A Heidelberg Holiday (2023 TV Movie) User Reviews

A German Christmas

[haa4 · 7/10 · 16 November 2023]

This was really good. I've loved Ginna Claire Mason since seeing her as Glinda in Wicked so it's great to see her in Hallmark Christmas movies. She's still a little green but worked really well with Frederic and the other actors. I like that Hallmark is investing in location shoots for these movies, especially for lesser known actors. The German backdrop was stunning and I love that this was cast locally and incorporated German traditions. Also appreciated the bilingual dialogue with subtitles.

I wasn't crazy about how they resolved the missing ornament issue and I wanted a bit more from the ending. What's next for Heidi? But other than that, this is a winner that I'll rewatch again.

Also note to Hallmark: There are lots of talented Broadway actors out there. Please spread the casting love because this is a trend I'd like to see continue.

Typical Hallmark Romance

[gordonb-59587 · 7/10 · 14 November 2023]

At the time of this review, 24 people had rated this show a 10, and 11 rated it a 1. I wish the IMBD required some justification when rating. This was a pretty typical Hallmark romance introducing some new actors. And while filmed in a unique location, it hardly warrants scores at the extreme high and low ends. Enjoying the movie doesn't make it a 10 and not caring for it doesn't make it a 1.

I made it a point to watch it because I was stationed near Heidelberg with the U. S. Army many years ago and enjoyed seeing many of the same locations I had visited. Movie wise - it was predictable, pleasant and enjoyable, but not a 10 or a 1.

Delightful European/American Christmas film

[Pieter050 · 8/10 · 13 November 2023]

It must be the mix of German and American actors that makes this film lovely. The acting is so natural (the children too) that it is a joy to watch.

The dialogues run smoothly and naturally -obviously it still is a Christmas film, so when the two leads are introduced to us, we know exactly how it's going to end.

But with all the extremely polished Christmas films around, where the production design seems to be the main character and every snowflake is personally checked and put in its place, this film is a breath of fresh air.

It's nice to hear a foreign language spoken too. The misunderstandings and miscommunications between Heidi and her German friends are very funny.

Heidi Heidelberg goes to Heidelberg.

[gfrasmd · 6/10 · 13 November 2023]

Once again, Hallmark dresses a rather unsubstantial romantic story, this time at Christmas, with the background of an appealing, historical destination. Heidi, an American artist of German heritage has the opportunity to exhibits her hand-made Christmas ornaments at the fabled Heidelberg Christmas Market, while discovering her family's roots. Hosted at the Oppermanns' guest house, she is welcomed to share their Holiday traditions and bonds with their son, Lukas, also an artist with a kin soul. With some twists and turns, that shall not be revealed, the story follows to a predictable outcome. How does it work?

LOCATION: the movie offers appreciable glimpses of the historical vestiges and the culture of this city, that I regret never been able to visit. This is a definite plus.

PLOT: some original elements are inserted in an otherwise fairly bland story.

PERFORMANCES: frankly, I am not overly impressed neither by the acting abilities of Ginna Claire Mason and Frederic Brossier or their chemistry in this production.

ATMOSPHERE: despite some charming sequences, Hallmark shows the usual superficiality in handling other cultures. Somehow, the feeling of a real German experience is missing in most of the scenes. A major omission, which could have been easy to provide, with a little attention and minimal cost, is real German Christmas music. Germany has an enormous wealth of beautiful traditional music, dating back to the Middle Age, that could have created a magical background for the action, Instead, other than a token rendition or "O Tannenbaum" and a short run of 'Es ist ein Ros einsprungen" melody, the soundtrack is quite generic and uninspired. In my book, this is a badly missed opportunity.

Overall, the film is "Christmas-y" and family-oriented, with some endearing moments and worth a look, though it could have been so much more.

It was okay

[mblake-62426 · 7/10 · 27 November 2023]

Frederic Brossier is cute in a subtle way. I do love how a few of the actors, including him, are actually from Germany.

They have no chemistry though. He seems bored with her. And she looks at him like a brother, not a love interest. They were cute together at the end, but still no chemistry.

She's going to cover up his beautiful woodwork with broken glass? I hate it. It's at least a plot twist that I didn't expect so that's nice.

I do love how she gave the display set to the special client with the heartwarming story. That was very sweet. Almost made me cry.

The setting makes the movie both unrelatable but also exciting. A Christmas in Germany sounds very cozy.

