Joyeux Noel (2023 TV Movie) User Reviews

Not a Fan.

[rebekahrox · 5/10 · 30 October 2023]

I guess the jury is in. This is the third movie I have seen Jaicy Elliot in and the verdict is that she is not a very good actress, in my opinion. In the two previous movies she was supposed to be a lovable character but the way she delivered her lines she came across as downright unpleasant. She was not as bad in this one, but her delivery was still monotone and dull. That's all. Just my opinion, I am sure she has her fans.

Brant Daugherty, on the other hand was excellent with lots of Charisma. He seems to get better looking with age.

One thing that I did like about this movie was that they didn't put a phony fairy tale ending on the story of the painter and the girl in the picture. I loved that he found true happiness with another woman.

Just didn't enjoy this one.

French Village is great, but....

[lindy-00795 · 5/10 · 30 October 2023]

A romantic painting of a Christmas market captures the imagination of copy editor and wannabe reporter, Lea. She is sent to France with pragmatic reporter "moody" Mark to uncover the mystery behind the artist. While Lea is all eager to solve the puzzle, Mark is less excited, somewhat annoyed at being sent on an assignment which is beneath him. Lea and Mark are total opposites. Lea tends to correct Mark's speech, which is annoying. Mark has his own view on how to research a story.

The French Market town is very festive, decorated with Christmas lights and featuring an accordion player, multiple shops, hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts and singers. Lea goes around the shops but it is embarrassing how she speaks to vendors and passersby. Meanwhile, Mark tries to get some sleep (jet lag) but is bothered by Sophie, the landlords daughter. The cute gnomes left around by Sophie are a highlight. Wonder why she isn't listed in the cast on imbd.

Jaicy Elliot, as Lea, is the wrong person for this role. She has deadpan delivery and facial expressions are equally blah. She dresses in a boring coat and beret and her French accent in pronouncing "Merci" is also blah. There is no chemistry between herself and Brant Daughtery.

An interesting feature of this movie is that the plot was written by Brant Daughtery's wife, Kimberly. Maybe she should have been cast in this movie along with her husband.

Had possibility, but tedious, wrong casting.

[mamachikn · 5/10 · 9 November 2023]

I'm not sure how I watched this for 2 hours. I always like Brandt, but Jaicy, although fine in My Southern Family Christmas, is such a boring uncharismatic actress. She has this superior vibe in all her movies. Just not pleasant at all. Never happy, never laughs, rarely smiles.

The script was just okay. I think with another actress, it might have been a lot better. Kimberly should definitely have been in this, or any other actress except Jaicy.

I think Kimberly Daugherty chose Jaicy because there was no chance of any chemistry between them!

That's unfortunate, but casting is extremely important. Especially a lead in a romantic movie.

Not even close.

Usual christmas fayre

[brian_spence_ni · 6/10 · 31 October 2023]

Brant Daugherty was okay in this but if i'm being honest, as much as I found Jaicy Elliot decentish in Grey's Anatomy, I must say she was a bit awful in this film. Still, it's Christmas season and I'm going to binge on the glut of films that are coming out. It's just like an adrenaline rush of happiness, which I really love at this time of the year.

Not an awful film at all but you will find better plots and slightly better story lines and casting. Still, you'll feel warm afterwards which is a plus and you know where the endings going from the start, which is reassuring. Hope you enjoy it; the highlight was the beautiful scenery for me. Such pristine landscapes.

Anticlimactic is too generous a word

[MickyG333 · 6/10 · 17 November 2023]

6.2 stars.

Joyeux starts out with a lot of promise, but immediately I was deflated by the way they forced a potential adventure to become a flat non-event. She finds something by chance, but the chances of this would be about one in 10 billion, that's just a guess. Astronomical does not begin to calculate. You'll see what I mean. And then after she finds it, goes low key about the whole ordeal and then finally has to fight her way into getting the story, and is stuck with a guy whom we can see shares no chemistry with her. Then they are in France and the whole story had so many missed opportunities and so much potential was hamstrung. Just a really fowl production, something that could've been one of the greats. Wow guys, you really blew chunks on this one.

