Monsieur Décembre

Have actually seen a fair share of Hallmark Christmas films that have been surprisingly good and more, so they are absolutely capable of having a good film in them, hence why they keep getting watched by me. Despite giving '12 Men of Christmas' a mediocre rating and am going to give it a fairly lukewarm review, it did have some potential even if expectations weren't entirely high because of the casting of Kristen Chenoweth (a big singing inspiration of mine).

'12 Men of Christmas' is neither one of the hits or one of the misses. There are definitely worse Christmas films from Hallmark, as it just about misses being in the mediocre at best or dud category, but there are also better as it is not quite surprisingly good level or particularly good. '12 Men of Christmas' is one of the just about semi- watchable in between films of theirs, but to me for a one time watch only for completest sake and for Chenoweth.

There are good things here. Chenoweth sparkles in her role, wasn't crazy about her character but Chenoweth gamely brings effervescent charm to her. Josh Hopkins is also charming and their chemistry is natural and sweet. Actually did think on the whole that the acting wasn't bad at all considering what was given to the cast.

Also thought the production values were very nice to look at, especially the scenery which is beautiful. The music is pleasantly festive.

On the other hand, '12 Men of Christmas' isn't particularly good. The biggest strike against it is the story, which is formulaic (due to almost every recognisable Hallmark cliche in the book, or at least that's how it feels like, and with no freshness) and painfully unrealistic to a quite silly degree. Did think too that some of what happens was forced and actually could have been left out and felt like filler. While thinking that the cast was game, the characters weren't well fleshed out.

More tired variation of familiar character types, and either bored or irritated. The male roles are all one dimensional and Chenoweth's character's quirks can be overdone. The fish out of water aspect was too alien from space randomly inserted in a location like. Furthermore, the dialogue goes well overboard with the cheese factor and comes over as really dumb and childish. As well as quite stilted. There is a lack of warmth and heart, which is all lost underneath all the silliness and contrivances, while there is absolutely no doubt how things will end and in a way that even for that ending feels too tidy.

Concluding, didn't do very much for me in spite of Chenoweth. 4/10.

EJ (Kristin Chenoweth) is a New York publicist whose life spirals downwards when she catches her fiancé cheating with her boss.

Unable to get another job in New York she moves down to a small town in Montana doing publicity for the Mayor's office. The town is next to the Glacier National Park.

When the local rescue team who are all volunteers need to fundraise, EJ persuades them to pose for a calendar while finding romance with one of the locals.

As this is a Lifetime Christmas film. EJ is a fish out of water in a homely small town where rents are low, everyone is nice to each other unlike the rat race of New York where everyone stabs each other in the back.

The director knows enough to keep the men interested by having several cleavage shots of Chenoweth. Frankly two good reasons to watch a Kristin Chenoweth movie!

For others there are several beefcakes who pose for the calendar and it is done in the best possible taste.

Not a great movie, but not bad.

Entertaining, lots of hunky guys.

The plot is weak, the acting for the most part is adequate. But on the whole it is a watchable movie.

My advice: go ahead and watch it, you will enjoy it.

Not sure how nobody else has mentioned this but the plot is predictable because it almost a straight map from pride and prejudice.

That doesn't make it bad - quite the opposite - just predictable. Basing it on this classic isn't unique amongst Christmas films - let's be honest, we don't watch films like this for originality anyway.

Kristin Chenoweth is her usual, bubbly self, the men are handsome and the scenery is beautiful. It has a decent secondary cast so of its type it's really not that bad.

If you like the rom-com Christmas films then you'll like this. My main gripe is it's really not a Christmas film only a very small proportion of the film is set at Christmas and it plays no part in the plot.

This movie had sassy written all over it, but yet I sat through it till the very end.

The story told in "Twelve Men of Christmas" is right out of the academy of clichés; a corporate high-end New York woman going to a small town in Montana to get away, and here she ends up taking advantage of all her skill she acquired in New York, in order to raise funds for the local search and rescue crew. Alrighty then, not really believable, but still a movie came from it. The story is, of course, the type of story that you have figured out the course it will take and how it will end right from the beginning. So no big surprise there!

As for the cast and acting, well I can't really say that it was bad. I found the cast to actually be good enough, though I haven't really seen any of the faces before (and the head of Kristin Chenoweth is kind of hard to get around), though I seem to recall having seen Josh Hopkins somewhere before, though I can't recall where exactly. Josh was actually the most memorable of all people in the movie here.

The setting of the movie was fantastic. Really nice and beautiful scenery, nature, and an idyllic town setting. That was so nice to look at.

There were a couple of times throughout the movie where the movie might have actually become funny, but it never shined through. It was always just brooding beneath the surface. But of course, this wasn't really a comedy.

Despite it being a super predictable movie, I still found "Twelve Men of Christmas" to be good enough entertainment, though you have to fight your way through a tsunami of sassyness along the way. But ultimately, I was entertained, but I doubt that I will be returning to the movie for a second watching, ever. This is the type of movie that will go well with women with big romantic hearts and suckers for sassy movies.

Oh, and before I forgot. I noticed the coolest blooper ever in this movie. If you manage to sit through the movie, take a good look at the drummer in the background at the pre-launch party for the calender. He goes crazy at the drums at a certain time, and it doesn't even match the drumming sounds from the actual music playing. But wait, it gets better. The guy isn't even hitting the drums, hi-hats or cymbals, he is just drumming in midair, and it is so obviously clear to see. I had to go back in the movie to watch it a second time, it was just that priceless. Hilarious stuff right there.