A Gingerbread Romance

This was a very hard movie to watch, the acting was really bad and it was boring. I really wanted to like it, finally some diversity, but they just didn't have great actors or plot.

I have to admit I love the holiday season. One of my favorite things about the holiday season is Hallmark movies. I love them, I usually like most of them. I don't even mind the cheesy ones or the predictable ones I watch anyway, they just put me in the joyous holiday spirit, until this movie. I didn't make it through the whole movie and I tried. I think I made it through 45 minutes and thats being generous. It was just boring. I actually fell asleep a few times before I gave up. I don't know if it was the writing or acting or both. I just know nothing about this movie was enjoyable for me.

It was nice to see some more actresses besides the hallmark regular actresses. I can appreciate hallmark trying to add more diversity this year. It was nice to see more different races and cultures having a leading role in hallmark movies instead of just being a supporting cast. I would like to see more race and cultural diverse movies on Hallmark. That being said they need to be good movies along with good actors and actresses. The chemistry,writing and acting are important and this movie lacked all three. This was such a miscast. I don't know how this boring movie got the greening to be released. I've been feeling like 2018 Hallmark Christmas Movies have been a hit and miss for me this year. I've been finding myself researching some of their older movies.

I agree with most of the reviews here, this is just not very good. It wasnt well made either, one of the big goofs I noticed is when they are unpacking the truck. He's lifting the bags of "flour" as if they weigh 100lbs, overacting, while she touches one bag with her hand and up it goes like a pillow. Then she lifts a bucket of "honey" up high like it weighs nothing - because clearly it's an empty bucket. How did they let this get by during filming, or at least in editing? I am sure there's more but I stopped paying attention.

Another reviewer commented on her horrible hats, lol. I think Tia likes wearing berets, I've seen her in them other movies.

Unfortunately, the chemistry between the main characters was lacking. It was a little distracting that Tia was wearing such over-sized awkward clothing. I think she was pregnant at the time, but I've seen much better attempts at covering baby bellies while filming movies. The scene with the security guard is really uncomfortable and unnecessary.

The obligatory antagonism between the leads at the beginning was annoying with little wittiness. Both characters were unnecessarily rude bordering on cringe-worthy. Some of the acting was less than stellar, especially stiff delivery by the leads. Even the ending was stiff.

On the other hand, while you could tell that Melody Nosipho Niemann is pretty young, she was still cute. The story isn't bad, albeit still not stellar. The contest idea (with promotions hinging on the outcome) is not new, but I liked the giant Gingerbread house idea. One thing I always like to see in a Rom-coms is a lot of screen time focusing on the leads rather than other circumstances and this movie does that. I just wish their chemistry was a little more exciting.

Many reviewers on this page gave reviews and ratings that made me expect something much worse. I almost gave up on it after the annoying start. But while I probably won't look forward to watching this again (which really tells me how much I like most movies), I don't think it deserves so many horrible ratings.