Weihnachts-Einsatz in 4 Wänden

I didn't really expected much from this movie but I have watched the lead actress in other movies and found her to be tolerable. So I got my popcorn and settled in for some basic entertainment. And it was basic and totally predictable; well how many times have we seen the fixer upper romance plot?

I think so far in this season of Hallmark movies this is the second movie I have watched where the characters are fixing old houses. The other movie had a ghost living in the house so at least that added a new dimension. No ghost here except for the missing originality in the plot. Basic movie with basic characters delivering basic performance.

The characters were holding hot dogs at one point, then all of a sudden they had their hot dog-holding hands down by their sides and they stopped eating the hot dogs. In the next scene the couple are at the tree farm and the male lead is carrying an open wood tool box, but it looks like nothing is inside. When they reach the tree that is holding the ornaments, suddenly there are small discs of wood in the box and the character is pouring them out of the box into another receptacle. You really notice how little W cares about the plot, cast and continuity when you pay closer attention. My husband and I had a lot of fun looking for all the inaccuracies. It made up for the film having no plot. Which is what we expected: no plot. Merry Flipping Christmas!

Marcus Rosner is always cute. Very handsome.

Scott Yamamura is a good actor.

There's absolutely no transition from the bickering and disagreeing between them to the flirting. Like, what the heck happened? They can't just suddenly become different characters. There has to be some sort of getting there. Did not enjoy their story.

They have a paint fight AND a snowball fight? That's too much. Whoever wrote this should have been a little more creative with the flirting.

Ashley Newbrough does a good job portraying grief at the Christmas tree when she writes Mom on the ornament.

The main actors' attempt at chemistry is over the top and obnoxious. It would have been better if they were a little bit more natural about it

The father's advice conversation was kind of weird and all over the place. Wasn't into it. It could have easily been better written.

The scene in the back of the truck with three pillows was too over the top. Looks like he's about to freaking propose to her. But he just happened to whip that together for a business dinner? Get out of here.

Some hallmark movies have gotten better about having drama and misunderstandings that are a bit more believable. This one is one of the ones that still struggles to have a fight between the characters that is believable. She told him it was a innocent thing she did and he gets all bent out of shape. It's just too much. The fights need to be a bit more believable.

I love how this sister is folding laundry in a scene. That is just so real and relatable. Often these houses are just so spic and span and look like they're not lived in. So that was a nice small touch.

Overall, meh.

I want to say worst premise ever, but I'm sure there are worse. But why is the professional designer assigned the task of convincing the co-owner to sell? And Abby, whose job depends on pleasing customers does practically everything possible to annoy Bo. Bo isn't much better, maybe worse. At first he is totally rude for no reason to Abby, the stranger. Later he basically assaults her with paint based on no previous relationship to justify it as a fun prank. As the movie goes on, it is incredible how poorly she treats clients and potential clients. Does anyone listen to what others are saying ... to them?

The dialogue is either sparkling and funny, or terrible. Actually there are a lot of good moments with it. I lean towards the latter, but I'm sure it will appeal to many.

Apparently this is grade school because Abby and Bo first have a spontaneous paint fight and then a couple scenes later a spontaneous snowball fight. This seems to be how they build the romantic relationship. Abby giggles as her clothes get spattered. These two are complete opposites and their natural reactions to each other's opinions doesn't bode well for a long term future, but maybe when they have the next conflict they will have a food fight and giggle. Their animosity disappears quickly, but their differences do not go away that easily even though the story will make you think both of them changed personalities.

This is Hallmark, so we have to have an evil developer who wants to "gentrify" a small town and make a lot of money. So the plot theme becomes largely about "saving" the small town.

Clearly the architects of this movie intended it to be light, upbeat and funny. It's too bad they led with rudeness. That is the vibe I picked up in the beginning, so I missed a lot of what was meant to be fun.

So after watching this movie twice I have to say I still don't get it. There's no reason for the leads to like each other. There's no reason for the lead to even be there. The premise of the movie is missing. The sound track didn't always go with the dialog. Why does the female lead fall in love or even like her romantic interest? He is never nice to her. The story needed more. Why does a complete outsider have so much invested in a place she has nothing in the game? This review is all over the place because the movie is all over the place. I can't say it was time well spent to watch it twice so maybe this is a movie you can miss.