This was a decent Lifetime Christmas movie. Two people competing for the same property end up decorating some main street shops for a "Battle of the Main Street" Christmas competition with the neighbouring town. As they are forced to work together, the bickering between the two eventually turns into romance. The movie draws a bit on slapstick humour with several mishaps between the two leads (e.g., one of the leads falling on ice at the start of the film). I did laugh a little, at times. The first half of the film relied mostly on constant bickering and banter between the two leads, Amelia (played by Vanessa Lachey) and Vic (played by Ryan McPartlin). The dialogue here was pretty good. I was not turned off by it as some of the other reviewers on here were. At the same time, it was not as funny as the writers would have liked it to be, I suspect. There are some heartfelt messages in the film too (e.g., it is never too late to make amends with loved ones, especially during the holidays). There are some interesting (and at times, funny) characters in the film, again centred around bickering. The acting overall was good. Both Lachey and McPartlin (aka Captain Awesome, for the 'Chuck' fans reading this) had strong performances. The chemistry between the two was believable, as well. Though, as another reviewer on here suggested, it seemed a bit rushed, underdeveloped. The scenery, props, and sets were pretty good, festive. However, it was a bit strange not seeing many people on Main Street, the main shopping street in town. That felt strange, a bit odd. Overall, it is an entertaining Christmas movie, not one of the best I have seen this season, but certainly not one of the worse.
Review of Once Upon a Main Street
