Of the many journalist looking for “Secret Santa” telefilms that I have watched, I enjoyed this “A Kindhearted Christmas”. Definitely recommended!
Watch “A Kindhearted Christmas” on Amazon
TITLE: A Kindhearted Christmas
FILM YEAR: 2021
DURATION: 1 Hr., 24 Minutes
COMPANY: Great American Family
Directed by Alysse Leite-Rogers
Story by Jennifer Barrow
Teleplay by Jennifer Barrow and Amyn Kaderali
Produced by Mick Mackay
Executive Producer: Susi Belzberg, Tara Cowell-Plain, Eric Jarboe, Brad Krevoy, Lorenzo Nardini, Amanda Phillips, Cara J. Russell, Jimm Townsend
Supervising Producer: Doran Chandler, Michael Shepard, Jonathan Shore
Associate Producer: Rob Grant, Felicia Lee
Music by Hamish Thomson
Cinematography by Eric J. Goldstein
Edited by Rafi Spivak
Casting by Jackie Lind
Production Design by Jacqueline Miller
Art Direction by Alisa Layne
Set Decoration” Mykhila Drummond
Costume Design by Mackenzie Serin
Starring:
Jennie Garth as Jamie Monroe
Cameron Mathison as Scott Morris
Emily Tennant as Kylie Monroe
Bronwen Smith as Colleen
Blair Penner as David
Mark Brandon as Mayor Randy McLean
Catherine Lough Haggquist as Amari Harris
Jamie (Jennie Garth), owner of a small-town sightseeing company, has a difficult time navigating the holidays after the death of her husband. She gets inspired to give an anonymous donation and the whole town gets in the gift- giving spirit.
Dejavu. Wasn’t it a few days ago I reviewed a film about a television reporter seeking who the “Secret Santa” and the mysterious person performing random acts of kindness during the Christmas holidays?
Needless to say, we have another film with a similar storyline (as holiday films do get kind of banal). But instead of the usual repetition, “A Kindhearted Christmas” is a film that I really did enjoy, thanks to the performance of “Beverly Hills 90210” star Jennie Garth.
Directed by Alysse Leite-Rodgers (“Chesapeake Shores”, “Family Law”), the story is originally by Jennifer Barrow (“Dating the Delaneys”, “Dater’s Handbook”), who also co-wrote the teleplay along with Amyn Kaderali.
The holiday film stars Jennie Garth (“Beverly Hills 90210”, “What I Like About You”), Cameron Mathison (“All My Children”, “54”, “Murder, She Baked”), Emily Tennant (“Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency”, “Project Blue Book”), Bronwen Smith (“Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency”), Blair Penner (“The Flash”, “Falling Skies”) and many more.
The holiday film was originally aired on the Great American Family (GAC) (formerly known as Great American Country) which was purchased by former Hallmark Media CEO Bill Abbott in June 2021. And learning his success from Hallmark, Great American Family started featuring “12 Movies of Christmas”.
Not only was Abbott able to move form Hallmark to Great American Family, other talent such as Candace Cameron Bure, Danica McKellar, Cameron Mathison,Trevor Donovan, Jen Lilley, Jessica Lowndes, Lorrie Loughlin and others who followed him to the new channel.
So, now we have Hallmark, Lifetime and Great American Family competing during the holidays (and other channels in the mix) for your time, but one thing I think that Great American Family has done is unlike Hallmark or Lifetime who charges for people to watch their videos on streaming platforms like Vudu, GAC holiday films are featured for free with advertisement (you can also purchase the video if you want).
Now what I find interesting is that back in 2003, Jennie Garth played the role of a newspaper reporter writing about “Secret Santa” for the holiday telefilm “Secret Santa”.
The role is now reversed as Cameron Mathison plays the role of Scott, a TV news host who takes over a colleague’s holiday news coverage, so he can spend the holidays with his family.
Scott is usually traveling during the holidays to somewhere around the world, but this time around, he will be covering these random acts of kindness in the city during the holidays.
Jennie Garth plays the role of Jaime, a young woman who has been trying to get her life back in track since the death of her husband years ago, and the only thing that makes her happy is watching the news show which Scott hosts.
While Scott visits the same city of where these random acts of kindness are happening, both he and Jaime meet each other. What he is not aware is that Jaime is the “Secret Santa” but should she reveal to him that she is the person responsible for the random acts of kindness?
As mentioned, this storyline is quite common during the holiday season, so it’s something to get used to, as it is quite banal. But it’s the manner of how things are executed is what I find more entertaining.
As mentioned, seeing Jennie Garth in the role as Jaime was pretty cool. Many of grew up watching Garth on “Beverly Hills 90210” and other shows that it’s always awesome to see her on television. And as many people grew up watching Garth on primetime television, many grew up watching Cameron Mathison on daytime television via “All My Children” and “General Hospital”, but also on the mini-series “Murder, She Baked”.
But both have solid chemistry and for the most part, of the many journalist looking for “Secret Santa” telefilms that I have watched, I enjoyed this “A Kindhearted Christmas”. Definitely recommended!
