User reviews

Animal lovers, take your first step in the military Christmas genre with A Veteran's Christmas. It stars a woman who was honorably discharged and misses her K9 dog, who was not discharged along with her. It just breaks your heart when she looks at pictures of them together on her phone. She may get a healthy dose of the Christmas spirit when she gets stranded in a small town (yes, this is a Hallmark movie), but she still misses her dog terribly.

I loved Eloise Mumford's performance. She really seemed like a veteran. Her eyes were never fully happy, and it was very clear she'd seen the horrors of war. Her mannerisms were masculine and sometimes stilted, successfully putting across her awkwardness at civilian life. But besides Eloise's convincing performance, the rest of the cast isn't much to write home about. It feels like a movie that was made by a church group - which is fine, but it doesn't have the best production values or most interesting screenplay out there. There's also a heavy religious theme to the movie, which will appeal to some and not to others. For a simple movie with an unexpected tug on your heart (yes, I teared up at the end), check this one out. Grab your hankies for a double-feature with Holiday for Heroes.

2nd time these two lead actors have played romantic leads - good chemistry.

Eloise Mumford should be one of the Hallmark Queens by now. My initial reaction was that she was too beautiful to play a 6 year Marine vet, but she really captured the angst and confusion of her character.

Sean Faris' judge, on the other hand, was wildly unrealistic both in and out of the courtroom. I'm a lawyer and I've never seen a judge smile so much or behave so oddly in court. And, as other reviewers have noted, the townsfolk (and the staging) had a creepy Stepford/Body Snatchers feel.

There was also a line about how a local tree farm donates 1,000 trees to vets every year. That also seemed wildly unrealistic.

Still, there are some sweet moments and a great ending.

And Eloise Mumford.

I'm watching this movie for the second time in a week. I'm a married man, what can I say?

This is a highly enjoyable Hallmark movie. There is a lot of chemistry between the two main actors and the supporting cast is solid.

7/10 - festive Hallmark Christmas flick full of joy and familiar tropes and honors veterans across the world

From multiple scenes in the movie you can pretty well guess how it will end. However it still pulls at your heartstrings.

Sean Faris and Eloise mumphord were in Christmas with Holly and to be honest they had better chemistry in that movie than in this one.

But all in all it is a fantastic movie

What and amazing story. Even my hubby sat for over an hr to watch. Now this is a miracle! ;)

Marine Veteran and dog lover finds herself stranded and gets a welcome from the town she can't even imagine. Both leads are great Sean Faris as Joe and Eloise Mumford as Grace.

Enjoyable, worth a watch. Have tissues for the ending!

I'm a Hallmark junkie, and there have been some movies this year that 10 minutes in I was bored. Not this one. It totally grabbed me and kept me entertained. EXCEPT....the lead male. Throughout the whole movie I felt like I was watching him impersonating Tom Cruise acting in this movie. His mannerisms, the way he would angle his head and most of all the big grin and the laugh. It was comical at first, but got annoying as it went on. Am I the only one who saw this? LOL, anyway, it was a good movie. Predictable, of course...they all are. But I love them anyway!

I have seen Sean Faris before in other movies, but his acting was stiff and I agree the vibe was creepy. He seemed to be over acting, almost like he was making fun of the role. I suspect there may have been some over directing, since the writer and director are the same person. The storyline has potential and I have enjoyed these actors in other roles, something was just off. Someone at Hallmark dropped the ball when they let this one pass without asking for some scenes to be redone for a more natural feel

I am new to the Hallmark channel and was able to watch A Veterans Christmas. I don't normally watch this type of movie. However, I was amazed at this lead actress and her fabulous acting ability. Her facial expressions and body language during the movie were superb. She is definitely an actress worth watching. I will definitely be watching for more movies she star's in. A truly great performance.

