Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square

CinemaSerf 3/27/2022 6:47:19PM 8.4

Now, who doesn't like a bit of Dolly at Christmas? Well, add a little Treat Williams and make Christine Baranski a baddie, and that should have been a recipe for success. Well - it isn't. The whole thing is so sentimentally cheesy that it's almost excruciating to watch. The plot - insofar as that remotely matters - is a sort of "A Christmas Carol" affair, with Baranski deciding to sell her town to some property developers - and so she decides to deliver eviction notices to the populace with only days to go until Santa arrives. Dolly, complete with angel dust, decides to step in and stop the mean and wicked lady from carrying out her plan and... well, you can guess the rest. The whole thing reminded me of a cannibalisation of a school performance of "Godspell" I was in, in 1974 - the production and dance routines are staged to within an inch of their life - and a couple of episodes of "Glee". I doubt even at this time of year, this can resonate with anyone who isn't under ten years old - and I'm afraid Treat Williams just can't sing. One, perhaps, to leave the kids in front of the telly for, whilst you wrestle with the turkey but otherwise, even the schmaltzy lyric doesn't help. It might be borderline sacrilegious to say this but sorry, Dolly - this is terrible.