Il était deux fois Noël

A nice Christmas film, using a not so original idea but being far by boring.

The only problem is the two complicated story by alternatives. And their use in not most inspired manner.

But, sure, some romance, some humor, a Santa real special are pretty good points. The too fragile chemistry between she and the men of her life is another little problem. But Christmas atmosphere, like the supporting actors are reasonable solutions source and, in essence, this is the matters thing, not ignoring the target of this genre of films.

Not impressive but just nice . In my case, the idea of alternative events is the good point of film.

I'm a big fan of Hallmark's what if? Alternate reality movies so I was looking forward to this movie. Lacey Chabert starred in a good one called "Family For Christmas", Nikki Deloach was in another good one called "A Dream of Christmas" and Eloise Mumford was luminous in "Just in Time For Christmas".

A Tale of Two Christmasses, however, is more like Gwyneth Paltrow's Sliding Doors, which showed two different realities play out depending on whether Gwyneth's character catches a subway train or not. Sliding Doors was more dramatic (way more dramatic). Here, Emma, played by Katherine Barrell, is a Chicago architect who has two different realities play out depending on whether she makes or misses a flight out of Chicago. The biggest problem with both movies is that it's hard to effectively show two movies, about two different stories, inside one movie. There really isn't enough time to see both alternative realities play out in a meaningful way.

Emma has a crush on a lawyer in her building named Max, played by Evan Roderick. The movie seems to take subtle jabs at his work for the environment (the owls) which annoyed me. He seemed OK but his dislike of real Christmas trees was presented as some sort of defining strike against him. Instead, we're supposed to root for Drew, Emma's old platonic high school friend back home. He's played by a pleasant Chandler Massey. I liked him in 2021's amazing Next Stop Christmas, another alternate reality movie that, frankly, is way better than this one.

I don't recall seeing Katherine Barrell before, but she was fun to root for. Unfortunately, she seemed a bit too clumsy, confused and less than competent until she made her renovation suggestions at the ski lodge. I don't mind clumsy and confused in a character, but we kind of had to take it on faith that there was a reason to call her "Perfect Peterson".

I also didn't like the scene with Aunt Martha. It was way too weird. Playing dementia for laughs can be tricky, especially for those of us with family members suffering from it.

Also, the ending, and the big life choices made, seemed a bit forced, especially given the short time frame. I get a little frustrated with Christmas movie characters who literally up end their entire lives and make dramatic changes based on the experience of a few days. Here, Emma made life changing decisions based on a couple of days. That made no sense to me.

I was also troubled by how Drew would pretend to be someone he wasn't. It was a little sad to hear him respond that "I'm still mostly me". And as sad as it was to hear him say "I'm tired of waiting for you to see me", what "me" was that?

I grade Hallmark on a curve, but this seems like a 6 at best.

Over the years, Hallmark has done a few of these "alternate reality" stories, and they are a break from the normal straight through romance which check all the same boxes ... except half of this one checked those boxes anyway.

Our female lead (who reminded me a LOT of Annette O'Toole) winds up in simultaneous alternate realities via a not so clear split screen scene where in one she suffers a delay and barely misses her flight home and stays in Chicago an extra day and spends time with the dreamy lawyer from a firm in the building her company occupies. In the other, she makes her flight and spends her planned Christmas with family and old friends.

Unlike many of these stories, there's no "good boyfriend/bad boyfriend" dynamic. I like both guys. In fact, I liked the lawyer best. The "hometown boyfriend" was a bit of a Drama King in my opinion. That was one of the common tropes ... the hometown guy where they'd both had unrequited love many years ago. The question is ... which will she choose when she's back to one reality?

Yes, there is ONE timeline goof near the end. Can you spot it, too?

Who needs all those bells and whistles when the cocoa is sourced ethically. Umm. Is that really a line?! So in the hometown storyline she goes home and wants plain hot chocolate because the city girl stays away from sugar. But I'm the Chicago timeline the Chicago girl rolls her eyes to the plain hot chocolate?!

This is one example of some of The inconsistencies in this movie. It's a bit confusing of a timeline and how things are happening.

I think the casting was good. I like all of them. I think it's the script and direction they're working with that just isn't working for me on this one.

I was looking forward to this one but it meh falls flat.

This is one of those movies that starts off with an interesting premise, bounces around in confusion, and just takes an agonizingly long time to wrap up. It manages to hit the point of no return, where you might feel you've already invested (wasted?) sufficient time to justify sitting through the inevitable. Your reward is the slow, inexorable (excruciating?) suction into its sappy, sloppy, conclusion where our protagonist chooses to surrender her career to a drama king "for love".

If you're in the privacy of home, you're inclined to yell at the TV in frustration.

And for a rom-com, it's not that funny. I gave it a 4 because the leads really did try to make the best of a rat's nest haircut.

Speaking of which, for gawd's sake, you get a candy cane out of your luxurious hair with hot water, not by having your meddling, inept, yakkity-yak MOTHER hack it out with kitchen shears!