Christmas Collision

For starters, there are many of the usual formula plot lines. Save the farm. Send Theodora to close the deal, but instead a romance develops. Friends telling the leads that they are in love. (This one got used way too much.) A cookie contest. Overbearing dad.

There is an element that starts out as a small mystery and grows more ominous as the story goes on. How far this goes is not normal in Hallmark movies, but this isn't Hallmark.

The script is very clumsy. For one thing there are plenty of filler moments that have nothing to do with the main story and are stupid besides. The romance is clumsy. It is not uncommon for the leads to start out with blatant animosity and then have that melt. In this movie, Theodora is downright rude and uncaring. Then the animosity doesn't melt slowly, it disappears entirely and instantly. If Sebrina Scott and John Wells have chemistry, it is hard to find. Which leads me to the terrible dialogue!!! The misunderstanding which creates the conflict is also clumsy. Then more friends saying you really do love him/her. By the climax, there is no mystery or surprise but even that is dragged out and goes too far.

The acting by all but the leads is horrible. Oh, wow, the mayor is cringeworthy, but other supporting people are not far behind. The leads are just so-so. Almost the entire tone of the movie lacks any fun or joy. There is no Christmas energy.

I wondered about ballot box stuffing for reviews and ratings. Two of the highest reviews are one timers. The rating distribution has a huge gap between 10 stars and 5 stars with another spike for 1 star.

I've had to fast forward parts of this. I love Christmas films, the cheesier the better but this one. Oh dear. The two leads at at the bad but as for the rest. The most stilted awkward acting I've seen in a long time. Even Am Dram can be better.

It doesn't claim to be a Hallmark movie and the quality shows that. The acting is fair, but slow and non-professional. The lighting bothered me the most. Many scenes were fuzzy and dark. Natural sunlight was pointed towards the viewer and very distracting.

The story was similar to a Hallmark movie, but it wasn't cheerful or nearly as decorated.

The scenes were dreary. For those of us who are familiar with Hallmark movies, it must be very expensive to have top lighting professionals, but this film just doesn't have what it takes.

It is a movie with a happy ending, and that's always a pleasure to see.

I saw how low the ratings were but I thought I try watching it anyways. No expectations. The acting and plot were so so. The filming was awful. The camera kept moving unsteady like no one had anchored it down. I started getting motion sick after awhile and had to stop watching the movie.

This movie is unappealing. First, Theodora's character was way too harsh in the beginning 10-15 minutes. Made it easy not to care about her or to even wish something bad would happened. Should have started attitude at a lower level.

Second, the dialogue was a new kind of cliche- yes, we've heard it before, but at least it fit- not so with this movie. Seemed like writers grabbed lines they liked or were familiar with and then tried to force them to into random scenes. The writing also negatively impacted the story development. Plot points were disjointed as well, no cohesion.

Reminds me of brainstorming meetings where everyone is too buzzed to be authentically productive and know they need to rework it in the morning when people are sober, but in this case that didn't happen.