I'd normally award it 5 stars, but the acting was good, the little girl's games and pranks were refreshing, and the city scenes and backdrops were breathtaking.

A Christmas movie with a French twist.

[Avidviewer-02847 · 7/10 · 31 October 2023]

Brant Daugherty is always good, I especially enjoyed him in the "The Baker's Son" and "Just for the Summer". I've seen Jaicy Elliot in a few rom-coms which have been hit and miss. Brant and his wife Kimberley wrote the script and I give them credit, it's different in a good way. At this time of year when Hallmark cuts Autumn movies short and rolls out Christmas movies that aren't very original, it's refreshing to watch one with a different plot.

The slow pace could have been deadly dull, but the leads and the supporting cast kept it interesting. It wasn't the ending we anticipated but it wasn't a cliched ending of "they lived happily ever after". Don't know where it was filmed, on a soundstage in the US with European exteriors, the old City of Quebec in Canada, Belgium or France, but nice locations.

Female lead wasn't right

[SLC2023 · 5/10 · 25 December 2023]

Cute storyline with lovely French backdrop but the wrong female lead ruined it for me. It is refreshing to see Hallmark embrace body inclusivity so I was rooting for the female lead but she didn't do the character justice. Very deadpan in her expressions - she was simply hard to like and root for as a character as a result.

I was also distracted by the wardrobe choices. I felt terribly for the female lead that they kept her in a boring neutral jacket the whole movie that was too small for her. You could see her adjusting it in every scene - it must have been distracting for her as well. Give the gal a colour that flatters her skin tone and actually fits her!

Same but different

[Jackbv123 · 8/10 · 2 November 2023]

This is another quest at Christmas movie combined with a jaded reporter. There are many other common themes, but somehow there was a bit of freshness to the presentation. Perhaps a lot of that is the setting in France and the inclusion of French traditions rather than the usual American ones. The quest goes pretty much as you would expect with one big exception but it held my attention.

What is it that makes Jaicy Elliot appeal to me while so many other reviewers don't like her acting? Perhaps my first impression of her in Romance in Style cemented my like for her. It certainly isn't because her appearance is like so many of the other gorgeous Hallmark stars. Yes, Lea is naive, and she is supposed to be. Yet there is a deeper wisdom there. And there is chemistry with the jaded Brant Daugherty's Mark. The dialogue is good.

One very common plot device in most movies with reporters isn't done here and I'm so glad. I don't want to give spoilers so I won't describe it.

I loved the ending. Again, I don't want to give spoilers so I won't say why.

I'm writing for the wrong people.

[adamjohns-42575 · 7/10 · 21 January 2024]

Joyeux Noel (2023) -

I always find it hard to believe that journalists are given so much money, time and leeway to deliver just one article and just a few days before Christmas for the big seasonal issue. Surely these things should be wrapped up well and truly before December even starts?

I also didn't believe that the two leading actors, Brant Daugherty as Mark and Jaicy Elliot in the role of Lea would ever be more than just friends, certainly not within the space of a few days and don't give me that magic of the season crap. I'd need to see an actual wand being waved and actual magic happening to believe this one.

Before he started to mellow and grow as a human, Mark was clearly not interested in Lea as a person or seemingly anything else for that matter, showing an indifference to most things, but obviously hiding an intelligence and capability to do his job. As the story progressed, I could see him warming to her for her abilities as a novice journalist, but not romantically, despite the festive activities that they took part in.

Sadly Lea was just annoying and stand offish. She was so concerned about being right all the time, that I couldn't imagine that she would ever let anyone in and where it was clear that Mark did start to ponder their connection, I could see nothing to suggest that she had any inclination towards him at all. Perhaps it was Jaicy's acting abilities that didn't show that budding romance or maybe she was directed or edited to come across like that, but it just didn't work. She was just an odd casting choice to go up opposite Brant who was the writer of the screenplay and must have had some input surely. Unless they were specifically trying to show that love is blind and don't get me wrong I believe that it should be about the person inside, but she didn't seem to have any redeeming features at all.

