A Big Fat Family Christmas

I really loved this movie. The two MCs were engaging and the supporting characters brought a lot to the story. All of the actors were good to excellent. The two Shannons (Shannon Kook is the male lead and Shannon Chan-Kent is the female lead) were really great in their roles. Kook's South African accent comes in handy.

The use of the word "fat" in the title is an excellent choice because of its meaning in Cantonese ("happy") as well as how it alludes to a certain Greek wedding.

The production was well-done. I know that filming the whole movie in San Francisco isn't feasible, but the exterior shots in the City were well-done and well-placed. I also loved that Cantonese was used in the dialog. It definitely made it feel real.

First, it's delightful to see Tia Carrera in this film, and she did a great job as the mother of the female lead.

Next, they did a good job with a nice switch to an Oriental themed family, and a MUCH better job than the montage story about the Chinese restaurant (Golden Dragon) closing.

This story is one of growth and acceptance with few stumbling blocks along the way. The two incidents which did arise didn't cause a major crisis either time. The romance really didn't have the normal "How do they get past this?" moment, which also provided a nice change from that cliche.

I enjoyed the movie, and I can recommend it to Hallmark fans.

I loved seeing Tia Carrera and all the little bits of San Francisco history...including how and by who Chinatown was built.

This is the story of a daughter, ashamed of her crazy mixed-Asian family. When she gets assigned as the staff photographer to a new to the chronicle reporter who wants to do a front page story on the Chang's Big Christmas party, she doesn't tell him that she is a Chang.

This is less of a romance and more of a daughter finding her way back to being proud of her family and her community.

I really enjoyed this hallmark Holliday film. I think anyone with family will appreciate and enjoy this film. It is a recommendation from me.

6.7 stars.

Not sure my thoughts align with any of the other reviewers thus far. I was looking for someone in agreement with my sentiments, but my search has been fruitless. First of all, 'A Big Fat Family Christmas' is not about Christmas, it's about a woman who is ashamed of being what she is because of some trauma she endured as a youngster. The story only takes place during the holidays, but it's coincidental as far as the theme is concerned. What a clever insertion of Christmas in order to get this film put into the Hallmark lineup (otherwise this story never makes it onto your TV screen).

We are led on a circuitous route and eventually transported to the crux, anticipated by all, but overly delayed. I don't see any point other than a testament of the feelings of a young American woman ashamed of her Chinese and Filipino descent. No romance and no feel-good Hallmark appeal is found as we witness two young Asians traipsing about San Francisco sharing their prolonged emotional and existential diatribes.

I cannot empathize with these likeable people because I've not experienced anything similar, but I have many Asian friends who have and I sympathize.

This was overall a really good Christmas movie. Reminiscent of a Wonderful Life when certain things go wrong. Also, the love shown among family and neighbors was wonderful. It was different from so many Hallmark movies because it just wasn't about the romance and regular holiday activities . It was very interesting to hear about Chinese culture and traditions. It was especially nice to hear Liv sing at the end of the show at the Christmas party in Cantonese. She did a beautiful job and it was very I thought all the characters were likable and interacted well with each other. I like that love of God, family and one another was the objective of the story.