User reviews

A Home For The Holidays (2023) -

Daniel Cudmore was far more appealing in his role of Colossus in 'X-Men 2' (2003), because he actually seemed like a bit of a loser as Russell in this film. He was definitely the better character of the leads though because Shannon Elizabeth's Ella was an absolute cow!

She also can't have been that much of a repair person if everything kept going wrong, even after she'd "Fixed" it, some of those elements got annoying and seemed a tad unnecessary too.

And then, as the film continued, she got really silly, before finally mellowing really quickly.

The story itself wasn't really very Christmassy either and I didn't really feel the romance building, while Ella tried to claim ownership for a house that actually belonged to Russell.

Although I could obviously see that they were warming to each other as friends, it needed another ten episodes for them to realise that they liked each other more than that, but as it was a film that didn't seem to work at all.

It was of the style of this genre which is generally a bit dreary and lacking all of the bells and whistles that go with the festive season, the special filters and all the colourful lights and pretty decorations, which was probably why I didn't feel the Christmas as much, despite Russell's son hoping for a visit from Santa, etc.

The struggle for the two of them to decide who would ultimately live in the house and how Ella would keep her shop running smoothly was something that could have been set at any time of the year and wasn't added to by its seasonal setting.

In the end I felt that she definitely got the better end of the deal, once again (Why are these women all such Grotbags? - these aren't empowered women, they've just got chips on their shoulders and represents them really badly), because Colossus was still a good catch, all she brought to the relationship was access to a supply of tools. He was the one with heart, although his acting ability made it clear why he had only been a secondary character previously.

So, it's not one I'd rush back to see again and I might get tricked in to seeing in a few years, because I've forgotten that I've already seen it and who knows, I might enjoy it for its difference at that point, just not this time. However, I didn't hate it either.

4.82/1000.

This is not a bad Christmas movie and we enjoyed watching it, but it falls short in being a real Christmas romance movie. I don't get why it was written like the way it was. Could have been a lot better in the way it handled the relationship between Cudmore and Shannon Elizabeth, who were both good. I though Shannon Elizabeth was really good, and she is really all that floats this movie. So, overall it's a decent watch, with a few outstanding scenes. The idea for the story is good, but it's not as well crafted as some of the better ones of this genre. The acquisition of the house, the condemnation procedure, and actual repairs are somewhat unrealistically handled. Minor details can often be overlooked in Christmas movies. But they wrote past these issues too easily. Still, it's worth a watch for Shannon Elizabeth.