Quatro Natais e Um Amor

A very bad representation of Norwegians and Swedes. Using an Australian actor with an Eastern European accent dosen't cut it.

These movies succeed because they are formulaic and make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Unfortunately I didn't get those feels because I couldn't connect with Arielle Kibble in the lead role of Chloe.

Arielle is a beautiful woman; however, her performance didn't seem to be coming from a sincere place. I wasn't invested in her character as a result.

Her overacting was distracting and resulted in little chemistry between the two leads (central point of these movies).

Corey Sevier played his part well, especially when you consider how little he was getting back from the leading lady. The rest of the cast were good and the scenery was simply gorgeous.

Overall, there seemed to be too much focus on trivial events and not enough fleshing out of the main characters and plot. The idea was nice, but it got lost amongst the frills at the writing table.

Arielle Kebbel starred in one of my favorite Christmas movies, A BRIDE FOR CHRISTMAS (2012), so I was excited to watch this one. Unfortunately this one did not have the depth of story, emotion and great humor. It was a good movie. It was great to see the forever young Markie Post (Night Court) as her mom. The story tried to cover 4 years of Christmas and the 1st year when they met was rushed a bit (this hurt the emotional connection with me as the audience). Also the little girl really didn't get bigger over the time period. I loved how the dog was part of their story. Hope Arielle continues to make Christmas movies.

The premise for this movie is a little different but not unique. Chloe only gets to see her "one" at Christmastime every year, and every year there is something keeping them apart after Christmas. This movie also uses the rival girlfriend and the rival boyfriend plot device, but not exactly in the usual way. I felt the movie was stretched too long without enough interesting and new content. The ending was especially too stretched out.

The other big reason I didn't enjoy this movie is a combination of feeling really bad for Ted and the movie's over-obsession with "waiting for the one". Ted is presented as much more likeable than most rival boyfriends. But Chloe obsesses for years over a man she has only spent a few hours with. I could go into more detail but that ventures into spoiler territory.

Arielle Kebbel seems to be coasting in the role of Chloe. And Chloe starts to be a little annoying in her indecision. Corey Sevier, as Evan, seems to do a better job. But is there chemistry? They certainly hit it off the first Christmas, but Evan has a job in Oslo and has to leave. If they hit it off so well, why is there no contact during the year. We have video chat technology now (which is actually used with Chloe and her mom). I bring up chemistry - in the succeeding years there is something more immediate in their way and the chemistry has disappeared. It has been replaced by mind-numbing preoccupation. I thought the movie just became sad or even pitiful after the first Christmas.

Markie Post makes a good mom, but she and Judge Reinhold overact a bit. Cassidy Nugent as the little girl is fine, but she never grows up even as years pass.

Many viewers will be happy to overlook the problems I mention, and if that's the case, you will probably enjoy the movie as much as any in this genre.

Have always had a thing for good concepts, which has often been one of my main reasons for seeing any film or episode of a show. The concept for 'Four Christmases and a Wedding' sounded very appealing and on paper sounded different from the usual Christmas film in recent years, when we have had Lifetime and even more so Hallmark films that have followed the same or similar formulas with not much variation. It was my main reason for seeing this film.

While the concept for 'Four Christmases and a Wedding' was far from squandered, the film also could have done a good deal more with it. Conceptually 'Four Christmases and a Wedding' sounded different, but it was executed in a quite conventional manner in the film which is a shame. Have always adored Christmas and 'Four Christmases and a Wedding' has moments where it captures the spirit of the holiday quite well, when one is not frustrated by the sloppiness of the writing.

'Four Christmases and a Wedding' has good things. It looks quite good, especially the scenery. There are moments of nostalgia and authenticity in the soundtrack. Corey Sevier is a likeable male lead, while Judge Reinhold and Markie Post are treats in their roles. The younger cast members are not too cute or too bratty.

There are moments where 'Four Christmases and a Wedding' is charming and shows signs of heart. The Christmas spirit is there in parts.

Sadly, in my view, Arielle Kebbel tries too hard and her acting comes over as forced. She is very beautiful, but she didn't need to try that hard and didn't always seem comfortable. Didn't like her character of Chloe, at all either. Her obsessiveness was way overdone, one of my bugbears in film is character flaws being exaggerated and that's the case here, to the extent that it became annoying and borderline creepy. The characters are not developed that well and come over as sketchy cliches, while the central relationship is far too rushed and didn't feel that developed. Basically a big just there plot device with no conflict or much spark.

Much of the music is over-scored and could have been used a good deal less. The script doesn't flow that well and is very cheesy and sappy. It's the story and pacing that most let 'Four Christmases and a Wedding' down. The pace does drag a lot and the story, on top of being excessively predictable, over-sentimental and contrived, came over as mostly bland and badly over-stretched from too much overlong padding trying to hide how little plot there is.

Concluding, very, very average. 5/10