I’ve been sitting here staring at this screen for about thirty minutes, because I haven’t known what to say. How is it that a movie can leave me speechless? How is it that I can’t find the words to say all the things that I want to say? This rarely happens. Ask anyone who knows me – I always have something to say. But, here I am trying to figure out all the words to tell you that A Biltmore Christmas is one of the absolute BEST MOVIES I have ever seen on The Hallmark Channel.
I want to do this movie justice and tell you all of the great things that you should know about this movie.
I want to tell you how Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha will make you feel all the feels. These feels will have you laughing, crying, smiling, and wishing that you could time travel.
I want to tell you that Countdown to Christmas out did itself with this movie. I want to tell you that you will appreciate its story, its beauty, its script, its acting – hell, you’ll appreciate everything.
I want to tell you that A Biltmore Christmas is an instant Christmas classic.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Lucy Hardgrove (Bethany Joy Lenz) is a screenwriter who lands the job of a lifetime when she’s hired to pen the script for a remake of the beloved, holiday movie classic, His Merry Wife!, which was filmed in 1947 at beautiful, historic Biltmore House. When the head of the studio isn’t satisfied with the ending Lucy wrote because it deviates from the original’s feel-good conclusion, he sends Lucy to Biltmore Estate for research and inspiration, where she’s welcomed by Biltmore employee Winston (Jonathan Frakes), who shows her around. While there, she unwittingly discovers the ability to travel to the 1947 set of His Merry Wife! through the help of an hourglass. While on set, she and Jack Huston (Kristoffer Polaha), one of the film’s stars, spend time together and become close. But her sudden appearance has set off a chain of events that put the production in jeopardy. Before she can return to the present, Lucy must make things right or threaten to alter the future forever.
WHAT IT’S GIVING: Fashionable Time Travel
STANDOUT PERFORMANCE: While I will tell you that Kristoffer Polaha is amazing, it’s Bethany Joy Lenz’s performance that stood out for me. The way she navigated both time periods, but also it was the way her character had such a dry sense of humor, her attitude, and bluntness for me. The way that Lenz brought this character to life was just priceless. Loved her.
GRINCHISH THOUGHTS: From the beginning to the end – you can’t look away from A Biltmore Christmas. From the beautiful set, the script, the acting, the costumes – there is just such beauty to this movie. Yes, I am fully aware of the fact that I am overusing beauty, but I refuse to not let my fangirl flag fly. It’s something that really hits you when you find the joy and the spirit that your heart may be missing in a movie.
Lucy Hardgrove is a script writer, who is writing a follow up to a Christmas classic. The studio doesn’t like the script as is and asks her for a rewrite. And we’re talking a quick rewrite.
Like less than two week rewrite.
So they send her to one of the most beautiful places in the United States – The Biltmore Estate. I know that they filmed there and TBH, I really want to be able to afford to go there, because it is absolutely STUNNING.
The estate is supposed to inspire her. Seeing where the original movie was shot is supposed to make her feel something different and make her understand the studios direction for the movie.
When she arrives Biltmore employee Winston invites her on a tour and shows her a room that no one is to go into. In the room, there is an hourglass that transports her back to 1947 when the movie was originally filmed.
Now, I love the idea of the hourglass being what transports her. When the time runs out on the hourglass, she returns to the present. I’ve never seen anything like that, so if it has been done, don’t judge me. For a viewer that’s never seen it, it’s a new twist.
The first few times that Lucy travels, I can’t help but laugh out of pure love for what happens. Lucy is all of us (at least I think), where she thinks that she’s lost her mind traveling back and forth. I don’t blame her. I would think I was drunk or someone put something in my drink.
The way that Lenz brings Lucy to life in these moments was priceless. Her comedic timing, her movements, her facial expressions – she knows what she’s doing. Her impressive career and the way that she seems to not allow herself to give anything less than everything in her performances. I have loved Lenz since her One Tree Hill days and I admit that I would follow her career most anywhere.
There is no disrespect meant to the other actors in the movie, because they are great, but Lenz carries this movie. She carries it because her character is the one that you can’t help but become overly invested in.
Kristoffer Polaha plays 1947 hottie, Jack Huston. Man, he looks GREAT in a suit. He’s instantly taken with Lucy and her indifference to him. He can’t help but want to know everything about her and why she keeps running from him.
As the movie unfolds, the hourglass breaks and Lucy is freaking out. Which I don’t blame her, because who wants to get stuck in another time? Nope. Get me back to my home. Also her presence in the past and on this set, sets things in action that make the past change.
However, changing the past can change her future. So fixing everything that has happened is of the utmost importance. It’s seeing her fix it, seeing the relationship grow between her and Jack, and seeing her love grow for a movie – sorry, picture – that she claimed to be indifferent to that draws you in.
While I won’t spoil the ending, I admit that I cried. I don’t know it was that I was exhausted or that I loved it – but I am going with I loved it.
A Biltmore Christmas is a movie that I will watch over and over again. Say whatever you want, but it’s an instant Christmas classic and I know that I will be watching it every Christmas moving forward.
And well, a few more times this Countdown to Christmas season.
A romance that stands the test of time, Christmas at one of the most beautiful places in the USA, and actors that will stand the test of time (just like this movie). Definitely a must watch of the season.
CHRISTMAS CHEER: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