A Hollywood Christmas

You have to get beyond wanting a 10 out of 10 Hallmark movie. If you want a Hallmark movie go to Hallmark. This is on HBO. I stumbled across this one by accident and was pleasantly surprised. I thought the fact that it played off of the cheesy romcom was perfect. It showed the other side of moviemaking, not the three week perfection that other studios give. There was the main character with the flaw they didn't see, the goofy sidekick, the classic misunderstanding, and the unpacking of feelings. Oh yeah, it also had some romance as well. If you can get beyond wanting the perfect movie, this really isn't a bad movie. There are a few familiar faces as well. Just try it and form your own opinion. As a matter of fact, this movie made me hop on here and look for other movies that some of these characters are in.

First, Josh never removes his shirt. Any movie with Josh where that doesn't happen is already down.

But, the movie kept me guessing just enough to make me keep watching it. Unfortunately, it did not deliver enough surprises, which I guess is to the form on Christmas movies, but again, just 1 surprise might have been nice. Can we not have 1 Christmas movie where it turns out one of the main characters is unknown to be gay, or something. Everyone can still end happy, but some major diversion would have been nice. In this one, maybe the b!tch executive could have wound up with the director in the end and Josh, coming out of the shower in just a towel, could look up and realize he had fallen in love with the all knowing assistant.

I enjoy a cheesy bad Christmas movie, but this one went too far with force-feeding you the "formula." I think if the writers took out the role of the PA spelling out the analogy between the Director's real-life interactions and the happy-ending Christmas movies then it could have really saved the movie. I hate it when scripts are too on-the-nose and GOD that assistants voice was annoying which only made it more excruciating. I think in any real life scenario, if someone behaved like that regarding another persons love life it would have immediately shut down any chance of romance. The second-hand embarrassment I got from her pointing out the chemistry in an unnatural way was out of control. I didn't hate the acting, which is typically the issue with these types of movies, but I couldn't get past how much they shoved the plot in your face. Let me live in the fantasy that the characters have no idea they will have their predictable happily ever after.

Christmas in the summer. You can enjoy 2 different Christamas movies in a shot. A bit childish to be honest, but totally agree to the protagonist's line that Christmas was her safe space. That she does this because had chosen the job, not just because it was her next step on "wherever my skills take me" unexpectedly inspired me, the quote I needed just at the right time. A few lines survived... but it still has a 90 minutes worth of Christmas vibe we love!

P. S. But I guarantee this could be done much better than this... maybe the budget cut in the movie is a metaphor of the movie itself...? Maybe or maybe not.

We love bad, formulaic Christmas movies, and this is a movie about making one of those bad, formulaic Christmas movies while (mostly) following the formula itself. It's so meta lol!

It was fun to watch and the people leaving low rating reviews don't get that it is SUPPOSED to be a movie that doesn't take itself seriously with bad writing and "flat" acting! The acting actually is great, especially the actors playing the a lead actors in the "movie." It makes fun of itself multiple times, albeit subtly sometimes.

If you realize what this movie is before you watch it, you'll enjoy it that much more!