REVIEW: Christmas At Plumhill Manor (Lifetime)

Constant Music Score, A lot of British Bore, and Not Enough Christmas

Check out this review and more at www.tvchristmasmovies.com.

RATING: 1 Christmas Star (Out of 5)

SYNOPSIS: Margot inherits a massive British manor from a dead aunt she never knew (classic) and must spend a week there getting to know the townies. She follows rhyming clues from said dead aunt to find the secret to saving the manor!

OUR THOUGHTS: Wowie zowie. We've got a dead aunt AND a dead dad, an inherited British estate, and a scavenger hunt with rhyming riddles! Our leading lady, Margot, is a bad ass property developer from NYC, and the leading man is some grungy British guy who makes fancy juice in someone else's barn.

There were times this movie didn't felt very Christmas-y, but there were some quintessential holiday scenes like cutting down the Christmas tree. The film overall was very soft, and felt a lot more Hallmark circa 2006 than Lifetime. And the constant music scoring only cheapened the film, likening it to a PBS special about wartime England than a Christmas adventure. I was constantly expecting Brother Samuel to surprise the family for a holiday reprieve from the trenches before returning to battle.

There wasn't enough of the scavenger hunt to act as a through-line, and it instead made the movie feel like a string of almost-Christmas-feeling beats, not a connected story that anyone really cares about. It was slow, a bit boring, but with enough moments of "oh, is it getting good?" to keep me watching.

This definitely is a vibe if you're into slow, boring British type things. But, if you're anything like me, and happen to need constant holiday stimulation with a lot of lights and magic, you can probably skip this one.