Holiday for Hire

Holiday for Hire" attempts to capture the magic of a Hallmark Christmas movie, but ultimately falls flat. It suffers from the same tired tropes: a successful, independent woman (who, conveniently, was never portrayed as lonely until the holiday season) inexplicably feels a pang of loneliness at Christmas. Enter the handsome, ruggedly charming "Christmas Hire" - a service that provides temporary companionship during the holidays. Cue the predictable plot twists: forced proximity, snowball fights, and a slow burn romance that's as predictable as the falling snow. While the actors clearly put in effort, it's hard not to feel a bit sorry for them. They're trapped in a formulaic script, delivering lines that sound like they were written by a holiday-themed chatbot. One can almost imagine them whispering to each other between takes, "When will this endless string of mistletoe moments ever end?" "Holiday for Hire" is ultimately a forgettable Christmas flick. It's the cinematic equivalent of a lukewarm eggnog - lacking the warmth and spice of a truly enjoyable holiday experience.

A Match Made For Christmas/Holiday For Hire (2024) -

As the film started I felt that It was a bit sketchy for Christie Leverette as Katie to advertise online for a fake boyfriend to spend time with her and her family over Christmas just so she didn't have to admit that she had been dumped the day before. The guy she hired could be a psychopath or even just totally incapable of pulling it off?

Also how did she not see that her Ex-boyfriend Dean (Bobby Slaski) was a complete twonk? Honestly this concept of trying to hide the truth in such an obviously flawed and unnecessary way has always been a hard one for me to buy, although I have definitely seen it done better, although still not enough to score that highly.

And why did the fake "Dean" (Josh - Andrew Rogers) sound like a small child? He was a bit like an overgrown teenager anyway or like an alien trying to understand why humans celebrated the festive season and hoping to learn more by agreeing to this stupid concept. Andrew's performance was more like that of a Disney Kids programme, way over the top and exaggerated and not realistic enough for me to stick with the film at all. If I can't connect with the guy, despite how cute he might have been physically (And he was no Jesse Hutch), I can't really get behind the story.

I did have to actually wonder if it might have worked better as a thriller with Josh/Dean actually being a nutter who was trying to murder Katie in this elaborate way of going to her families house and never to be seen again after killing them all? That might have explained his weird ways? But I'm probably more likely to blame the director and casting department for how he jarred against everything and everyone else. He appeared to be the only comic element. Maybe the others all got stupid later too, but I will never find out.

Unscored as Unfinished.