J. Murray's screenplay is a true blessing, steadying the substantial kitsch of the genre with rich, clever dialogue (including no few thinly veiled slips that are all but Freudian), and robust, relatable, likable characters. Though the narrative as a whole is ultimately, expectedly predictable, it feels more balanced than what we get in other TV movies, and the scene writing is a legitimate gem - fun, funny, heartwarming, cheerful, and lovely. I lost count of how many times I squealed with joy! I appreciate Lisa Rose Snow's direction - clearly just as impassioned and heartfelt as all others' contributions, orchestrating fine scenes and guiding her cast into able performances, and capturing all available details. Why, there are some really fetching shots here, too. And, importantly, I genuinely like the acting. Again, of course everything here bears the same slant toward gauche cheese. At that, however, everyone involved leans into the campy good spirit. Elise Bauman and Tattiawna Jones are of course most noteworthy as joint protagonists Alma and Charlie, delightfully beautiful and bewitching with welcome range and nuance. But the supporting cast shouldn't be counted out either, as among others Enrico Colantoni, Wendy Crewson, and Ricki Lake give their parts great personality and warmth. The filming locations, set design and decoration, and costume design are careful and precise, and there's strong consideration for rounding details like hair, makeup, lighting, and so on. Cinematography and sound design is crisp and clear, and like so much else here, Michael Richard Plowman's score - bent toward the same design - seems to still avoid the utmost heavy-handedness most Christmas film sounddtracks offer. In every meaningful way, I honestly think 'Under the Christmas tree' takes a familiar tack in a more dynamic, capable trajectory. In fairness, any viewer who can't abide the type of broadly straightforward, blunt, endlessly feel-good feature this represents probably won't see anything here to change their mind. As enjoyable as it is, this picture still fits within a very particular niche genre. Yet the fact remains that especially with 'Under the Christmas tree' being a little bit of a landmark for Lifetime, obvious care went into making this the best it could be within their mold. And the effort paid off: I rather believe this might be the best movie of this style that I've seen. I get a definite sense of more stable equilibrium here between wholehearted sincerity and requisite artificiality than in almost any other TV movie, of any variety, that I've watched, and the result is a wonderful, entertaining good time. Leave it to the lesbians to handily succeed where many years of heteronormative small screen production can't: as far as I'm concerned, 'Under the Christmas tree' is a new high water mark for holiday romances, and well worth checking out if one has the opportunity!

This movie is a little like Miss Christams except both the romantic leads are women. Charlie represents the Governor looking for a Christmas tree for the big event. Alma runs a Christmas business and the tree is on her parents' land. Much of the movie is Charlie trying to convince Alma to give up the tree, but for Alma the tree is all about her family history. The company logo is even a representation of that tree. Elise Bauman and Tattiawna Jones are great together and their relationship is the hook of the movie.

What a waste of time. No chemistry at all, no good script, no interesting characters, weak history. Such a cliche. You'll not miss anything if you do not see it.

Growing up, the only queer-themed 'Christmas' movie I ever knew was "Rent"; and I think that speaks volumes. It's refreshing to see all these LGBTQ holiday films rolling in as the years roll by...but it's even more refreshing to see "Under the Christmas Tree" in the list, a queer holiday romcom minus the family drama, the toxicity, the mean-spirited humor, the obligatory Grinch and - ahem "accidental" outings. "Under the Christmas Tree" is a delight to watch; I loved its simplicity, its wholesomeness, the cheeriness and the fact that it probably produced more sap than all of the trees combined (that's how you guys, make a holiday romcom). It's a film I'm definitely going recommend families to watch over Christmas breakfast and revisit again, and again. Also, can anyone show me the directions to Camden?

Alma's (Elise) bangs were quite distracting lmaooo i felt like they had a life of their own. Movie was fine and very sweet. Surprised to see lesbians on a Lifetime TV prod.

Trailer—Under the Christmas Tree