Christmas Solo is a delicacy amidst a sea of "Christmas cookie cutter" movies. There are no "weak" elements of the movie. Acting, wardrobe, everything is good. The chemistry between the parents is amazing. This isn't a typical romance movie and yet they are so good that they "sell it" anyway. Every scene with them together is believable and not under-acted nor over-acted. It is "just right". This will seem a bit random, but whoever was on hair did an incredible job. Jennifer's (Kelly William's) hair always looks AMAZING. In many Christmas movies, there is some kind of pain that the main character(s) is having to overcome from the past. However, it feels more like just "backstory". Here, the pain of well...all of the four character's pasts is very much real and in the story. Great storytelling, great story. Nicely written too. I highly recommend this movie.

This one really took me by surprise. For a Christmas movie, it was really different. A lovely and sweet teenager moves to town and gets on the wrong side of a mean girl by winning the Christmas solo that mean girl thought she was entitled to. Meanwhile sweet and lovely girls mother and mean girl's Dad (who is also very nice and very attractive) are falling in love. The mean girl is mean partially because her Mother was cheating on her Dad and left her to be with her boyfriend. This movie was full of tension and the mean girl goes way over the top , ending up vandalizing the girl's house. That brings things to a head. The ending is almost too heartwarming.

The main problems I had with this movie was how quickly and easily the mean girl did a 180. In reality, the girl would have been signed up for years of therapy and a selection of some very powerful drugs. The other thing was the casting of the nice Mom. The actress is 10 years older than the Jonathan Scarfe who played the nice but overwhelmed Dad. And although Kelli Williams is attractive enough, it was not a good match. Ending on a complimentary note, despite the tension and almost horror of the situation, the script was full of witty banter, and had some humor. I also liked that Charlotte, the nice girl, had friends who had her back, and even one of the mean girl's posse repented and went over to the nice girl's side.

I love the dual storylines for mother and daughter to watch together. And I appreciated the light shed in bullying and grief.