I do like the fact they used a female as the veteran. Nice twist. But she looked so demure and not confident. Did not look like what i would think of as an army captain. I was so tired of her sad timid look i couldn't finish it. The judge was really good looking but his eyes were always so wide he not only looked a little creepy but like he was high. Over acting and just nerve racking

Love it! Love the feel good moments. I'm a sucker for these movies. I love the leads in Christmas With Holly and I love them here. I hope to see more movies with them together.

A bit different from the usual Hallmark Christmas movie - no little business that need saving. A pretty veteran Elioise Mumford who deals with dogs has a car accident and meets a single eligible judge Sean Faris.

They are both likeable if a little if unrealistically photogenic. They do have chemistry.

If you have to choose 1 Hallmark movie for this Christmas this would be an okay one.

Grace, after her Honorable discharge is at lost when having to reajust to civilian life in a town she doesn't know. Luckily, after an accident near his house Joe welcomes her into his house. Not only do they get to know and like each other but also his whole family.

IT INVOLVES DOGS! And that was enough for me.

Both leads were great, as well as the supporting cast. The chemistry was amazing. My only complain is that there were a few of loose moments, and I was actually expecting a little more since this is a HM movies and mysteries one, which tend to be more complex.

I enjoyed it a lot. I will probably watch it again someday. This one is a keeper.

Actress Eloise Mumford plays army veteran Grace Garland who after being honorably discharged is driving home in the car she jus bought when she loses control of her vehicle in the new fallen snow and crashes into the "right" tree. By that I mean the first person to reach her is not a human being but an adorable boxer dog who we subsequently learn from the dog's owner Joe, is named Justice. After being a bit stunned with an open bleeding cut on her forehead from the unexpected winter car crash into the tree Justice brings Grace to the front door of his master's house Joe's beautiful and scenic property.

As Joe explains why he has named his dog justice Grace finds out that Joe is single and gainfully employed as the small town's civic judge. Grace and Joe find an immediate connection but Grace misses her own dog who she had named Christmas and whom she had worked with the past six years searching for mines while deployed in Afghanistan.

Grace gets to meet Joe's mother, and his sister's family and everything seems perfect until Grace discovers that Joe's ex-fiance is back in town and looking to re-kindle their romance. But Joe's boxer dog Justice keeps Grace grounded and she is willing to stay in town at Joe's bunk house while her car is being repaired at Joe's uncle's garage. Every time Grace talks to or plays with Justice she pines for her own service dog Christmas who she knows has a greater calling in Afghanistan after Grace was dishonourably discharged after she herself was injured while in the line of duty.

This is a nice little Christmas themed story surrounding family, new romance and of course loving and caring dogs, so hey, it's a nice Christmas themed made for TV film with a happy ending.

I give it a 6 out of 10 IMDB rating.

Pretty good story. Eloise Mumford is great, Sean Faris' acting is a bit hammy at times but not so bad that its unwatchable.

I love this movie I have watch it a dozen times and I still can't get enough of it. I record this movie on my DVR every year since it came out. If my dvr would let me keep more the 3 months I could watch it when ever I wanted all year around. I've been trying to find it on dvd but no luck so far.

I won't resummarize the plot. Here is my take: Pros: the veteran is a woman. With so many hallmark movies focusing on the military in some capacity, it was refreshing for them to acknowledge that women are in the military too. Cons: 1. The male lead. He just seemed like a frat boy who woke up one morning and decided to try his hand at acting. It was not good. He and his costar did not have any chemistry in my opinion. 2. The plot: it made no sense that this 20 something year old guy was somehow the beloved and respected town judge. It made me laugh. It would have been so much better if they had given him a plausible job. 3. Too much emphasis on church. The female lead was basically coerced into going to church. I don't know why this had to be part of the story. I was not convinced that she had ended up in a town of kind people, only a town of people who will only like you if you go to church with them. 4. There was no real conflict in this movie. They briefly dance around the idea that the judge has an old girlfriend who might cause problems, but there was absolutely no tension that would create a good romance. You'd think hallmark would have figured out the formula for romance by now.

I do like a lot of hallmark movies. This was not one of them.