Christmas at the Holly Hotel

On Thanksgiving Day I tuned to this movie by accident (one channel off from the football game), and soon realized it was terrible. Before I could change to the game, though, my brother-in-law and some friends dropped by and they started watching the movie and joking at how bad it was. Its awfulness became sort of a cause celebre. We started to feel bad for the actors and writers and anyone involved because the whole thing was insipid. None of the characters had anything interesting to say except maybe alfalfa (not a spoiler). There were two dead characters but we didn't know why (not a spoiler). None of us had the heart to turn off this mess. We watched it all, laughed most of the time, then turned to the football game. Rated 5 for the unintentional humor.

This was one of the lowest energy movies I have seen in ages. The actors all looked and sounded like they were on the verge of falling asleep. Completely one note performances as though the only focus was spitting out the lines, but no warmth or feeling behind them. No chemistry between the lead characters, no excitement. The ending was not believable. I can't believe I wasted time on this!

There was a confusing plot point that also didn't work. I don't want to list spoilers but the flow was so random. Some of the hair /clothing choices were of poor quality as well. I did like the lead woman's dresses but that is not enough to recommend the film.

Story is cute, but too predictable. The scenery is quaint, music is actually pretty good. However, the actors look like they never rehearsed and are reading off of cue cards. Wind blows into microphone in outside scenes. I really feel bad for the writers of the story itself, because the screenplay needs a lot of work.

I'm sure most people will be like me and not read the reviews before watching. During December we try to watch a new sappy holiday movie each night. Most of the time we find a better than mediocre movie, but this one just can't even live up to poor, even though we watched the whole thing.

In a nutshell:. Extremely poor acting, horrible wardrobe and makeup in a story that could make a decent film. Budget must have been around $1,000, and it probably still lost money.

I watched with friends, and we howled with laughter at the acting and stilted script. I treasure finding movies that sincerely try so hard to hit the mark but just never can get any scene right - they have me in stitches. I realize that it was written, directed and produced by one guy, and probably on a shoestring budget, but it does make you appreciate the effort that goes into an actual Hallmark movie as opposed to a knockoff; the way they layer in music to help with scene transitions, the sound quality, the line readings, etc. The good thing is that there are so many bad things about this movie, no one person has to carry the blame for it not working. The actors can blame the script, the director can blame the producer, the writer can blame the director. Um, maybe you can blame one guy after all.

Tragically, the actual Holly Hotel it was filmed at was burned down six months after the movie was filmed there (but they are rebuilding).

These Christmas romances are normally a go-to for me. They are formulaic, yes, but feature a charming and pretty woman who goes home for Christmas and in the midst of helping her parents, finds her dream job and dream man. Good so far. Until you realise that the female lead simply cannot act, that her 'charming' attempts to get out of a well-deserved speeding ticket make her look like a spoilt, petulant teenager, and nor can her 'parents'. The direction had them all sitting at a table featuring (for some reason) two bananas, a scene so dreadfully unconvincing that one found the fruit very interesting to look at! The male lead can, at least, act, but it's a small mercy given the rest of the film. Right, on that note, there's some paint I need to watch drying to wipe away the memory of this experience.