Hallmark Christmas films do have a tendency more often than not to be very predictable, cliched, very cheesy, too schmaltzy and over-scored, the worst of them also contrived and unrealistic. There have been many times where they have also been very cute, warm hearted, heartfelt, charming and appealingly acted. Really did want for 'A Perfect Christmas' to be all of those latter adjectives, as Hallmark have shown quite a number of times that they can make watchable films.
'A Perfect Christmas' is one of those watchable films, but to me it was an uneven film with a lot of good and a lot of bad. It has elements of the above mentioned positive adjectives. It also has too much of most of the negative things mentioned above. Hallmark have certainly done a lot worse, they have also done a good deal better. 'A Perfect Christmas', unfortunately not a particularly accurate title, was a middling effort of theirs, from its respective year and overall.
There are good things here. Both Susie Abromeit and Dillon Casey give their all to their material and are endearing enough, Casey especially in the much more likeable role. They do generate a sincere and never awkward chemistry and the central relationship does have a good deal of charm and heart. 'A Perfect Christmas' also looks great, beautiful scenery, charmingly festive decor and slickly shot.
One of the aspects that has always varied with Hallmark is the music, to me here in 'A Perfect Christmas' it suited the film just fine. The cast do do their best, with the only not so good performance coming from the mother in my opinion.
Conversely, 'A Perfect Christmas' really takes the idiotic aspect of the main character to extremes, to the extent that she becomes increasingly less likeable and becomes annoying. Her mess ups also become rather tiresome and the later ones are not amusing or endearing in the slightest. Really intensely disliked the mother, a character that has so negative character traits and so few redeeming merits again exaggerated to the point of being near-intolerable.
Do agree about the film stretching credibility a lot beyond breaking point, so it all feels ridiculous. Making it further difficult to connect more with a story that has good moments with the leads but overall feels far too over-familiar and contrived with a sometimes pedestrian pace. Few of the characters are interesting and nobody has much depth, the most likeable character here is easily Steve. The script has some light-hearted-ness and pathos, but it could have been tighter and can be too heavy on the sentimentality and cheesy. Everything is resolved too neatly at the end, common in Hallmark films.
In conclusion, watchable but far from perfect. 5/10
