Homemade Christmas

As we've all seen Hallmark and Lifetime have produced some real underwhelming movies for 2020. Less moving moments, really bad snowy scenes, etc. But this one is the worst so far. The acting is incredibly bad, and I mean every single character, horrible. The toy shop guys, wth? How do they have one shop let alone try for more. Never any customers, but fully staffed and no one knows anything! Bare shelves, no decorations, really? Hiring someone to decorate a tree in a toystore is an emergency when you have 4 people in the store doing nothing, with no customers? This one is all over the place, no focus, just cliches. I had to struggle through this in hopes in would get better, it didn't.

I had to write this review. The actors are wonderful. The dialogues are very good. The DIRECTION is excellent and really evokes the warmth of Christmas. A really fun watch. My special appreciation to the director for making every shot look so good.

The premise boils down to consultant-comes-in-to-save-the-business but there's a different flavor to it. For one thing, there's also a Christmas-coach slant to it. And the consultant to save the business isn't really a business consultant, but a Jacqueline of all trades who majors in DIY. The movie didn't cram in all of the usual Christmas devices, but the snowball exchange was a little obvious. There are no big surprises.

Michelle Argyris has chemistry with both of the male leads, but after a bit, Chase turns into the business-focus exec who doesn't really care about people. He's also controlling and not too respectful of women.

Meanwhile Kurt, played by Travis Nelson has obvious connection with Argyris even when they are sparring with each other and it only goes up from there. This is the enjoyable part of the movie watching these two get closer then back away and then repeat.

Megan seems a little too good to be true at least as far as selflessness. She has some insecurities that come out over time, but a really tough façade.

... well maybe some solace? Maybe do not watch Christmas movies would be something I can hear you tell me ... well I am only human aren't I? So no pun intended as always. I reckon if you are into romantic movies and Christmas ... you will have a dog in this "fight" ... wait what was the saying again? I forgot but you understand what I am trying to say here, surely.

This was not Last Christmas (I already got whammed by the way, in a cinema nonetheless, where they were playing it last month already), but it was for free at a streaming service ... that is how they lulled me in ... yeah I have to stop these along with all the true crime stuff ... fictional true crime stuff might be still ok though ... wait how did I get from Christmas to this dark theme? Well as you can see there is nothing surprising with the movie going on, so that is why I am drifting off ... even while watching it too ... no offense.

Overall, this is a pretty ordinary Christmas movie with some mediocre acting, at best. It was quite difficult to engage with this film, especially for the first 45 minutes or so. The story, nor the acting, pulled me in, engaged me. The acting was pretty bad at times, especially in the first half of the film. The male lead, Travis Nelson, had a very awkward performance, at times. In many of the scenes early on in the film, his lines seemed forced, or rather, it felt like he was acting, which is never a good sign for an actor. There were glimpses of decent acting. For example, he had a nice scene about 40 minutes in with Megan (played by Michelle Argyris) when talking about his mother (being raised by a single mom). And his interactions and dialogue with Megan in the last half of the film were not bad overall. Michelle Argyris, the other lead, was a bit better acting-wise, but she too had some awkward scenes. She was at her strongest in her exchanges with Travis. Like him, she had some good moments (e.g., in the closet at the shop with the wooden reindeer). It does make me wonder where the director was when shooting this movie; it seems they could have used a bit of direction. The chemistry between them was fairly good. As I have alluded to above, they were both at their best in these cute and flirtatious scenes. The scenery, props and sets were not great. The shop was quite bare of toys, for example. If you are a fan of Lifetime/Hallmark Christmas movies, this movie might be worth a watch. Otherwise, you might want to pass on this one.