Marié avant Noël

My wife and I have not seen every made-for-TV Hallmark movie, but we have seen several dozen. I can't remember a better Hallmark movie than A Bride for Christmas.

This movie has a lot of strengths. It has lead characters Jessie (played by Arielle Kebbel) and Aiden (Andrew Walker) who are unusually attractive and likable. Indeed, Andrew Walker has a striking resemblance to a young Tom Cruise. The acting by Kebbel and Walker, and by all the supporting actors, is excellent. The dialog is reasonably realistic. The camera work is quite good and adds interest. The musical score is also very good, effectively enhancing some of the scenes.

The plot is predictable (as in all Hallmark movies) and we've seen certain plot elements before in several well known rom-coms (The Runaway Bride, 10 Ways to Lose Your Lover). But given those drawbacks,the movie does an excellent job of telling its story. The inevitable "change of heart" on the part of Jessie and Aiden proceeds at a slow and realistic pace and the actors convince us that there is romantic chemistry between the two lead characters. The lead and supporting characters all behave in realistic and believable ways.

While watching A Bride for Christmas, my wife and I repeatedly said to each other "This movie is good!" We thoroughly enjoyed it and will watch it again.

Why does Hallmark make 30 new Christmas movies a year? It is because Great Movies like this led the way. The movie has a great cast (Arielle Kebbel and Andrew Walker in the leads), it is very funny, and it has it's touching moments. Kimberly Sustad played a great supporting role as the sister (she starred in Nine Lives of Christmas) and Peter Benson made for some of the funniest moments (he plays the detective in Aurora Teagarten). I recognized the dad (Eric Keenleyside) from roles in many of the Hallmark movies. The cast looked like a current day Hallmark movie with everyone 6 years younger. Sage Brocklebrand was also in the movie (he played McNabb in Psych).

A BRIDE FOR Christmas is a well-made Hallmark TV movie that debuted in December of 2012. Its leads, Andrew Walker and Arielle Kebbel, are two fine, handsome young actors. The story has some good jokes, fine pictures and some good supporting actors -- particularly by Duffy, a handsome and energetic dog. Yet at its heart is a creepy, stalker plot that made me shake my head.

Mr. Walker is a successful man whose friends are all married. He alone remains committed to a life of casual relationships, but agrees to a bet that he can get a woman to accept his proposal by Christmas. He chooses Ms. Kebbel, a woman who has walked out on three fiancés, including one at the altar, as his subject. Then he stalks her.

Along the way they fall in love in a charming fashion, but that initial set-up, in which he proposes to make a girl fall in love with him with no thought of the consequences is disquieting. Romantic comedies have a long tradition of such attitudes from the way Jimmy Stewart treats Margaret Sullavan in THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER to just about every Rock Hudson-Doris Day movie. In this movie careful writing deals with the issues I felt but do not quite dispose of them. I wound up enjoying it but not awarding it the superior rating I would have without that issue.

I've been binging on Hallmark movies this Xmas week. I know many use the ole formula. I look for best rated, good chemistry and stories that sound to be most interesting dare I say 'different' i.e. story lines, locations. We all agree that from the starting gate we know this is Runaway bride run amuck. Super damaged goods. Then, Aiden makes a crazy, horrid bet. I mean, he's going to prank an innocent young woman with a false marriage proposal. OK...we suspend disbelief that he could be so cruel, especially when he's matched with Jessie who has herself basically done this to three guys. Did I mention that Jessie is drop dead gorgeous! Sort of a Jessica Alba clone, I think.

Since I know how all Hallmark movies end I am taking a break, with about 15 mintues to go on this one. I had to stop when the idiot screen writers commit the same 'crime' I've seen too often. In K-dramas they use an easy tool. The screen goes dark and voila, signage on the screen says ONE YEAR LATER! I'm not listing any of this as 'spoiler' because it is basically not possible to spoil such Hallmark movies. We know from scene one, 100% that the two will wind up together. Therein is the HUGE plot hole. This and similar Hallmark movies show a proposal and no engagement or no period of engagement. Totally insufficient time to know one another. I mean propose after weeks of 'non-dating', one kiss, and voila, time to buy the wedding dress and plan the wedding. Please, Hallmark, use the fade, then ONE YEAR LATER or even SIX MONTHS LATER before we see a wedding dress, wedding plans or an actual wedding. This might give them time to actually 'date.' In this and other Hallmark movies the eliminate all dating going instead from one kiss to marriage. Totally unnecessary if done right.

Nobody should watch Hallmark films with massively high expectations, their Christmas output particularly. If a Hallmark fan or wanting to see as many Christmas films as possible, expectations would understandably be higher. They are very formulaic with most of them being more of the same narratively and structurally, apart from sporadic attempts at changes of pace. There are a fair share of them though that are surprisingly above average and even good amidst the many average and less ones.

'Bride for Christmas' from 2012 is one of those surprisingly above average Hallmark efforts. Was expecting it to be too simplistic and predictable, with the rather generic title not showing much promise. Although it is a long way from a Christmas classic or perfect, 'Bride for Christmas' is a example of not judging a film by its title and to watch with an open mind and know what to expect. As far as Hallmark Christmas/wedding films go, this fares quite favourably.

There are more good things than not so good things, but there are a few drawbacks and am going to mention those first. The film did feel rushed at times, with some events jumping about a bit too much with not enough time to breathe. This is especially true of the development of the central relationship and conflict, which moves too unrealistically fast.

Predictability is expected in a Hallmark film, and there are not that many surprises in 'Bride for Christmas', especially in the final act which is pretty much exactly how it maps out in many other efforts of theirs. Some of the music could have been used less and been less loud.

However there are so many good things in 'Bride for Christmas'. It is visually pleasing and has a professional look. The appropriately festive locations especially. Enough of the soundtrack is nostalgic and pleasant enough. The direction is accommodating while not going through the motions. The film is also very enlivened by the two leads, which was a relief after struggling through 'Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas' recently which had poor lead performances and even poorer chemistry. Arielle Kebbel (in one of her better Hallmark outings) and Andrew Walker are very engaging in their roles and their chemistry is genuinely charming.

Kimberly Sustad sparkles in her supporting role and Peter Benson is a lot of fun without being annoying. The chemistry between the whole cast, all on solid form, is never disconnected. Moeover, the dialogue is tighter and less stilted than a lot of Hallmark Christmas films and the cheese and sentiment isn't as much. There are a lot of funny moments and other parts genuinely touched. The story is very predictable admittedly, but it still engaged me and was charming and heart-warming while not taking itself too seriously. Did appreciate too that there was more to usual. The characters may be cliched, but they came over to me as likeable enough and any negative character traits didn't come over as over the top like can be the case in Hallmark Christmas films. Actually cared for these characters, not the case with a lot of recently seen Christmas films.

Overall, nice film. 7/10