This may be my favorite Hallmark film of all, but certainly my favorite of 2023.

[cgvsluis · 9/10 · 13 November 2023]

There were so many things to love about this film. I loved the sharing of both German and American Christmas traditions, I loved seeing a German Christmas market, loved the sights in and around Heidelberg, and I loved that things weren't all perfect...with creativity being born out of what was a tragedy. This is such a wonderful way to celebrate Hallmark's keepsake ornaments' 50th anniversary, by doing a holiday romance about an ornament maker!

Heidi Heidelberg is an ornament maker and her dream is to sell her ornaments in her family's home town Christmas market in Heidelberg, Germany. Her family has a wonderful story about how her family helped build the Heidelberg castle, traveling a long distance with supplies like the columns. Unfortunately, years of rejection letters paper her workroom wall...until this year someone drops out of the market one week in and she is invited to sell her ornaments. Heidi, with the help of her family, jumps at the chance to fulfill her dream.

Unfortunately, other than the sample ornaments she flew with...her ornaments are delayed in arriving. Thanks to her grandmother's hometown connections she is staying with a lovely German family with a legacy of woodworking, and how she meets the handsome wood artist Lukas. Lukas helps Heidi with the more laidback German sales approach, convincing her to do pre-sales until her ornaments arrive.

There are a series of encounters with the very efficient German Post, which lends a lot of the comedy to this film...and I can personally vouch for being more efficient than our local post office or UPS.

This was absolutely wonderful and I really enjoyed it. As a romantic, I like the slow build relationship and the romance of the gorgeous German Christmas backdrop. But what really made this special were the small family moments shared at home with the German family and their American guest...including the romantic ones like the chocolate given to someone you have a crush on.

This really may be my favorite of all the Hallmark Holiday films I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot!), but it is for certain my favorite of 2023. I highly recommend this to both romantics and fans of both Christmas and German Christmas traditions. (There were definitely some German Christmas traditions missed...but I am not complaining, the film was great!)

Average

[r96sk · 6/10 · 2 December 2023]

Your average made-for-television festive flick.

'A Heidelberg Holiday' doesn't bring major Xmas feeling though, it didn't feel as Christmassy as I'd want via my personal liking but what is produced is close enough. The German aspects are cool, especially for an American-made movie.

I thought the 'delayed delivery' side of the story was gonna pack more of a punch than it did, I was getting magical elf worker vibes but maybe that was my imagination expecting too much from a flick of this kind. The cast, meanwhile, all blend into one in my memory to be honest, Ginna Claire and Frédéric Brossier are alright leads mind.

Pretty good story, but I have something I need to say: Spoiler!

[jeannepletcher · 8/10 · 18 November 2023]

I am usually hooked on Hallmark Christmas Movies. I record them, and watch when I am able. Today, I finally watched this movie. I really enjoyed the interaction with the German family. (Instead of just adults interacting.) And seeing the castle, church, and all the scenery was really nice. And I really enjoyed the German postal employee!

Obviously there had to be some sort of twist at the end,

So I came here specifically to see if someone made a comment that to me was so obvious!!! From the beginning, I knew that the cheap postal service was going to be a problem.

But then, near the end: I mean, really! Who sends such fragile ornaments packed so poorly. That's all I have to say!

Charming movie.

[MIssM19 · 7/10 · 25 December 2023]

Heidi Heidelberg has the opportunity to sell her Christmas ornaments at a very popular festive market in Germany, the country from her ancestors. There she meets Lukas, whose family is providing her accommodations. While there, her Oma (grandmother) gave her a mission to go to places she used to go in her youth.

I really liked this movie. All movies placed in Europe have a charm to it, specially If they truly are based there. I felt like this movie had a lot going on. But I think it worked: the ornaments, the tour, and even the family moments.

There was a little nod to the Hallmark movies at the beginning. One of the characters said that his countdown to Christmas starts at the end of October. Blink and you miss it. The leads had good chemistry and so did the rest of the cast.

Worth the watch.

Poor dialogue

[brian_spence_ni · 3/10 · 14 November 2023]

I think the actors, while mediocre, were very much let down by this script. I heard so many things that made me just feel wrong, not even lazy or sloppy but more irresponsible writing. I think this is the worst written script i have ever watched and I'm glad I turned it off half-way through.

