“Christmas on the Vine” is a Lifetime Television holiday film that has it all, the beautiful Christmas location, Christmas decorations, love, hope and a holiday miracle that makes this telefilm delightful and earns my recommendation!
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TITLE: Christmas on the Vine
FILM YEAR: 2020
DURATION: 87 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition
COMPANY: Lifetime Television
RATED: TV-PG
RELEASE DATE: 2020
Directed by Paul A. Kaufman
Written by Duane Poole
Executive Producer: Jamie Goehring, Paul A. Kaufman
Produced by Trevor McWhinney
Music by Jeff Toyne
Cinematography by Kamal Derkaoui
Edited by Jason Dale
Art Direction by Koraleen Jarvis
Set Decoration by David Manske
Costume Design by Jessica Kalan
Starring:
Julianna Guill as Brooke
Jon Cor as Tyler
Meredith Baxter as Carla Kilgore
Chilton Crane as Evelyn
Kate Isaac as Kelly
Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez as Michael
Matt Clarke as Scott
Alistair Abell as Principal Carmichael
Sherilyn Allen as Lila
Brooke (Julianna Guill), a young marketing executive, goes back to her hometown excited to relive her Christmas memories, while helping a struggling family-owned winery. Her marketing assignment involves an unlikely partnership with Tyler (Jon Corr), the charismatic, yet stubborn owner of the winery. Brooke quickly learns that the town’s Christmas spirit has disappeared due to a wine conglomerate buying out all of the local wineries. Determined to bring Christmas back to the town, Brooke and Tyler work together and discover they share more than a love for wine.
The Christmas holiday film marathon continues and for day eleven, I am checking out the Lifetime Television telefilm, “Christmas on the Vine”.
Directed by Paul A. Kaufman and written by Duane Poole, the film stars Julianna Guill (“The Resident”, “Captain America: Civil War”, “Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce”), Jon Cor (“Shadowhunters”, “Dark Matter”, Saw: The Final Chapter”), Meredith Baxter (“Family Ties”, “Family”), Chilton Crane (“The X-Files”) and Kate Isaac (“Batwoman”).
The film revolves around Brooke (portrayed by Julianna Guill), a successful young marketing executive who wants to take on a Christmas-related project and sure enough, she is given the opportunity to take on a wine account, in which the client, Lockwood Crest Family Wines, is suffering financially.
For Brooke, she is willing to take on the account to see if she can bring back winery to success and what makes it even better, the winery is located in her hometown.
Brooke learns from owner Evelyn (portrayed by Chilton Crane) that they aren’t selling as much wine after losing a distributor who exclusively sells Kilgore Wines, a company owned by Carla Kilgore (portrayed by Meredith Baxter).
Kilgore is buying a lot of the wineries and on Christmas Eve, is expecting an answer from Lockwood Crest Family Wines if they are willing to sell, but Brooke and her son Tyler (portrayed by Jon Cor) are against selling the family business and look to Brooke as their last option.
While back at home, Brooke realizes how much she missed the small town environment, the Christmas atmosphere and how being in Seattle, while fulfilled her dream of living in a big city, is not exactly what she expected it to be.
So, being back at home, seeing her sister Kelly (portrayed by Kate Isaac) and her family, her friends and the whole Christmas environment has been special. But once she starts working on the Lockwood Crest Family Wines project, she grows closer to Tyler and both find themselves falling for each other. But of course, for both, the winery comes first and with the deadline to sell is looming, can Brooke pull off a miracle?
“Christmas in Vine” is a Christmas telefilm which benefits from a lot of its outdoor scenes, the snow and the Christmas atmosphere that permeates throughout the entire telefilm.
Many holiday films are typically shot indoors, but what makes “Christmas on the Vine” work so well, is that it focuses on the winery and the small town, and the director and writer for the film, showcased the outdoor environment considerably, which helps build the Christmas feeling of this film.
Another major plus about this film is the acting of Julianna Guill. As her character, Brooke, loves the town and the Christmas atmosphere, Guill looks like a natural that isn’t acting, you feel it is all too real, not scripted and she is literally perfect for the role. To Jon Cor (who plays Tyler) and the other talents, because of Guill’s natural acting, the flow of the storyline and its acting makes this one of the better holiday telefilms I have watched so far.
While this is Guill’s second Christmas film, her first was the 2019 telefilm, “Grounded for Christmas”, I can only hope to see more of this actress in the near future, especially more holiday films.
And along with the delightful, charming storyline, it was good to see Meredith Baxter once again. Many of us grew up watching Meredith on “Family” and “Family Ties” in sweet roles, but this time around, she plays the somewhat antagonist of the film, as the owner of Kilgore who buys out wineries and helps those who are in need of money (albeit eliminating all competition). Nevertheless, it was good seeing Meredith in this holiday film (it’s important to note that she starred in the 2015 telefilm “Becoming Santa” along with “Family Ties” co-star Michael Gross).
Overall, “Christmas on the Vine” is a Lifetime Television holiday film that has it all, the beautiful Christmas location, Christmas decorations, love, hope and a holiday miracle that makes this telefilm delightful and earns my recommendation!
PURCHASE THIS FILM ON AMAZON PRIME
