Le diplôme de Noël

A joyous holiday movie. It was great to see Joh James acting again. Bobby Campo is on of my favorites. A great debut job by Lily Anne Harrison. This movie had heart and inspiration a lesson we all need. Good job Hallmark.

Nothing mind blowing here, but a nice little film. The actors are pretty good (the lead male bears more than a passing resemblance to Edward Norton), although I'm not sure I really buy Haley as being get-ahead work focused as she's meant to be. She's sent to Christmas Camp for work, so of course she'll answer some phone calls and send emails! That said, I am glad that this is a Hallmark film where even though the action is mostly in a small town the big city careers aren't denigrated. Apparently you are allowed to have the Christmas spirit and also want to get ahead at work - as long as you remember what's important in life.

My Christmas film viewings over-time have been a very mixed bag. With some surprisingly good hits, where regardless of how predictable they are succeed in being full of charm, warmth and heart so succeeding in being light-hearted and undemanding fun. But also some quite big misses, where the characters are not likeable, everything is forced and shallow with implausibility too in some of the worst cases, the acting and writing being weak and basically with just nothing to them.

'Christmas Camp' is not one of the worst Christmas films recently seen, a long way from being that. It is also though nowhere near being one of the best, and is closer to being in the lesser category. Is 'Christmas Camp' terrible? No, it didn't insult my intelligence, was well intended and it had its moments. At the same time, it is really not particularly good at all with many things wrong with it. Things that even when taking it for what it is and taking into account the target audience are very difficult to overlook.

It is not all bad. Bobby Campo does a great job and not only looks as though he was committing to his role but also that he understood it.

Also did think that the scenery was beautiful and complemented slickly by the photography, regardless of the lack of authenticity, And that the music had pleasant moments.

Too many things let 'Christmas Camp' down however. Lilly Anne Harrison is incredibly stiff and one note with no romantic chemistry or any real connection with the rest of the cast. The rest of the cast pretty much walk through their cliched roles, though some have very little to work with. Didn't find the characters interesting or easy to like or relate to while a lot of the lot of the writing is cheesy and awkward.

Furthermore, the story is excessively predictable, with an old hat premise already done to death having no variation. As well as very bland, the charm and heart are not there and it could have done with more light hearted playfulness, less schmaltz and a tighter pace that would have made it less over serious. The direction is rather routine and the ending too neat.

Concluding, weak though not terrible. 3/10.

I watched this movie in July, and totally enjoyed it. The plot was a bit strange, who knows, maybe if more low level executives were sent to a Christmas camp companies might be better off. Was looking for a repeat showing in the fall 24/7 schedule, not seen a repeat as of yet.

I didn't care for this movie. I did other things while watching it, and it never prompted me to get my full attention. The lead actress was pretty bland, and the movie looked like a low budget compared even to other Hallmark's productions. It just kind of went by, and, soon, I'll completely forget about it. The idea of a Christmas camp was original, but it also struck me as ludicrous. There are much better holiday flicks than this, yet you won't scratch your eyes out if you watch it.