Who in hallmark gave this garbage the green light? I know it's the Christmas period but still, you have to have some sort of standards. Your viewers like me depend on it. I'm still not over how very, very bad it was from start to halfway through. If you watched it to the end, give me a thumbs up! You're braver than I am.

A Good Movie Until The Ridiculous Ending

[cincy-47983 · 8/10 · 14 November 2023]

Okay - this was an enjoyable movie, until it wasn't. Excellent scenery and production quality. Excellent acting and most story elements are believable. But, why, oh why, oh why does Hallmark insist on the "something will work out" type of ending? The movie builds up to the expected and natural conclusion of the main characters getting together but, well, do they? As near as we can tell, Heidi may or may not be still living in Boulder and may or may not be traveling to Germany just for holidays or, well, is the main guy going to spend time in Boulder or what?

Hallmark, please, pretty please, try to wrap up your stories and not leave so much hanging as you have done here and do so often. The actors and behind-the-scenes talent did their jobs well but leaving us hanging at the end like this just does everyone a disservice.

It was okay.

[adamjohns-42575 · 6/10 · 6 February 2024]

A Heidelberg Holiday (2023) -

Tell someone that you love them, but shout it at them in German because life is unexpected and full of surprises.

I know that here in Europe we have all the history, but there are a lot of these films out there now. They show how a different country celebrates the festive season and the differences between the American culture and the particular country of choice and in this case it was Germany, but it WAS another trip over the pond with the idea of promoting those differences and it was maybe delivered in a way that was a bit twee and folksy.

Everyone was all so pleasant and accommodating, which while sad to say, hasn't generally been the experience that I have found anywhere in the world.

With that said there were of course a couple of rude, super efficient, German characters, which didn't represent their people very well.

Because the family and so on were all so very enthusiastic, it was a lot to take. However Lukas, played by Frédéric Brossier was charming and attractive and initially the only reason that I stayed with this film, because although Ginna Claire Mason in her role of Heidi Heidelberg visiting Heidelberg (Yep! They did that!) wasn't abrasive in any way, I didn't really connect with her otherwise and personally I thought the Glass Baubles that she had hand painted to sell at the illustrious German Market were pretty crap. I certainly wouldn't have been happy as a customer at the end of the film either.

I did like the fact that the big upsetting issue that usually breaks the couples up temporarily in these films was not actually a fallout between the two leads but something else entirely. I get so bored of that.

Apart from that I was frustrated by her frequent abandonment of her Bauble stall, because that really was no way to do business.

And there were some really mixed accents thrown in amongst the family. The sister seemed like she might be trying to hide an Irish twang at times.

It wasn't actually a bad film at all and although I did think that Frédéric Brossier was the main appeal to it, the story and its production were done very well with all sorts of lovely scenery and history thrown in on top of a well thought out narrative, despite needing a slightly less treacly script. It was warm and glowy, which is all that's really needed for one of these seasonal specials.

6.46/10.

Even "Gidget Goes To Rome" is better

[montgomerysue · 5/10 · 13 November 2023]

In 1962, the talented Suzanne Pleshette starred in the very successful "Rome Adventure" and, since that time, many films have been made about a young American woman who goes to Europe in search of fame, romance, riches, adventure - or any combination thereof. In recent years, Hallmark has jumped on the bandwagon, offering stories about young women who take off for England, Italy, France, etc. During the Christmas season. Some are good and some are not. This time it's Germany and it's not good.

What made "Rome Adventure" work was that Pleshette and her co-stars, including Troy Donahue, Angie Dickinson, and Constance Ford, were all gifted and intelligent actors who could carry off the sometimes predictable script and make it interesting for the viewer.

But here, the actors can't and, quite often, the movie comes off as corny and trite. The two leads definitely do not have the chemistry that Pleshette and Donahue had on screen.

Yes, the German scenery is quite beautiful and the director captured it nicely, but the actors keep getting in the way with their often stilted and contrived overacting.

Even "Gidget Goes To Rome" was more interesting with characters who had some flair and wit.

A Heidelberg Holiday will be a yearly Christmas movie

[bmiller59 · 10/10 · 27 November 2023]

So so so many things to love about this movie. It was a beautiful movie from beginning to end. The story was so rich, inter weaving the history of Christmas in Heidelberg along with the history of Heidelberg.

I really believed the relationship between Heidi and Lukas. I thought their chemistry jumped off the screen to us in the audience. I've only seen one other Hallmark movie featuring Gina Claire Mason who plays Heidi, and she is spectacular. We see the same female leads in Hallmark movies, but she is different. Hope to see more of her.

