Les diamants de Noël

This is a cute movie!! It kind of reminds you of Miss Congeniality in someways but at Christmas!! The plot IS good for a Christmas time movie! Acting is not as bad as the fake hate reviews say!! It's worth watching once, not going to give spoilers here!! Watched it on Netflix today!!

It's really bad. Predictable, slow, and not even remotely plausible. But there are plenty of moments that are so terrible that they're funny on accident. If you're looking for a movie to make fun of, this one is a gold mine.

Well this was a fresher idea for a Christmas movie, it could have had potential for a series had there been a decent script and any meaningful chemistry with the leads.

The leading man seems unable to deliver in any other way but monotone, I watched him in a couple of movies and his delivery has always been dire, wooden and contrived. They leading woman was refreshing though, moving away from the Christmas movie stereotypes and a bouncy personality. Lauren Holly however, an actress I have seen deliver when needed in the past, seemed to spend her time gurning and acting like an idiot. The supporting male (police officer) had potential and could act, but oh, the coffee shop owner and Bethany!

This was all in all dreadful, contrived and not worth my time watching, don't waste yours on it. Two stars for the idea and the leading lady.

It does not give me pleasure saying that or giving 'Christmas Catch' my lowest rating, a relatively rare rating for me these days and it takes a lot for me to give something that. Am actually saying this with a heavy heart and quite reluctantly. It certainly is a rare rating for Christmas films (certainly of the recent ones seen this year) even in the bad ones there is at least something that slightly redeems it even when overshadowed by the massive flaws.

Something that cannot be said unfortunately for 'Christmas Catch'. Of the recently seen films, Christmas and in general, it is for me among the worst. It didn't entertain me. It didn't charm me. It didn't warm my heart. And it didn't move me. Actually found myself annoyed throughout, one of only two feelings felt throughout (the other being boredom), and it takes a lot for me to feel those when watching a film or anything for that matter. Especially now.

The least bad thing about 'Christmas Catch' is Yanic Truesdale, at least there was some effort with him, but he was used poorly and he doesn't bring enough of what made me so memorable in 'Gilmore Girls' (got into that fairly recently and was shocked by how addictive and great it was).

Everything else is just bad, worse than bad actually. The two leads are dull and stiff and their chemistry is un-decipherable and at best uncomfortable looking. The supporting cast similarly seem disconnected to their roles and to each other. Not that they can be blamed, having to work with such cliche ridden and one-dimensional character writing that has no character to it at all and a continually uneven mix of forced attempts (if you even call it that) at comedy and mawkish over-seriousness present all over the dialogue.

Got absolutely nothing out of the story either, which was dully paced, had too much of a heavy hand (the complete anti-thesis of light-hearted, likewise with the direction) and devoid of any heart, warmth or charm. It was just bland and made the further mistake of trying to be more complicated than it needed to be later on. The look of the film is drab, with some of the editing looking awkward, and although the music is not too awful on its own it is ruined by how it is used, too often misplaced and lacked subtlety.

In conclusion, really poor. 1/10

The movie had an interesting idea of a story, though it was predictable. There were however, some parts that were idiotic, like the leading lady's mom (too much over the top) and the big twist in the end.