I absolutely loved this first film featuring the Liddle family and getting excited to watch the second! “Merry Liddle Christmas” is one of the best produced holiday telefilms you’ll watch and I definitely recommend it!
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TITLE: Merry Liddle Christmas
FILM YEAR: 2019
DURATION: 87 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition
COMPANY: Lifetime Television
RATED: TV-PG
Directed by Bosede Williams
Written by Andrea Stevens
Executive Producer: Monique Nash, Kelly Rowland, Tim Weatherspoon, Korin Williams
Produced by Charles Cooper
Music by Terry Frewer, Trent Phillips
Cinematography by Anthony C. Metchie
Edited by Dean Soltys
Casting by Catharine Falcon, Bim Narine
Production Design by Nick Richardson
Art Direction: Gillian Van Santen
Set Decoration: Victor Razi
Costume Design: Emily Gray
Starring:
Kelly Rowland as Jacquie Liddle
Bresha Webb as Kiara
Latonya Williams as Treena
Thomas Cadrot as Tyler Brooks
Jaime M. Callica as Julian
Thalia Campbell as Ava
Debbi Morgan as Marchelle
Chris Shields as Wade
Aiden Stoxx as Josh
Amanda Wong as Naomi
Marking her first foray into producing for television, Kelly Rowland partners with Kronicle Media for Merry Liddle Christmas.
Inspired by her own recent Christmas catastrophe, Kelly Rowland plays Jacquie– a successful, super-together single tech entrepreneur whose messy family descends on her gleaming new dream home for the holidays. Christmas traditions collide and family drama ensues as she struggles to keep her house together in time for a glossy video shoot of “the perfect Christmas.” On top of that, the possibility of romance with a new neighbor has Jacquie questioning all her dating rules, so even though this isn’t the Christmas she envisioned, it might just be the most magical one yet.
We have reached day 27 of my holiday film marathon and today’s film is probably the slickest production I have seen for a holiday telefilm. May it be overall production, costume design, set design and awesome acting, it’s the first film of the so far, three film holiday telefilm series featuring the Liddle family, titled “Merry Liddle Christmas”.
And I can see why there is big love for the Liddles and the holiday films because are they truly special and so fun to watch!
But what is even more impressive is that we have a film not just focusing on an all African-American cast, but we also have a film that features an African-American director. So, in many ways, for the holiday films, this is groundbreaking and hopefully will open the gates of us seeing more holiday films with Latino and Asian American cast and crew in the near future as well.
“Merry Liddle Christmas” is directed by Bosede Williams (“Transplant”, “The King of Napa”) and written by Andrea Stevens (“Taxi Brooklyn”, “Charmed”, “First Wave”) and the film is executive produced by Kelly Rowland (singer, Destiny’s Child member, actress), who also plays the main protagonist.
Along with Rowland, “Merry Liddle Christmas” also stars Thomas Cadrot (“Debris”, “The Good Doctor”), Bresha Webb (“Run the World”, “Meet the Blacks”, “A Fall From Grace”), Latonya Williams (“Travelers”), Debbi Morgan (“All My Children”, “The Hurricane”, “Eve’s Bayou”), Jaime M. Callica (“Hypnotic”, “Ruthless”, “Under Wraps”), Chris Shields (“Chappie”, “Elysium”, “Godzilla”), Thalia Campbell, Aiden Stoxx, Marcello Guedes and more.
The film revolves around tech entrepreneur (owner of Liddle by Liddle Digital) Jacquie Liddle (portrayed by Kelly Rowland), a digital creator known for creating an app to help busy families stay organized. So, Jacquie has her life set to schedules, technology everywhere from her bathroom mirrors, tables, etc.
But she has a big opportunity, for her company to head the tech division from Queen of the Castle, where she purchases her furniture from. But they want to shoot a video of her and her family at her home enjoying the holidays, to make sure that Jacquie is the right fit to lead their brand.
But there is one thing that worries Jacquie, it’s the holidays and when it comes to holidays, reuniting the family but she knows that she needs her family come to her place to host, so this video can be shot.
Part of the struggle is that Jacquie tends to often get into arguments with younger sister Kiara (portrayed by Bresha Webb), who feels is always trying to compete with her, her parents Marchelle (portrayed by Debbi Morgan) and husband Wade (portrayed by Chris Shields) who always have Christmas at their home via the Liddle tradition, but agrees to have Christmas at Jacquie’s home. Fortunately for Jacquie, she has middle sister Treena (portrayed by Latonya Williams) who is always there to listen to her.
And so, her parents arrive, Treena with husband Julian (portrayed by Jaime M. Callica) and their children Ava (portrayed by Thalia Campbell) and baby. While Kiara arrives with her son Royce (portrayed by Marcello Guedes) and her dog.
But to Jacquie’s chagrin, things are not going as she had planned. Her family is not used to her technologically savvy home (her father has a hard time using her advanced remote to change the channels, the kids are not aware that using her voice activate to order, will actually purchase things without her knowing, kids playing around and spilling things around the house, dog chewing up things in the house) but also that the family think her Christmas theme of all white Christmas tree and decorations is not right and wants to bring that Liddle Christmas tradition to her home.
Meanwhile, while Jacquie stresses out from her family, she meets her neighbor, a single father of two and restaurant owner, Tyler Brooks (portrayed by Thomas Cadrot). But things between the two don’t go as well for their first time meeting each other.
How will the Liddle family’s “Merry Liddle Christmas” go this year?
“Merry Liddle Christmas” is no doubt a film with slick production, awesome costume and set design but also spot on casting and scenes that actually flow extremely well. And as mentioned, this is probably a groundbreak holiday telefilm, in which the cast and some the crew are primarily African-American which is fantastic!
I’ve reviewed numerous films about Lifetime Television being on the forefront of being progressive, and how they had a holiday film featuring an African-American couple, Latino family or an Asian American family but I think this is the first holiday telefilm which I have watched with an African-American family and like other ethnic portrayals, thrilled for this series to showcase successful characters.
But I also feel the casting was perfect for this film. Kelly Rowland as the successful, determined Jacquie and her middle sister, Kiara (portrayed by Bresha Webb) are totally different from one another. Kiara is sassy and the type to not wanting to be one-upped by her sister. Both Kelly and Bresha were fantastic for this film. And for the youngest sister, Latonya Williams is no doubt becoming a Christmas Queen, as I have seen her on numerous holiday telefilms but I have to say, as Treena Liddle, these films definitely showcase the actress and she does a great job.
But one actress who I am grateful to see was Debbi Morgan. Many of us grew up watching Debbi as Dr. Angie Baxter Hubbard on “All My Children” (and her short sting on “The Young and the Restless”). But Debbi is one of those legendary actresses who can play numerous emotional roles and make scenes come to life and she does an amazing job in this telefilm as Jacquie’s mother.
But while the family is the focus, I love the small side story exchanges between Treena (who is a nurse) and husband Julian (a financial planner who wants to try something different and new) who have a hard time spending time with their jobs.
But there is so much to love about this holiday telefilm, because once you watch the Liddle family, you want more each year and obviously, Lifetime has heard the call, because 2021 has aired the third film “Merry Liddle Christmas Baby” and many are loving it.
I absolutely loved this first film featuring the Liddle family and getting excited to watch the second! “Merry Liddle Christmas” is one of the best produced holiday telefilms you’ll watch and I definitely recommend it!
PURCHASE THIS FILM ON AMAZON PRIME