Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square is one of the most earnest things you'll ever watch

The Daily Beast

"It announces itself as such immediately, with Dolly Parton crooning on a studio set as a glowing, sparkling angel posing as a hobo—what if God was one of us, truly—before townspeople start pirouetting down the sidewalk and rhyming 'Christmas on the square' with 'thermal underwear' in the big opening number," Kevin Fallon says of the Debbie Allen-directed Netflix holiday musical starring Christine Baranski that premieres Sunday. "It’s either get on board or get run over by the train with the unapologetic sincerity and schmaltz. Could something as cheesy as this thrive at any other time? Regardless, it’s a welcome treat to shed the snakeskin of cynicism and despair and just give in to the wholesome world of Dolly Parton at Christmas." ALSO: Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square is a movie designed within an inch of its life to appease everyone who might come across it.