All About Christmas Eve

I love a cheesy slightly tacky Christmas move mmmm is but this was pretty poor! Bad acting and a Bad take on the sliding doors film- don't bother watching

The two previous reviewers have already pointed out features I would have mentioned:

• The "Sliding Doors" plot parallel

• Diana DeGarmo appearing as herself, singing "Cantique de Noël" in English (i.e., "O Holy Night")

In addition, I would note that this is Chris Carmack's second appearance this season as the leading man in a Christmas movie, along with "A Christmas Wedding Date". So far, this is the more highly-rated of the two (and rightfully so, in my opinion). Previously, I'd seen him only as "the other guy," or in some other minor role.

Finally, here are some things you might not have seen if this had been a Hallmark movie:

• The cheating boyfriend in bed with another woman

• Two drag queen barflies (also mentioned previously)

• Haylie Duff's cleavage (I don't remember that from 7th Heaven!)

In short, here's a different bit of fun from the "typical" Christmas tale.

Note: Carmack's character's name is spelled Aidan in the IMDb credits, but that came up with a spelling alert when I typed it, so in my summary, I used the "corrected" form, Aiden, since I never saw the spelling on the screen. Eve's full name, however, appears both spoken and in print in the film; her fist name is Evelyn, but unfortunately, I can't remember the surnames of either lead character.

All About Christmas Eve (2012) -

So this film was an obvious take on 'Sliding Doors' (1998) and I thought that was a nice touch for a made for TV Christmas production.

I would have liked it to have been a bit clearer which version of her was which though. Perhaps she could have hit her head in one reality and had to wear a plaster to distinguish that one from the other, but after a while it was easy enough.

And I didn't think that the romance between Aidan and Eve really had much time to develop, because of the 'Sliding Doors' back and forth, which may be why I couldn't buy their connection.

As has been true with so many of these films, another ten minutes could have made such a difference in that respect. Film makers - Stop restricting the flow of the story to fit a time slot please??

As for the actors, I personally thought that Chris Carmack as Aidan was lovely, despite the pointless scooter, which was obviously way too short to actually have been his, but I didn't think that Haylie Duff as Eve was right for him, she was too all over the place and she had such a "Poor Me" face, as if nothing bad had ever happened to anyone else. I just felt that she would bring him down and squeeze all the joy from him and she put up so many obstacles foe happiness with him. That might be a bit harsh?

Having said that, she did obviously work for the most ridiculous boss and the company clearly didn't have a behaviour management policy.

Actually, the business models in these films have always been so weird. One minute they might be sacked for doing a bad job and the next they might be heading the new office? Talk about extremes? Surely the bosses would have to give better grounds for dismissal than one failed account, if the employee had been doing well otherwise and the bosses certainly wouldn't want to sack the employee if they were in line to run a whole branch of the business provided that they did well?

So, yeah, that was a bit weird, like Tito (Patrick Muldoon), who was so slimey that it was literally dripping off of him. And the home wrecker was proper fugly too, like some sort of alien, there were definitely hints of 'Predator' (1987) about her.

Honestly, the film wasn't that bad, but there were definitely bits that weren't thought through properly, like the terrible artwork produced by the "Stunning Artist", which was at best something that you might find in a charity shop and from the 80's/90's. Once again it was the little touches that let it down and I'm not Haylie's biggest fan.

5/10.

Every year there are so many Christmas TV movies and some of them are pretty lame and too cute. This one is above average because of the alternate scenarios thing going on - one where she makes a business trip and one where she doesn't. The formula usually works and in this movie, it keeps things interesting enough to see how things turn out.

Haylie Duff performs adequately as the party organizer. Chris Carmack as the tech big shot she has to organize a party for. Idol alum Diana De Garmo makes a cameo but her song is a bit underwhelming. Laguna Beach's Stephen Colletti plays her unfaithful boyfriend. Connie Selleca plays her boss and she looks young and amazingly recognizable from her Hotel days.

If you have to choose one Christmas movie to watch to relax this one isn't a bad choice since it's a little different.

It's not a movie you can have on in the background. You have to pay attention to movie because of the two story lines. Both story lines are bland so it's not worth it.