Perfect Strangers

Besides some excellent acting and cinematography, the storyline and non intrusive soundtrack made this the best Christmas movie of the season for my spouse and I. I happened to catch the beginning on Christmas when heading to bed but was glad to stay up until the end. Generally, I tend to watch films once but this was an exception. I watched on Boxing Day with my spouse which was a treat. My wife being Scottish felt the cast played their parts well besides relating to the backdrop of the north of Scotland where we bide. The bittersweet aspect of the film made the production memorable and thought the pace was right for a movie filmed in the Highlands. "Local Hero" has nothing on this production and purchasing the film is well worth the cost of a DVD or a watch online.

This was a decent Christmas movie. The story here is about two strangers, who are going thru some difficult times in their love life, coming together to find a way home for Christmas. What both don't realize, at the time, is that this journey home is more than simply catching a ride together. It becomes more about helping each other move on (and potentially work thru) their relationship woes (and the importance of spending time with others, even if they are strangers, during Christmas). I thought the story worked well for about the first 60 minutes or so. The dialogue between the leads was pretty good. There were a couple of nice scenes at the bar (at the inn) with some good conversation/dialogue between Jen (played Natalie Clark) and Rob (played by Kenny Boyle), our two protagonists in this story. I even had a few laughs during some of the scenes with Sid (played by Sanjeev Kohli), Ernie (played by Sylvester McCoy) and Frank (played by Frazer Hines). However, the story, I thought, broke down on Christmas morning. I am referring to the scene where Jen asks everyone to celebrate Christmas, they all say bah humbug, and she runs off into the woods (as opposed to running/walking along the road, which seemed odd, by the way). Shortly thereafter, Rob had an epiphany and runs after her, and when they get back, everyone is suddenly on board for a nice Christmas dinner. There is a big hole in the script between the first 60 minutes and the last half hour. The writers don't set the viewer up for the last third of the film. Thus, the final third seemed forced (or rushed). It is a pity, really. The acting, overall, was strong, I thought. Both Clark and Boyle' performances were convincing, and, as I noted above, they had some nice dialogue together. The chemistry between the two started to build up a bit on Christmas Eve, but, again, the writers could have done a better job setting this up before they jumped into bed together. For the most part, the supporting cast was great. As I alluded to above, Kohli, McCoy and Hines's performances were quite good (funny, I thought). The Scottish landscape in the film was a plus. There were some beautiful shots on the rolling hills. All in all, it is an entertaining Christmas movie, pretty good for the first two-thirds of the film.

All that snow, yet none falls on their heads. No 'breath' coming out their mouths? Couldn't suspend my reality for all the cheesy one liners.

This is delightfully filmed in snowy highland Scottish scenery and locations. The characterisation is great. The story is enjoyable. It is not entirely clear why it gets such poor reviews. Perhaps accents are a factor. Another reason that might be off-putting is that at times it is a bit over-schmalzy. However - ignoring the schmalz - I personally thought this was a great film. When compared to the highly standardized storylines behind many Hallmark movies etc this is far better scripted and acted. I suppose at the end of the day it comes down to personal taste. This was definitely to my taste and is unreservedly recommended.

I was fond of this movie, mostly due to the exuberance of Natalie Clark's character and her unfailing optimism about the Christmas spirit. It really translated effectively and gave the film a buoyancy and life that I think would have been missing otherwise. There is something so annoying about her chirpy, uppity personality. It reminds me of girls in school who would thought that parroting false positivity 24/7 was a likeable and charming personality rather than what it actually is, which is painfully contrived. And then we find the opposite nature in Rob who is always dour and impossible to shake out of his depression. The balance between the overly optimistic and overly pessimistic character is a smart contrast and they play well off of each other, though I don't find their on-screen chemistry to be believable in a romantic sense.

Overall, this film is quirky and comforting and has just the right balance of humour, emotion, and Christmas zeal,