Star Reviews Hallmark’s “Christmas In Rome”

December 4, 2023

Star Reviews Hallmark’s “Christmas In Rome”

Friends, it’s been a while! But Mum’s passing has led me to give myself lots of self-care, which includes huge amounts of romance movies. So, here’s my review of Christmas in Rome (Hallmark). It’s a good movie!

This review does contain some spoilers, but I make sure to keep them broad!

As soon as I start watching Christmas In Rome, Angela (played by Lacey Chabert), who lives in the Italian city, gets fired as a tour guide and I grow dubious. Why can’t she follow her boss’ directions, for duck’s sake? If she’s going to give tours around Rome in her own “personal” way instead of keeping to the script, surely she realizes she might get fired … or relegated to duck-watching duty.

More fool me, the dry-ass Brit! Angela’s following her star and good for her.

See, after she’s sacked, she bumps into Oliver (played by Samuel Page)—literally—and things start to bloom. He’s a world-class goober who thinks he has to work constantly and bring in the deal in the next minute. (I empathize—I’ve bought some tickets to Gooberville myself). But after we get past his more pressured side, I begin to warm to him. His need to evolve adds twinkle emojis to his and Angela’s growing relationship.

What did I love about Christmas In Rome? Angela offers her personal knowledge of Rome’s Christmas culture to help Oliver land a big deal. It’s freakin’ lovely watching them get personal with this gorgeous city. In turn, Oliver offers his business-focused lens to support Angela’s desire to open a business. What’s more, the side characters who are brought in because of Angela and Oliver’s openness to each other’s worlds feel authentic, too, which deepens the magic of this romance.

What’s most impressive to moi, your romance-obsessed enby? What we see and learn about Roman Christmas culture is so special and thoughtful. Also, Lacey Chabert who plays Angela may not be my favorite actor (I generally find her a little wooden, if I’m honest), but she and Samuel Page do a fabulous job of creating Christmassy chemistry. By the end, I really believed in their love. And I knew it was worth fighting for.

P.S. Duck’s Review of Christmas In Rome: I wish there had been more ducks in this movie. The scene by the fountain was a missed opportunity. Add a duck, and everyone gets very emotional, which is a good thing. —Duck

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romanceypants

A nonbinary human and their smart-beaked duck gab about romance novels, movies, and being ourselves.

About US

Welcome! I’m Star Tavares. I am queer and nonbinary, and I use they/them pronouns. My hubby Jake is LGBTQIA+ too. Our plush duck is called Duck and is super-ducking awesome. He likes to call himself an award-winning duck because we wrote a screenplay about him that won some awards, and who are we to argue?

The thing is, we used to publish in the romance genres, but after we came out, we thought romance didn’t want us anymore. But you know what, toots? We were wrong.

Now we’ve rebuilt our confidence and are back to living our Romancey Pants life, writing, reviewing romance movies, reading romance novels, and doing a whole lot of stretching. (Did I mention we’re getting older?)

Want to know more about Star’s writing credits? Under another name, Star has published romance stories, novels, and novellas with presses like Harper Collins and Cleis, and has won awards for their shorter works from the likes of Glimmer Train, Screencraft, and Narrative, where they also worked as an editor. More recently, Star’s nonfiction about gender identity has appeared in The New York Times and at Huffington Post Personal.

Since Jake, who is also a romance author, is starting to add more reviews here (along with Duck’s best frenemy Sir Mallard Jones) watch this space for more about him and his career.

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Romancey Pants