As great as the story was and the actors in it though, the star of this movie was Heidelberg. A beautiful beautiful German city, rich in history. When I saw that Heidelberg was the backdrop the first thing I did was to look up locations of this hoping it wasn't filmed in Canada with some filler shots in Heidelberg. No Canada. It was filmed in Heidelberg and it's castle with other filming in Serbia. I spent 30 months in the Army in Kaiserslautern which is the largest U. S. military community outside the United States and I spent much time off at Heidelberg. What you see in the movie is what you get there.

Great job to Hallmark for A Heidelberg Holiday.

Lesson learned...

[MickyG333 · 8/10 · 4 December 2023]

7.6 stars.

...never ship your treasures through a questionable service.

The whole theme hinges on Heidi's ornaments and the fact that she chose to go cheap and ship her valuable Christmas ornaments through a lesser known shipping company is indicative of her character. Let's shove that whole incongruence and personality fiasco aside and this becomes a wonderful adventure.

This woman gets the opportunity of a lifetime to travel from USA to showcase her handcrafted ornaments in Heidelberg Germany, her ancestor's city of origin. Her artwork is exquisite and she will be staying in Heidelberg over the holidays with friends of her grandmother.

The older son is a woodworking genius and has many works of art as well. They are immediately friends, and she spends weeks with this family celebrating the holidays German style, growing very fond of them, and they of her. Soon she and their son become more than friends.

There are some ups and downs, and many of the conversations are somewhat predictable, but the human connections feel genuine and the scenery and authentic German nostalgia are not easy to match, making this film worth mentioning.

Ugly American even if she is pretty

[Jackbv123 · 5/10 · 14 December 2023]

In the beginning, Heidi is the typical American who is too aggressive for most Europeans. Arrogant, demanding and pushy. After a while she softens even though she still has a fair amount of energy.

The story is a bit different from the crowd even though it follows the basic flow of most Christmas movies where the two romantic leads are thrown together for a time and develop a relationship. There are no great highs or lows.

The acting is OK. The dialogue has good moments but otherwise is bland. The leads have some chemistry but nothing special.

A big draw of this movie for many will be the scenery and traditions. There is an amazing castle and views of the city from what seems to be miles above but probably only a few stories.

I often say that these movies often have trouble with realism. This one pushed it too far as far as the conflict and solution.

This movie didn't disappoint.

[lucylouise-23546 · 10/10 · 24 November 2023]

When I saw the preview for "A Heidelberg Holiday," I was so excited to see it! It is a great movie! It definitely didn't disappoint. Heidi hand paints small ornaments, and travels to Heidelberg, Germany to sell them. When she gets to Germany, she has trouble getting to where she is going to stay in Heidelberg, and meets a nice man. An artisan, along the way, who helps her get there.

She later gets a booth to sell her ornaments, but the ornaments keep getting derailed in Iceland and other countries. Then when the ornaments arrive, they are broken.

Everyone did a great job in this movie, and the scenery is beautiful! Highly remomended!

I loved it

[larryhelm-20297 · 10/10 · 18 November 2023]

Great scenery in Germany. Great story without the typical silly, lame drama. Great cast of a family who totally accepted the main girl visiting there from USA. There was a brief drama but it was turned into a really cute victory that involved the entire family helping. A very sweet surprise at the end.

I really liked the romance that developed and grew through the events. Too many times, these kind of movies have the couple getting really close emotionally and then have a silly drama that is so stupid and causes one to suddenly forget all their time and love shared together. This story did not do this to us watchers!! 👍👍

Perfect Christmas Movie

[mermaidscribbler · 10/10 · 20 December 2023]

The location was beautiful, and the actors were believable. It was so heartfelt! Watching it was like getting a warm Christmas hug.

Heidi finally gets her dream of entering her artwork into the Heidelberg Christmas market, and she encounters help along the way from the sweet family who rents her a cottage. Their talented and handsome son ends up assisting her with errands, and he provides wisdom and insight that help her through some major set-backs.

There were so many gems in this story. From the incomparable location with its castle, mountains, charming town, and the sparkling Christmas market, there were Christmas delights at every turn. The story had so much meaning about honoring family and traditions and also about persevering through difficulties and fulfilling your passions. It was such a delight throughout. Truly, a warm Christmas hug!