Les Chassés-croisés de Noël

After watching Trading Christmas the other night, and enjoying in very much, I was astonished to see that I had only given it a 6 on IMdB.I must have been much more discriminating way back then. Or the movies that Hallmark produced were so much better across the board. After years of looking at Hallmark movies, I guess I am more surprised and delighted when they deliver a movie that has some excellent acting, a plot that has some freshness, and more than cookie cutter characters. Trading Christmas has all 3, so I bumped it up to an 8. who knows? Maybe in another 7 years, it will be a 10!

The 4 leads were excellent, and playing characters that diverged from the Hallmark template just enough. Tom Cavanaugh, always entertaining, plays a real Christmas grouch, and has a knack for delivering his real snarky lines. His slamming the door on the Prince and Princess Super-cute Hallmark neighbor children was almost a knowing send up of the usual reaction our typical nice-guy Hallmark Hero would have. Snowball fight! Snowman! Sledding! Well in fairness, he does do all 3 later on, but only when his character starts to warm up with Christmas cheer (After all this *is* a Hallmark Christmas movie.)

Gabrielle Miller, who played the bad girl in another Hallmark favorite, Holiday in Handcuffs, was hilarious. Her character could have been very annoying, but she was just off the chart charming with her pushy, assertive personality, and gives as good as she gets from put-upon Tom C. I couldn't wait until they fell in love and got together.

The older couple, Faith Ford and Gil Bellows, were less interesting, but Faith is a really good actress, and so made her nice, daughter-dependent, and small town perky Mom character likable and relatable. In a less talented actresses hands she would have been dull as dishwater and irritating. Gil Bellows was her bored, sophisticated, wealthy match. At first, I wasn't too impressed with him (wow, has he aged!) but then I realized he had a real Jack Nicholson thing going on.

The plot was pretty much a rip off of The Holiday with Kate Winslett and Cameron Diaz, but I enjoyed that movie, so I enjoyed the Hallmark take on it. Hallmark, break out your cookie cutter characters and gimmick reliant cookie cutter plots and make more like this 2011 Hallmark classic! Grab some out of work *talented* actors that are not interchangeable with any others in your usual "stable", and get some writers who aren't afraid to write characters that break the mold a little bit!

This was a fun movie with likable characters and a good story. It's hard not to like Faith Ford and the characters of Charles and Faith Kerrigan were so fun together. Ray was a good guy too although he was a bit stoic. This is one I watch several times during the season if I can.

LOVED this film....ESPECIALLY loved characters played by Faith Ford and Gabrielle Miller....perfect film for the holiday season! Myself, my mom and sister really enjoyed it. A real feel good film, it made you want to bake cookies and decorate your Christmas tree! And the cast excelled with solid performances...hoping this is going to become a holiday tradition, like watching A Christmas Story or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! In this day and age, it's refreshing to watch a film of this quality. Nudity, drugs, sex, and violence do not always have to be included in a film for it to be successful. OR, touch a heart....and Trading Christmas DELIVERS! Kudos, cast, crew, and Hallmark! :)

Well acted! Well written! Enjoyable and fun!!! Totally loved this Christmas film.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONEST

In this film Emily is disappointed her daughter Heather won't make the cross-country trip from Harvard to visit at Christmas. Emily decides to surprise Heather and trades houses with Charles Brewster, a college professor who lives in Boston. Emily is the one who is surprised when she finds out her daughter left for Florida with her boyfriend and has only Charles' brother for company. In this holiday tale about twists of fate, Emily and Charles find love at the most unexpected time and have the best Christmas season ever.

This is a very enjoyable film. I love the fact that in reality there wasn't a nasty person in the cast. It was nice to see a "CHRISTMAS THEME" film that wasn't a variation of "A Christmas Carol". The casting for the most part is great and the various story-lines are 60% plausible. I thought it was interesting to have various locations and climates to show how "Christmas" is celebrated in different parts of the country. (More should have been done with that angle)

It is nice to see a film where you do like everyone in it and you are rooting for love for everyone.

It is nice to see a FAMILY SAFE FILM that isn't a cartoon.