Darcy is a former pop star whose popularity has faded and now sings in small intimate venues. When she loses her agent, she goes home to Dayton Ohio for Christmas and ends up coaching a high-school singing team with her high-school rival, Adam (Brendan Perry). How does all of this come about? Her widowed sister's daughter tries out for an opening on the championship choral team and totally blows it because of her lack of confidence. In fact, the coach didn't even let her finish the audition! Mean! This pisses Darcy off so much, that she gets all of the rejects together to form a competing team. They start out to be awful (and hilarious), but Darcy's coaching style gives them confidence, and they quickly are just as good as their rivals, if not better. The #1 team recognizes their talent and the kids propose to the two bickering antagonistic coaches that they join forces and form a new group to compete in the county(?) competition. Quite mature and nice of the kids. The two frenemies are now co-coaches.

Brendan Penny' character is quite the arrogant, self pitying, whiny jerk at first. He is obviously very jealous and resentful of Darcy's past success. And then he has a dorky nerdy thing going on as well. Not exactly leading man material, but the banter and snarkiness between the two coaches is witty and funny even as Adam himself is detestable. Thankfully, he learns from Darcy's more positive and affirming approach with the kids. When he apologizes for his harsh and insensitive methods things warm up considerably between the two coaches. He admits he always admired her. They become friends, but it's not until he shows up at Darcy's doorstep without his nerdy glasses and a bit of a makeover, that Darcy starts to fall for him. It's a cliché, but I loved it.

After a lot of work, and many disappointments, Darcy finally gets a chance at a contract with a big record label. Predictably, she has to choose between meeting the bigwigs and being with the team on their big night. I'm not sure what old Hallmark would have done, but with the new Hallmark, she goes to New York with the blessings of everyone to meet the VIPs without a second thought. She gets the contract, but instead of schmoozing the night away, which the powerbrokers want her to do, she risks offending them and tells them she has to go back to Dayton to be with her team. Good for her, and they respected her for it.

Patty Murin was adorable in this. I didn't recognize her but she usually plays the Not-so-Glamourous Best Friend roles. The two leads have great rapport. They bounce off of each other naturally while acting the fast-paced script. Besides the excellent acting, funny dialogue, and good message, this movie featured a really great Christmas song selection and some equally great singing. There was actually an original song, written by our songwriter heroine that was actually really good! I'm glad Hallmark has moved away from trying to pretend Christmas is not a Christian Holiday and embraced a few Christmas Carols that are actually about the birth of Jesus. I don't mind non-secular, but last year, a movie "la-la-la-ed their way through Joy to the World to avoid singing the words. That was a bridge too far. This all ended with a series of flashback scenes from the movie we just watched. I guess they needed some filler, but it was creative and something different. I liked it.

I was so ticked off at the gross unprofessionalism which obviously stemmed from professional jealousy by Adam, that I was very tempted to turn this movie off at the start. Fortunately, I try to avoid that knowing that so often in this genre, the tone of the movie and some character personalities change dramatically by the first commercial or shortly thereafter. I'm very glad I stuck with it.

For one thing, I enjoy Christmas movies that feature extended musical performances usually at the end, but sometimes also along the way. This is such a movie and the last performance is almost worth waiting for strictly by itself.

There are several common themes in the story. Fading musical star, Darcy, goes home for a break. She encounters an old beau, or in this case an old rival, Adam. She gets thrown together with him to produce an act for a contest.

Patti Murin's Darcy has a couple of nice performances and some mild chemistry with Brendan Penny's Adam. But for me the real surprise is Cassidy Reichman as Darcy's niece Megan. Reichman has no other credits listed on IMDb yet her intentional performances were excellent and she was a decent actor as well. I hope this is a rising star for Hallmark much like Joceyln Hudon and Kayla Wallace became.

Patti Murin stars as Darcy, former pop sensation who is a bit down and out. Brendan Penny is Adam, her high school rival that now heads the music department of the high school. He has also led the choir to six consecutive wins of the state choir competition. And he's a bit of a hard ass. We know where this is going.

Darcy's niece Megan tried out for the choir but doesn't even get to finish her audition. When Darcy gets wind of this, she is rightly outraged for Megan and all the other kids not given respect and consideration during the audition process. She goes on to rally the other "outcast" kids and they form their own choir and challenge the resident champions to a sing off.

Also in the mix is Darcy's sister Gretchen, the always wonderful Jennifer Robertson (Schitt's Creek). She lost her husband earlier in the year and is facing her first Christmas without him while still trying to make it special for her daughter.

I honestly thought this movie would be cheesy and not worth my time. I stand corrected. It hooked me from the start. This movie is just filled with such talented people and the singing.....I just loved it. So heartwarming and such a great message of going for your dreams and being brave. An unexpectedly beautiful movie and I really hope you all check this one out.