The Christmas Temp

The film opens with a struggling artist named "Hazel Desmond" (Sara Canning) hearing about a new art project at a local hotel and deciding to interview for the role. Upon arriving, she meets the hotel manager, "Jonah Russell" (Robin Dunne), who listens to her ideas and hires her the next day. However, it soon becomes clear they are not on the same wavelength. After seeing her initial presentation, Jonah rejects it and insists she use one of his ideas instead. Unfortunately, after she invests time and effort in it, Jonah's boss, "Luca" (Julian Richings), dismisses the new layout for lacking originality. With his job now at risk, Jonah returns the project to Hazel, who quickly becomes overwhelmed, and her work suffers accordingly. If that wasn't bad enough, as her interactions with Jonah increase, a mutual attraction develops-and this creates tension with Jonah's devoted secretary, "Natalie" (Kyana Teresa). Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film has some good elements-but also some flaws that could have benefited from fine-tuning. For starters, I liked Sara Canning's acting, which was quite good. On the other hand, although the film is listed as a romantic comedy, I thought that both the romance and the comedy could have used some improvement, as there was very little humor and hardly any chemistry between the two leading actors. Be that as it may, although I don't consider this a bad film by any means, in light of the flaws just mentioned, I found it difficult to rate this movie any higher than I have.

Can't believe negative reviews. Light hearted but with very relatable message. Well written, excellent casting for even minor characters. Good dialogue. Robin Dunne was awesome. Most hallmark movies have the straight clueless man leaving us wondering why the female lead would fall for him. In this both leads developed together. Robin Dunne reminds me so much of Robert Walker! So cute and earnest. Enjoyed second viewing even better than first. They need to air this more often. Pure entertainment.

2019 was not a particularly great year for Lifetime, but that is not to say that every film of theirs was bad. Actually some impressed, such as 'The Road Home for Christmas', 'Magical Christmas Shoes' and 'Winter Song', but there was also some real misfires such as 'Christmas Hotel', 'You Light Up My Christmas' and 'No Time Like Christmas'. The story concept is not innovative but it had potential and Robin Dunne is often watchable.

And he is here, but 'The Christmas Temp' on the whole could have been better than it was. The potential isn't wasted, but it is not completely lived up or exceeded. As far as 2019 Lifetime Christmas films go, 'The Christmas Temp' is neither one of the best or worst (have already listed examples of both extremes) and more a watchable somewhere in the middling category effort that at the same time doesn't deserve obscurity status.

Shall start with the good. The production values are quite nice, some of the scenery being beautiful even. Regardless of questions about authenticity the film for me was easy on the eyes. Some of the soundtrack is nostalgic and appropriately festive. There is evidence of charm and heart and the joy of Christmas is captured well at times.

Dunne is likeable in his role and the supporting cast are also not bad. The film starts off quite promising.

However, there are shortcomings. Sara Canning sometimes does try too hard and while flawed characters are always interesting and relatable it is a problem when the flaws are taken to extremes to the point where their appeal as a character is questionable. Did find that the insecurity was overdone and that she could have been developed better and grown more. She and Dunne don't have enough chemistry together and chemistry was both rushed and underwritten, it actually would have been better if their relationship had some initial tension and not been too instant love like.

Moreover, the script to me did come over as too talky and the more symbolic moments in the dialogue come over as heavy handed and not necessary. While the story does try to do a couple of things new with a typical premise, this is not executed well enough. It did lack freshness and still felt predictable and forced. The story also could have done with more life and it did feel rather too thin. The ending came over to me as too pat and too quickly resolved.

In conclusion, mixed feelings. 5/10.

I loved every minute of this film! Robin Dunne as Jonah and Sara Canning as Hazel were amazing! They had chemistry, humor, their acting was so refreshing and superb! Completely suited for their roles and the essence of the characters. The casting was excellent and i love the detail with Robin Dunne's wife in real life Farrah Aviva playing Rita the bartender. The script is well written with humor, interactive dialogues, realistic to the nature of the characters and festive. I totally agree both with the review of grakky and manfredpeter-09628 and i dont't understand the negative reviews at all..... I'm definetely going to see this again and again and i'm going to suggest it to my friends! EXCELLENT WORK!!!

Two charming leads with great chemistry put this one in "rewatchable" status. I had just been thinking that Robin Dunne had a real Tom Hanks vibe going on when lo and behold he started to play Christmas songs on the giant piano keys. Coincidence? I don't think so. The plot was interesting and amusing as the struggling female love interest worked to decorate our hero's boutique hotel lobby for Christmas. His job and a possible promotion was on the line, and her art career would get a much needed jump start. I was a little underwhelmed by the final product, but everyone in the movie seemed to like it, so it must have been me.