Standard Hallmark Christmas movie fare, feel good, sweet romance, family stuff, you don't have to think too hard, nobody gets murdered. Here a woman with a successful boyfriend - who leaves her alone for the holidays -finds the sparks a-flying with the handsome cowboy she's been seated next to on the bus trip home to her parents. Their unexpected encounter makes her contemplate weather she longs for safety or adventure.

This was cute, not so much a Christmas movie more a romance centered around Christmas as an afterthought or reason for them to meet. Damon Runyan as Luke Shelton was sure pretty and made this worth a watch. I also enjoyed Canadian country singer George Canyon as his brother Bull.

As is the case in nearly all Hallmark movies, the fellow from the big city is an insincere workaholic, and the fellow from the country is real and romantic. Sometimes that pattern gets a little old, but not in One Starry Christmas. Sarah Carter is such a doll, it's really fun to see her try to choose between her big city boyfriend Paul Popowich, and a new cowboy in town Damon Runyan (yes, that's really his name - check the spelling),who fits right in with her family and her lifestyle.

There's a particular moment of One Starry Christmas that's extremely memorable. Paul makes a very public makeup after they've been on the rocks. Why were they on the rocks? Because he chose a business trip over Christmas, and in the Hallmark world, that's unforgivable. After a romantic dance, he gets down on one knee and gives a speech about all her wonderful qualities. In front of everyone, he proposes, and Sarah hesitates. She hesitates! I was ready to throw something at the television; how could she embarrass him like that? Thankfully, Paul whispers through gritted teeth, "Answer the question; you're embarrassing me," and she does. Ladies, if you're ever in that position, accept the proposal and tell him how you really feel later.

This one's pretty cute, probably because the leads are cute. If you like aw-shucks-y stories and small-town charm, especially at Christmastime, you'll love this one.

Expectations this time were not high for 'One Starry Christmas'. Despite my love for Christmas and liking some of Hallmark's festive efforts, the premise just sounded really silly (and that's being generous) and that a fair share of people disliked it for very strong reasons diminished hopes further. One of not many Hallmark Christmas films where the premise this time was off-putting but curiosity and my love for Christmas were enough to make me check it out anyway.

Watching it, it is with regret to say that in my view the negative reviewers are right on the mark with this one. There have been numerous times with not so positive reviews for Hallmark efforts that the dislike comes over as extreme in my view, regardless of what my stance is (either positive, negative or somewhere in between). Not this time with 'One Starry Christmas', where the criticisms are not nit-picks that can be found in some reviews generally here but actually valid and ones that are completely agreed with.

Not everything is bad. George Canyon is a surprising delight as one of the more interesting and least annoying characters. His singing is agreed a clear highlight, after being underwhelmed by so many things overall in 'One Starry Christmas' Canyon and his singing (as well as the whole character of Bull) was a welcome distraction. Paul Popowich does well with what he is given, his material is not great really and his character frustrates but Popowich does try valiantly in giving Adam some charm and personality and does succeed once he warms up.

Some of the soundtrack is nicely done, absolutely loved "The Ballad of Wild Bill" song. Some of the film is well filmed.

Unfortunately, on a visual level this is wasted somewhat by haphazard editing and locations that look drab and don't give enough of a sense of time and place. Too much of the music is over-powering and intrusive. There is barely any life to the direction and the pace really lacks momentum. The dialogue contains some real howlers in the cheesiest of ways, that it causes unintentional laughter, and can get very repetitive. People criticising the film for the beating around the head use of "cowboy" are not being nit-picky, that irritated very fast and has put me off that word for a while.

Said before that the premise didn't appeal to me and came over as very silly. It is even sillier in execution to the point to intelligence insulting idiocy, it is highly unlikely that anybody will be able to take the ending seriously, and in terms of focus it is incredibly muddled. It tried to be more than one thing and there was a real "not knowing what it wanted to be" feel. Only Bull engaged me when it came to the characters, most of which were irritating idiots. Not just the parents, but especially one of the least rootable and annoying protagonists of any Hallmark film quite possibly that never grows or learns anything. Aside from Canyon and Popowich, the acting is pretty bad. Sarah Carter is not endearing at all, the complete opposite of that and both Neil Crone and especially Kathaleen Laskey overact embarassingly.

Concluding, didn't like it very much at all but it had its moments. 3/10