A Twist of Christmas

Both leads are quite obnoxious to start with, but ease in to more acceptable human beings as the film moves on.

The toy mix up is a fine build up to a romance, I've seen something like it with De-Niro and Streep (No idea what it's called), but the carry on that follows here is a bit daft and hard to believe, I'm not sure any of my bosses would ever have been that understanding.

To be honest, I can't see why the female lead didn't just throw herself at Brendan Zub's feet the moment she saw him, he is very handsome as bad almost Godlike, but he was being a bit rude at the time I suppose.

It would be nice if we lived in a world where people can meet in bad circumstances, but forgive that first impression later on to maybe fall in love. Hey ho.

A good cast, nobody stood out as bad at least and they got up to Christmassy things. Brendan should have been naked at some point though, so it loses points for not achieving that.

Managed 20 minutes of this appalling film. A deluded woman presumes entitlement and the responses from the male lead aren't much better. They present as poor role models for their kids and I dont think I could have lasted the whole film without throwing something at the tv.

Abby starts out as one of the most overprotective mom's ever seen in these movies. In the beginning, both Abby and Ryan are complete jerks who think the world revolves around them. Then we meet Ryan's ex. She and her current partner are equally stuck-up but not quite as mean. Abby's mom calls Ryan "driver". This is a really likeable group of people. Rudeness and antagonism continue through a full third of the movie. The rudeness miraculously disappears and the antagonism becomes flirty banter.

As for professional lives the world does not work this way. Missing the interview is pretty big and walking out on a merger meeting is worse. As another reviewer pointed out, the viewer needs to work hard to suspend belief.

The story is based on one unnatural contrivance after another. Abby and Ryan are thrown together repeatedly. With basically half the movie gone, some chemistry starts to develop between Vanessa Lachey and Brendon Zub. I was impressed with Lachey as a single mom. Her connection with Christian Convery, as Elliot, is great despite the over protectiveness.

There's a side story in the arrogance of the always superior book author. His arrogance extends to forcing attention on himself away from Abby's child while spouting parenting advice.

The conflict is likewise unlikely contrivance (a chain of things that people like these just won't allow to happen).

So maybe half the movie is enjoyable, but lacks any real story. There are no real highs or surprises.

Lifetime Christmas Films have been a very mixed bag in not just each of the years they've been doing them but also of their whole output. Personally do like some of them, as some are nice enough and succeed at their main objectives providing one takes them for what they are. Others are not very good and have a lot of things done badly, even when trying not to take them seriously too much. Others are a mix of good and bad, ditto.

'A Twist of Christmas' was a pleasant surprise. Of Lifetime's 2018 Christmas output, it's among the better ones. Of all the (relatively) recently seen Christmas films, 'A Twist of Christmas' is one of the better ones too. It's not my definition of great and has its flaws (and it is not going to be for everybody and that is fine), but it did charm me and was an easy watch. A case of a dubious start that got a lot better as it went on, so it is worth sticking with and not bailed out upon too early in my view.

There are a few not so good things. The early portions are a little too slow and with some laughably bad dialogue and one does not like how the characters behave at first. So actually can understand why people thought negatively of the film in the early stages, but didn't wait long enough for it to get better. The story has a lot to like about it, but there is not a lot about it that's particularly twisty.

Structurally and such it is standard Lifetime but does it better than most previous Lifetime film viewings. Some of the supporting cast don't have much to work with and don't register enough as a result.

However, the soundtrack is pleasant enough and doesn't come over as overdone. The direction is not exceptional but is solid enough for the type of film it is. The film looks attractive, especially the scenery and the leads do become a lot more likeable later. The younger actors are sweet without being too much so and Vanessa Lachey and Brendon Zub are very engaging as well in the lead roles, especially Lachey. Their chemistry comes over as genuine and develops more realistically than most previously seen Christmas films with similar romances.

While the dialogue is far from perfect, it did improve later on and didn't feel as corny or gooey. It induced some smiles. The story may be straightforward and doesn't have many surprises, but the setting is made very good use of and there is not too much of a stale feel compared to other Hallmark Christmas films, not feeling as over-familiar. The film is very light hearted and really warmed my heart and when the sentiment came in it didn't feel excessive or manipulative.

Overall, pleasantly charming. 7/10

I watch all the Christmas movies, Hallmark, Lifetime, misc. Canadian independent productions and UK movies. I have watched about 20 so far already this "holiday" season. This is one of the best ones. I found myself actually smiling numerous times during the movie. The acting was natural and felt like it really could have happened. That is harder than one may think in these movies to achieve. The two leads had a good genuine feeling chemistry. Not love at first sight, nor hate at first site, (which gets rather annoying after so many of these movies). Vanessa Lachey was very good. I have never seen her act before. Brendon Zub reminded me so much of Alex O'Loughlin from Hawaii Five 0. I have never seen him before either, in anything that I recalled. They both did a great job. There were no broadly drawn "villains" or bad people. The two kids were great. They also were more natural and did not overdo their roles. I guess I need to credit the director and producer for all this. Someone obviously gave great directions to the actors, and it worked. Be natural and more relaxed. Even the Grandparents seemed real to me. Low key and nice and normal people, like people I know. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and recommend it.