Brant Daugherty is an absolutely beautiful man, which made it easy to be on Mark's side from the off. In spite of his "Moody" monicker, he had a sweetness and a definite charm that just made him even more attractive. And in fairness to him, I wouldn't have wanted Lea tagging along either, regardless of whether she had found the information that lead to the story they were researching or not. So I might have started off with a bad attitude too, but at least he did mellow. I'd also be annoyed that I wasn't doing something more substantial as a journalist with ambition, but I would be thrilled to take a holiday to France for Christmas, whether I enjoyed the festivities and hoopla of it all or not, so he could have appreciated that a bit more keenly.

As the story progressed, and I did enjoy the journey that they were following with its investigative side that wasn't all tree decorating and cookie cutting, as these films can tend to be, I still couldn't buy Mark ever getting together with Lea. Not just because she was nowhere near as hot as him and had no personality, but also because their onscreen chemistry was sooo incompatible. I might have believed it more if it had been a TV series to show that opposites attract or beauty is in the eye of the beer holder, but I would have needed at least ten episodes of really good writing to ever want them to end up together. They didn't get that across in this hour and a half made for TV film though.

If either of them had been swapped out it would have actually been a nice little film as a whole, but that error irked the whole thing. He was so beautiful inside and out, while she was so dumpy and plain and lacking anything attractive from within that the final kiss actually made me cringe.

And while the two reporters searched for the information for their article intent on discovering who had painted a picture and written in a lost diary that Lea had found from so many years ago, there was some convenience to the events that unfolded as well. The lady that let them in to her house without ID and then later unearthed boxes full of photos that were incredibly helpful for instance and completely out of the blue, with no explanation at that.

It's also incredibly frustrating, when the characters are looking in to something, that they never explain to those that they've interviewed exactly what they know to get the full answers and they have no patience to come back when the person isn't busy. It's like watching a crime show when the lead Cop doesn't ask all the questions that are burning in my head, but keep going back to that person for another bit of information and another and so on.

Other than that Sophie (Ciara Prioux), the daughter of the inn keeper where they stayed, was incredibly annoying and I didn't even buy her French accent. She was actually a bit surplus to requirements, where they could have used her screen time to develop the romance instead. And the accordion player who seemed to turn up on every street corner looked like Freddy Krueger*.

However despite all of my moaning, it was still one of the better Christmas films I've seen this year, because the writing was mostly good, the production was well done and it was clear that they had a good budget. The setting was romantic at least and the creative season evenly spread throughout to provide warmth and joy. If they had put anyone else in Lea's role I might have given this film at least a 9/10, but she did let it down.

7.39/10.

*Robert Englund's burnt and knifed glove wearing character from 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984).

Not Quintessential Hallmark

[Ash-lee · 2/10 · 10 December 2023]

I typically rate movies on the Hallmark app, but I went back and noticed that anything with a less than favorable rating was not approved while my reviews for the movies I loved are on each one. Fine - Hallmark wants to skew its reviews, I'll come to IMDB. The only good thing about this movie is the scenery and the leading man who tries to carry the scenes. Jaicy is the Hallmark Kristen Stewart: one note acting and no emotion. Well, that's not entirely fair because she does show one emotion: a smirk with dead eyes. I've watched her in three Hallmark movies now, and it's the same acting in each one. I'm so tired of seeing her praised as the "every woman." Yes, she's close to my size, but that doesn't mean I have to automatically love her. I'm also blonde - that doesn't mean I have to love every natural blonde actress either. I expect more from a movie that is supposed to be entertaining. She was clearly hired to tick a box, because she doesn't fit the role at all. I did appreciate the scenery - it was gorgeous. And I didn't mind that it's not a typical ending to this type of mystery, but this movie fell very flat.

A beautiful painting inspires an investigation into the love story that inspired it.

[cgvsluis · 8/10 · 7 November 2023]

Jaicy Elliot, of Grey's Anatomy fame, plays the copy editor want-to-be journalist Lea in this Hallmark Holiday Romance with a French twist. Written by the husband and wife team of Kimberly and Brant Daugherty, this romance had a sweet feeling that was just a tad different than the usual hallmark fare.

