The Christmas Break

I enjoyed this film! I will say I feel like it actually deserves an 8 or 9, but gave it a 10 because it's DEFINITELY better than a 4. But I really enjoyed this film. It's a light hearted christmas Rom Com and it was fun to watch on Christmas. I've always enjoyed Justin Long in films but it's nice to see him doing lower budget films that are not horror movies. I will say some of the reviews said it was "too american" but personally I don't get that feeling. But, as an American I may be a little biased. I will say, the closed captioning is a little off on phrasing, so if you watch with closed captioning on you might get a few random laughs where the words or phrasing is off. But if you are bored of the same christmas movies every year, this is also a great option! Also the same director as "Christmas is Canceled" which i also recomend!

Is this the worst movie ever made? Well there's been a lot of bad Christmas films made and many of them are shown on afternoon TV, so I'd have to say it's not quite as bad as those but boy it is bad! It's another of those movies where an innocent American experiences the kind of Ireland that doesn't exist in reality and never did. Full of lame Oirish stereotypes and a ridiculous predictable plot it's just a total waste of time. In fact I felt embarrassed for the cast, it's that bad. The trashing of Fairytale of New York, probably the best Christmas song ever written, is just unforgivable. The storyline, if you could call it that, is totally predictable which I wouldn't mind if it had a shred of humour or reality but unfortunately it has neither. Give it a wide berth. Nothing to see here.

Oh how the mediocre have fallen. Sadly Justin Long never did break through to the A-list, and now he's reduced to starring in poor-tv-standard schlock like "The Christmas Break" as a Chicago lad taking a festive holiday with wife India Mullen to her small Irish family & home-town. There the two get involved in various 'hilarious' (not) scrapes, while figuring out if they should have kids. Prarthana Mohan follows up his abysmal direction of "Christmas Is Cancelled" with an even worse showing here, somehow draining all warmth & charm out of Ireland - not helped by Jed Elinoff & Scott Thomas' lame screenplay. It is awful, Long must be depressed about it, flush it far away.

Fun and light-hearted, but definitely what an American would think Ireland was like. After a while it became more amusing and less annoying to see Irish culture butchered again and again, but it was still so American it was slightly painful.

The humour was similarly American, which isn't a bad thing- it's just an acquired taste. Some parts were funny, others cringy. But overall it was a bit of fun.

The characters were not particularly likeable or believable, but this is not the sort of film for character development. However, they were not too irritating (most of the time) so it wasn't too bad.

The plot was wishy washy and predictable, as you would expect and it had an undertone of 'American saviour complex' to it, but it was light-hearted and fluffy.

Not a must see, but a way to kill time.

Kid-friendly Jack Bradford (Justin Long) is happily married to Caroline (India Mullen) in Chicago. He suggests trying for a kid, but she maneuvers out of it by using his LARPing. They go back to her Irish home town for Christmas. Her father owns the century-old family pub, but it is being challenged by Caroline's hunky ex Cormac O'Leary and his karaoke machine. The clan is battling him in Gaelic football.

This is a little different than the normal basic TV rom-com movie. This one has Justin Long. He's too good. Maybe he did this for the Irish vacation. The bigger problem is the baby issue. The movie is trying to push Caroline into having a baby when she doesn't want it. I don't know if it could be made funny. At least, this movie doesn't achieve it. As much as Justin Long tries with the kids, the premise keeps pulling the movie down. It also makes Caroline into a wet blanket with a wondering eye. This really needs to rewrite her character.