I really wanted to like this film, but it falls quite short! It is low budget and it shows. The problems in the film are numerous: the script is written more like a novel than a script. It didn't translate well to the screen. The movie is very dialogue heavy, and the speaking between the actors sounds more like prose narration than interaction. Flat and emotionless. In a romance film, one expects more spark. Not much chemistry between the two main actors. Much of the film is not that believable. All of the actors except for the child and the old guy seemed stilted and unsure of themselves in their roles. On the positive side, the scenery is lovely. I don't know if this was actually filmed in Colorado but it seems authentic.

Anyone else find it suspicious that not one, but TWO female characters portrayed in Colorado Christmas are not credited to any actresses? You are not alone, and neither are we! Access Hollywood and E Entertainment have refused to cover the facts, but the truth is that AI actresses and actors are being tested in 2023 Christmas movies, due to the largely unknown cast members, meaning viewers won't know the difference. While it is unproven, it is also said that AI directors have completed several 2023 holiday films, and Elgin Cahill is rumored to have signed an agreement with the producers prior to Colorado Christmas.

Colorado Christmas is a lightweight romance that fits right into what has become a Christmas tradition for American TV, but there are some pretty big flaws. I could point to a long list of elements where it falls short in quality, most of which I will chalk up to budget constraints, including limits on salaries for more experienced actors. The biggest problems came down to writing (several poor transitions, and a serious lack of character development), direction (problems with scene blocking and inspiring the best performances), cinematography (so many missed opportunities to improve the story, but they may also have suffered from a lack of good equipment), and - a real biggie - casting. I will call out the casting of Paul Anthony McLean as a huge coup. He classed up the joint in his few scenes. As for other casting choices, I was rather baffled. I'm sorry to seem harsh, but the two leads, played by Luba Bocian and Brit Ellerman, lacked the talent to carry this film, and there was zero chemistry between them. Less than zero. What confused me the most was why they had Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young available but didn't make them the leads! They were the obvious best choices! Them being musicians and singers in real life could have been put to brilliant use in this film, and their real life marriage would have ensured the necessary romantic chemistry between Melody and John. DeGarmo and Young were both more talented actors than Bocian and Ellerman, most especially DeGarmo. She was actually very good in the role of Sierra Snow, but that's exactly why we can be sure she was talented enough to carry the lead role. I just cannot imagine what happened during auditions to inspire these casting choices. I also really wish we would have been allowed to see how Young might have been able to improve that painful "Happy Birthday as a hit song" scene. His singing voice and stage presence alone would have helped it immensely, but as a performer, I suspect he might have been able to suggest a better way to interpret the writer's intent, even if it meant scrapping the whole lame idea. There could have been any number of ways to create a reason for Johnny Colorado to take a local stage and end up with Melody being mistaken as a birthday girl, but the birthday gimmick didn't seem all that important to the story. (Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, Johnny Colorado as a stage name? Really?? It could not be more on the nose - which is a bad thing, if that's not clear - and it's way too close to John Denver. I mean, it's been done, y'know? I suppose the stage name choice was one way to justify the title of Colorado Christmas, but that is far from sufficient justification. Better to change both the title and John's stage name.) Anyway, for the restaurant scene, it would have been so much better if John had called Melody to the stage for a duet, perhaps of that song of his she had re-interpreted as a ballad. (Would have been a perfect callback.) All the folks in the crowd would have taken videos for social media, which Sierra Snow would have seen and flipped out over, etc. That would have created momentum to progress things to a real showdown between all those characters, and Sierra would have had more believable incentive to write Melody's name on that dear Jane note. Instead, it was deemed best to limit it to a really awkward scene where an actor with a mediocre voice struggled to convincingly portray a superstar country singer, a scene that helped move the story along not one bit. Again, I understand budget constraints, and I love that they found a way to shoot a movie in Colorado despite the horrid lack of film incentives, making it even harder to stretch the pennies. But trained filmmakers know that good writing, good direction - which includes bringing the best out of actors - and good cinematography are the main ingredients needed for a good film, and they can definitely be achieved on a shoestring.