The story tells us of a painting revealed by an American museum of an unknown artist for their Christmas exhibit. The painting depicts a woman in the midst of a European Christmas market. Meanwhile, copy editor Lea purchases an antique wooden jewelry box for a Christmas gift. While home and examining the box, Lea discovers a hidden journal that speaks of the love of an artist...only the last of the pages are missing, leaving the love story unfinished. There is a sketch of the mystery artist which matches the museum's painting. Through some coercion she pitches the story to her managing editor...who then assigns it to an experienced reporter, Mark (Brant Daugherty). Viewing this as a fluff piece, Mark considers the piece beneath him and is even more bent out of shape to be saddled with his copy editor and rookie reporter Lea. The two are sent to a small town in France to track down the rest of the story and potentially find the artist. Their two opposing styles seem to be in conflict with one another but they end up both contributing and having something to teach each other. Add in the inn keeper's daughter Sophie, who has an on going conversation with Mark because he is teaching her about how to become a reporter and she is teaching him about the mischievous nature of the Christmas elves.

This was sweet and the backdrop was lovely. I love European Christmas markets and I liked seeing one incorporated into this Hallmark story. I liked the fanciful nature of investigating a mysterious painting that captivated the holiday museum goers...and then telling it's unique love story. As a romantic, this story really appealed to me, which makes it a recommendation to all my fellow romantics.

Sweet Christmas movie.

[MIssM19 · 7/10 · 29 November 2023]

Leah is a copy editor at a newspaper. Her dream has always been to publish a story with her name on it at said newspaper, so when the opportunity comes she pitches about a Chrisgmas Market in France where people fall in love. Mark is a senior reporter who gets chosen for this article, Leah gets the chance to go with him and work on it together.

So, I always say that when the actors get involved in their projects, it's always better. Doesn't matter in which capacity. And this is no exception since it was co-written by our lead actor.

This story was just the sweetest. Grumpy guy who softens at the girl's optimism never fails. The leads had ok chemistry and who doesn't love a good scavenger hunt? Resolving mysteries while getting to know the other... One thing I didn't like is that Jaicy always seems to play her characters the same way.

But I really liked the ending. While, of course, it's a happy one for our leads, this still is a Hallmark movie after all, not everything turned out the way we expected as we watch it. That alone earned it one more star.

Overall, cute moments between the leads, nothing over the top, a realistic relationship with no "I love yous" after a week, and a fun plot. I would watch another movie written by Brant and his wife.

This movie FLATLINED.

[permasummer · 1/10 · 11 November 2023]

If you, like some people, think that Hallmark Christmas movies couldn't possibly get any worse, YOU ARE WRONG. You are so wrong, you should be named Mr. False McWrongerton because there is a much, Much, MUCH lower level of Hallmark Hell that I wasn't fully aware existed...until I watched "Joyeux Noel" last night.

Lea, a copy editor/grammar nazi, at The Post opened the movie "Joyeux Noel" in some random antique trinket shop, reading a children's bedtime story about two strangers locking eyes and falling in love (before knowing each other's names, occupations, religious beliefs, socioeconomic status, or whether the other person snores or not). Apparently, this was a story that Lea's dad (who is now dead) and mom (who needs to cut the umbilical cord already) used to read to her nearly every night of Lea's childhood, which is why she idolizes love at first sight - and has remained tellingly single well into her thirties. On her way out the door of the shop with her mom, Lea purchased an old jewelry/music box from France on a whim.

As our nation fawned over a newfound romantic painting of some faceless, womanly-shaped body, Lea watched the news about it from her living room while she messed with her new box and happened to find a tiny journal in a drawer of the antique box that had a detailed pencil drawing of the famous painting and unfinished journal entries about two teenagers falling desperately into forbidden love! This discovery part of the movie was terrible...and it only got worse from there.

