Era uma vez um Casamento

The movie is still playing but it is just so boring. The acting is, at moments, cringeworthy (the baker for example). Not much Christmas about the story either (apart from a wedding set around this time of year). Bad wedding planner, bad PI, bad (elaboration of a) Christmas story. And seriously, the things after the 'I love you' really come out of the blue! It makes no sense whatsoever, it's ridiculous even, because there is no spark to be seen between the actors. (End of movie.)

The ending gives a solid yes to that.

What. What did I just watch? And why did I keep watching? Maybe if I'd stopped halfway through, it would have been bearable. But no, it just kept getting worse.

The acting is nearly intolerable. The script is horrible. The ending is preposterous. Overall, not worth the 90 mins.

I've seen my share of Hallmark/Netflix Christmas movies this month (it's been one of those months) and I have to say, within the genre of Christmas cheese, is this film really that bad? Let's try to be objective: Negatives:

• Very low budget. Everything looks very cheap, like they they used a friend's house to film it. The "dress shop" and "bakery" were all clearly just rooms in someone's house. Everyone looked like they were wearing their own clothes (why was Aunt Olivia always wearing a fascinator? Was she always just about to go to a wedding). That lobster looked fake. The lead actress's hair is the most expensive looking thing here. That's some good hair styling.
• Odd casting - where did they find these actors? The two leads were okay but everyone else looked unsure as to why they were there...maybe they owed the director a favour? The girl who was cast as "young Kelsey" had blue eyes when Kelsey clearly had brown eyes. Did this escape the casting director's notice? Who am I kidding, there was no casting director.
• Terrible acting - everyone from the coffee shop barista to the baker... everyone decided that OVERACTING was the way to go. The direction and editing was so awkward...someone yell cut already!

Positives - The chemistry between the leads was decent. I bought that she found him attractive. The lead actress was fairly endearing. She has some quirky facial expressions and a style of acting which is probably not to everyone's taste. I liked the "plot twist" at the end... but clearly from the reviews I was the only one. In the world. There are worst Christmas films out there. This is not a genre that screams quality, credulity, high production values etc. In conclusion, this movie passes. You could do worse. I give it 4/10.

My sister and I live across the country and we watch these bad Netflix holiday movies "together" as a tradition. This one. Man. She watched it before me and weirdly kept asking if I'd watched it yet. I couldn't figure out why. NOW I know. You really can't watch this one without having someone to debrief with. Like, seriously. You've been warned. Make sure you have a buddy system in place. Just wait until the final 10 minutes. I promise it's worth it. I don't want to ruin the surprises so that's all I'll say about the plot. The down side is it's going to be hard for Netflix to top the awfulness of this one. And that makes me just a little bit sad.