Christmas Perfection

Am not somebody who hates Christmas or has a bias against made for television Christmas films. The complete opposite on both counts and have made that clear more than once and will continue to do so if necessary (though am refraining as much as possible from reiterating too much). The comparisons to 'Groundhog Day', a great film, made it sound very appetising and if done well or at least competently it did have potential to be good.

'Christmas Perfection' is not perfection, a long way from that. It doesn't even reach good level, the complete opposite, and the worst done components are done terribly. Am taking no pleasure in offering that opinion, being somebody who has actually liked a good deal of Christmas romantic comedy made for television films. As well as being somebody who tries to be as balanced and encouraging as possible when reviewing and summing up the good and bad.

It is not a complete loss. The soundtrack is pleasant enough. The supporting cast do ably with what they are given.

James Henri-Thomas is also game as the only one of the three leads and of all the characters to have anything remotely likeable about him.

The other characters are too underdeveloped and unsympathetic other than that. Two of the three leads are incredibly weak, especially Caiitlin Thompson as a character that is very obnoxious and she plays her with very little ease or charisma. There is no chemistry at all between the three leads, either romantic or of any kind and they are painfully stiff together throughout. The romantic element suffers badly as a result, something that is further hurt by relationships being rushed and no character growth.

All the comedic attempts are laboured and have no freshness whatsoever and the more dramatic elements are far too mawkish. None of the different elements work on their own and together they are poorly balanced, with a tendency to be over-serious. Add to that inane dialogue, no spark let alone charm, warmth or heart, emotional coldness, quite cheap production values that never look authentic and contrivance galore and you have a film that really does not work on most levels.

Has a few decent things but 'Christmas Perfection' couldn't have been more further away from being perfection. Good idea with weak at best execution. 3/10

The acting from the three leads was off. I kept trying to figure out why. Were those real accents or fake from the two leading men? Was it missing background music at key points? Was it the super fake snowmen and snow scenes? The lack of any surprise or shock or wonder at where they were? The lead actress was rather unlikable. Not because of the script but she emoted a strange vibe to me. She does not have screen charisma. I had never seen any of these people anywhere before, and I watch a lot of movies. This feels like a true budget film. The food never looked appetizing at all in all the scenes, the two leading mens teeth are quite yellow, and that was distracting to me, there was zero chemistry between any of the leads. Sorry about the teeth thing, I know American actors have the fakest most brilliant white teeth and that can be distracting too. And so unrealistic. The older supporting actors were all good. The story was a cute idea and it could have been a great movie done better. I feel like this movie being so flat and stilted must be partly the directors fault. There was no spark in this movie. I have seen worse Hallmark and other Christmas movies, but they usually have such lush settings and Christmas decorations and food, you can just ignore the bad plots, (sometimes) and enjoy the Christmas stuff. One thing Hallmark does have is a great stable of charismatic actors who can carry almost any plot. This movie did not have that.

It is one of those movies that could have been quite good but because of the lack of money and imagination ended up being mediocre... at best. The story doesn't really make too much sense nor the rules of the magic world are clear. The humour is almost non-existing. BUT... somehow, it ended up being good enough to entertain me on a lonely Christmas Eve. The actors are fine, and Irish Christmas is something I did not expect to see. All in all, 5.5/10 is all it deserves.

If you love the movie Groundhog Day, you will love this Christmas version of it. It actually is a very sweet Christmas movie...... and not as frustrating as Groundhog Day. I think the story line is just adorable and well worth the watch. Happy Christmas to you.

I have Christmas movies on literally from the day after Thanksgiving up until NYE so I've seen my share of them and I have to say, this is really a cute movie!! The lead actress, Darcy, has the right amount of believability and her best friend since childhood, Brandon is actually very funny. If you can get past the "weird" Irish accents, it's actually a very enjoyable movie.