Lea's quirky work friend pitched the story idea of tracking down this artist and finding out more about the love story to their boss at the newspaper, which is how Lea ended up in small town, France with actual journalist, Mark. Lea was ecstatic because local legend has it that you will lock eyes with your true love at the town's market at Christmas time. Mark is cynical and underwhelmed. Upon landing, Mark immediately made the wise decision to go straight to the hotel to sleep off jet lag, but Lea beelined from food vendor to food vendor at the Christmas market, eating her way through town like the very hungry caterpillar...and always keeping an eye out for a man in the hope of eventually locking eyes with her true love. That never happens. 🙄

Mark & Lea spend the rest of the movie trapped on the same movie set together, recreating the scenes of the love story written in the journal as some weird way of conducting actual sleuthing to find clues that will uncover what happened to the artist and his "true love". At one point, we were subjected to one of the worst montages we've ever seen in a Hallmark movie where the two actors simply walk back and forth across the same set at different times of day while we hear them talk about stuff. The only redeeming parts to this movie were the French kids who kept kicking Mark in the shins...and the mischievous little gnomes.

In the end, Mark and Lea solve the mystery. They discover the artist/writer of the journal, in time to learn that the girl he wrote about never showed up at the church so they could elope, he never saw her again, and he eventually married someone else entirely; crushing Lea's unrealistic idea of love. Yet somehow, by some Christmas miracle because there was literally no spark, Lea and Mark fall in love with each other. I don't understand HOW because Lea spends most of their interactions POLICING MARK'S GRAMMAR. Honestly, I've never been so thankful to see Hallmark roll credits.

Oh, wait! I HAVE been just as thankful to see Hallmark roll credits when this same actress (from the show Grey's Anatomy) starred in another Hallmark Christmas movie LAST YEAR! Listen, I review all new Hallmark releases each year on my FB page for the sheer joy of subjecting my husband to watching all of them so we can poke fun at each one together, like some sadistic bonding activity. Last year's movie was SO BAD I refused to review it and I left it off of my movie rating list entirely as punishment for wasting 84 minutes of my life. Its name was "My Southern Family Christmas" (also starring Jaicy Elliot), it was about - get this - a journalist who went in search of a heartwarming story at Christmas and fell in love, and it's tagline was - GET THIS - "Put a Little Joyeux Into Your Noel". I know what I'm about to say might shock some of you, but I think Hallmark might be RECYCLING MATERIAL EACH YEAR.

An Interesting Story That Loses Steam

[atlasmb · 6/10 · 2 January 2024]

This is another example of Hallmark staging its romances in foreign locations, a trend I enjoy due to the presence of world architecture and the immersion in foreign cultures. In this story, the two leads are coworkers sent to France to investigate a story about a couple who met in a market in the French town of Petit Marchon, where there is a legend about finding love.

Lea (Jaicy Elliot) is the person who uncovered the story. She is a romantic who desires to become a writer. Mark (Brant Daugherty) is an experienced writer who is rather jaded when it comes to love or legends. When they get to France, Lea wants to recreate the actions of the two lovers as recorded in a diary. Mark, the pragmatist, wants to use more traditional investigative methods. As they work together, they learn more about each other.

This story starts out strong. As it progresses, it loses some of its edge. The ending is weak despite the acting talent of the two leads.

There is no realistic chemistry between the two leads

[mihaisorinp · 2/10 · 15 November 2023]

What can be wrong with a Christmas movie about love and family. More the movie action is placed in so romantic country like France and city Paris. There cannot be any chemistry between the hot guy and the average girl.

There is no way in the real world that a girl like that can have a guy like that. This is not how love and romance and attraction laws work. The girl should be also beautiful and slim same like the guy who is great looking, if you just want to make a movie about inclusion you will not have any normal people like it since it is not normal what is going on. So this is for 2 stars given.

Worth Watching for the Location

[lisamlaucsr · 8/10 · 31 October 2023]

For the lovely location and scenery alone, this movie is worth watching. A good amount of it was filmed in France, which really adds an authentic feel to it. I'm a big fan of Jaicy Elliott ("A Southern Family Christmas") and Brant Daugherty ("#Xmas") and they didn't disappoint.

