Un Natale da sogno

A Christmas Masquerade (2022) -

David Lafontaine In the leading role of Michael was highly unappealing from the outset and not that nice to look at either. I found it very hard to believe that he would ever change, even after his "Redemption Arc" brought about by Erin Agostino who played Julianne and/or Lara, as she pretended to be her boss.

It was a farcical concept right from the start and nothing that followed was how a professional should act and although I realised that it was all meant to be lighthearted, this film seemed to throw a lot of the rules of that idea away.

Yes, Julianne did seem to mellow Michael out and make him a more responsible prospect to take over his Father's legacy, but the whole basis of their relationship was a lie, compounded by her boss, the real Lara (Cory Lee), who was just desperate to get Michael and his family as clients.

What then followed was a series of festive bits and bobs to ground the immature man-child Michael in the world of business, but mostly seemed like the standard cookie making, with Julianne's sensible Daughter Nora (Maya Misaljevic) thrown in to the mix to contrast his overgrown teenage behaviour.

I did like the Polish references dotted throughout, as something new to learn, but writing this a few weeks later I'm actually struggling to remember most of the film as a whole. The only other note that I made whilst watching was that Julianne's dress, you know the typical red one that they all wear to the Ball/Event/Opening/Party/Delete As Applicable, was horrible and cheap looking.

I won't come back to this one, that much I know for sure.

4.7/10.

The premise of impersonating the boss isn't that common to begin with, but this movie goes a step further because the viewer knows from the start that the boss fully supports it and even volunteers to babysit for the duration of the switch. The result is that this premise becomes more like the twin identity swap.

The dynamics between Julianne and Lara are a bit weird. The real Julianne acts more like the boss than the real Lara, who is the boss.

There is some fun in all the antics related to keeping the real identities secret. The dialogue and acting are both good.

Erin Agostino is an elegantly beautiful woman and the director takes great advantage of that. She is nothing like the financially struggling assistant you might expect in this type of story. When she attends a high end social function, she definitely looks the part.

Michael, the wannabe ambassador settles down quickly from the playboy persona and afterwards David Lafontaine has some good chemistry with Agostino.

There's all the usual "do you like her", "we're just friends", and "there's something I need to tell you" which gets interrupted, but the viewer knows there is going to be a conflict, although it's not certain how that will unfold. It is quite effective and believable, at least as much as anything in this story.

I had to give up quite quickly this because the sibling pairs were so annoying - the female lead's sister put her under pressure in front of the daughter and the male lead was inconsiderate to his pregnant sister. I'm sure they probably all came good in the end, but with so many other Christmas movies available, I wasn't staying tuned to find out. I see all this enough working with families, so points for accuracy, but it just isn't relaxing to watch, for me at least. These characters may have done well in their work, but their basic life skills are not inspiring, in the early scenes at least, if not the rest.

I will be cruel and unjust with my review of this Xmas trash. There is all sorts of trash and debris. The plot is very forced and contrived. Relationship based on lies once again impersonation and improvisation. Why do these movies use this trope? I get the forgiveness that is to be the lesson for both parties but come on. Why aren't there serious consequences for the lying parties?

The acting is so robotic. High school actors would have done better. Either they couldn't flesh out their emotions for the scene or their emotions were too late or not there. Ugh! I get better emotions from my underwear.