Impossible n'est pas Noël

If you want to spend a couple of hours with a wonderful, family film that warms the heart and makes you laugh at the same time DECK THE HALLS is it. Great acting by all. Pretty cool to see Steven Culp in this (being a fan since 13 days). The story is basically of a woman (played convincingly well by Gabrielle Carteris)lost her husband to a car accident that is spending the first Xmas without him. Her son is doing his best to brighten up the holidays. They have relocated to her parents home town getting a job at her fathers toy factory. She is hardened by the reality of losing the love of her life and confronting her first holiday season without him. She is slowly warmed over by Nick, played brilliantly by Steven Bacic, a consultant helping the company increase sales who also happens to be her neighbor. Being tired of the lame blockbuster scripts, this one is very well written and the delivery of the lines comes off in a genuine, often touching way. Well done.

Recently widowed "Beverly Hills 90210" TV alumni Gabrielle Carteris (as Holly) is not ready to date the many men who find her attractive. She finds new next-door neighbor Steve Bacic (as Nickolas "Nick" St. Clair) annoying, even more so when father-in-law Ken Pogue (as Jack) hires him to work marketing for their "Dreamland Toys" store. However, Ms. Carteris' eight-year-old son Josh Hayden (as Ben) finds Mr. Bacic appealing. He tries to hook his mom up with Bacic. Young Hayden, who seems a little old for this, has asked God and Santa to bring back papa. There is also some intrigue about Bacic having a secret Christmastime identity. He has a sleigh, wears red, and works with little people...

**** Deck the Halls (12/12/05) George Mendeluk ~ Gabrielle Carteris, Steve Bacic, Josh Hayden, Ken Pogue

I love Christmas movies and I think I have a lot of tolerance for corniness, questionable acting, etc., but this movie had me fast-forwarding through scenes halfway through because I got bored and just wanted it to finish.... and I just knew I wasn't going to miss anything. The premise was cute but I kept waiting for something to really HAPPEN. Some of the shots between scenes seemed drawn out like they were just trying to fill time. I thought the character development was non-existent and I couldn't get emotionally involved with any of the characters. And for some reason the boy seemed a little too old for the part. I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone.

The main gal Gabrielle was too old for the lead - The gay playing Kris (Santa) looks 10 years younger but is great in the role. The boy playing Ben looks way to old to be believing in Santa - He looks 12 but is treated like he is 7 - SO ANNOYING! He's also bad in the role.

It was a disappointment in many ways. The story line was sweet... Just to bad whoever casted this show didn't do a better job. The Elves were great, whoever played the dad was great and the gal in the supporting role was adorable. I would have preferred her in the lead.

It's best if you find something else to watch this Christmas. There are quite a few new shows out there.

I love Christmas Movie but I got bored with this Movie and I just wanted it to end. I think that I've seen a lot of Movie with the same plot as this one. Which made it a bit more boring for me, It was slow pasted, and I didn't like the acting. I found its more of an adults Movie as we don't really see much of Ben. And it did talk about inappropriate things so its not really a family Movie, and I wasn't a fan of the music that was used.

I just kept waiting for something to really happen and there just wasn't any character development. The boy playing Ben looked to old for the role and the Movie had gay jokes which I didn't like and was not funny. it covers things like death of a family member, which I think should be more talked about in movies and books but I don't think its a good Movie to watch if you have lost a family or a dog though

I really liked The dog, the dog was funny-especially in a street hockey game But didn't have much scene time. :(