Their characters, Lea and Mark, are reporters working for the same paper who are sent to France to dig deeper into the origins of a painting of which the artist is unknown. The Christmas marketplace serves as a third character of sorts, for it is there that the main story takes shape.

The thing I didn't quite buy was Elliott's character was a bit too naive and Daugherty's character was a bit too jaded. I really enjoy them as actors, but I would've preferred the focus be less on a jaded reporter vs. A newbie and more on just two coworkers on equal footing who see and approach things differently. But that didn't ruin it for me much at all. The young actress who I believe plays the daughter of the innkeeper was a delight and I can't say enough about the beautiful location. In my opinion, this movie is worth recording.

Painful to Watch

[lgroden · 3/10 · 12 November 2023]

I thought this film would be really romantic so I stuck with the story that Lea & Mark were investigating. I wish I hadn't bothered. There was no chemistry between the lead actors. As for the script - it was so painful particularly the church scene where Lea asked who were the characters in the nativity display - it was dreadfully painful to sit through & embarrassing. The fake French accents were also obvious although that didn't apply to all. I also found it difficult to get my head around the fact that Jaicy's character, Lea, had never left the country (assuming that she didn't have a passport), but was able to magically travel to France the next day!! The only redeeming feature of this film is the location. This is 1.5 hours I'll never get back.

Not very much like Paris at all

[lucylouise-23546 · 1/10 · 9 November 2023]

I love Paris. I was excited to see a movie set in Paris. I love movies set in European Cities: "Christmas in Vienna," "Christmas in Rome," "Paris, Wine and Romance." to name just a few. But "Joyeux Noel" is a disappointment. It didn't look very much like Paris (I've been to Paris), and it didn't feel very much like Paris, either. The lead actor was good ( He was great in "The Baker's Son." The whole cast was great in "The Baker's Son." That is a great and hilarious movie! I highly recommend "The Baker's Son"!) The lead actress, Jaicy Elliott, who must be new, wasn't very believable at all. And Brant Daugherty and Jaicy Elliott didn't have much to work with since the script wasn't very good. I definitely don't recommend this movie. Oh, well. I am looking forward to "A Heidelberg Holiday."

DIdn't hate it, didn't love it.

[rdubz-23518 · 5/10 · 24 December 2023]

This is my first time watching either of the leads in a Hallmark movie. I have mixed feelings, hence the title of this review. So, first I'll go into what I enjoyed, then what I didn't.

I really liked Brent Daughtery in this. He played the grumpy half of the grumpy x sunshine trope very well. I think sometimes with these roles some of the actors can overdo it on the meanness, but he balanced it well.

I loved the scenery. It felt very Christmassy and very cozy overall, especially some of the aerial shots like the train they took.

What I didn't like/had mixed feelings about was the female lead. The actress (Jaicy I think her name is) played Leah...hmm, almost indifferently? I don't really feel like she embodied the sunshiny, positive vibes that people often described Leah as or even the type of romantic she was. Maybe someone like Jerrika Hinton or Meghan Ory would've been better suited, because at times her facial expressions just seemed like she was bored.

That said, I didn't think it was a terrible film. I actually love the trope subversion here, in that I thought we'd get a fairytale ending like Leah wanted, but it didn't turn out that way. And I liked that Leah learned to accept it, instead of being whiny about it.

5.5 is my final rating...I don't think I'd be inclined to rewatch, but again, it's not the worst I've ever seen.

The scenes were nice...I liked the little girl🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[JesLovsU2 · 3/10 · 16 December 2023]

I actually have seen some good Hallmark Christmas movies this year, especially A Biltmore Christmas. That was fantastic! But this one...umh...not so much. I like the French town they were walking through. It actually looked more Swiss, but the lead actors, well weren't so good. Not sure how they fell in love at the end. Don't think that actually worked. It was boing except I like the little girl Sophie and the gnomes! The street market was nice, but over all not good casting. Chemistry does not exist! So good concept, but not a good delivery! So I need to write more words to post this review...not sure what else to say. Boring! No chemistry! 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️