Le pacte de Noël

I absolutely loved this movie and enjoyed the various hilarious parts it had! I love Christmas holiday movies.

Its Thanksgiving. Rob (Joey Lawrence) has a hard time committing to ANYTHING! On the job, he is a talented art director but he happily goes from one freelance position to another, so that he doesn't have to stay true to a single company. The same phobia occurs for his love life, a never ending string of short-term romances. He breaks up with a current flame in a taxicab! His grandma is keenly disappointed, as she is very ill and wants to see him happily married. Meanwhile, beautiful Julie (Emily Hampshire), also single since her last New Year's Eve break-up, is upset that her Jewish mother is endlessly trying to match make her only daughter. Turkey dinner is almost unbearable, since Mom and Dad have invited a "prospect" to join their meal. Enough of this, she thinks! Her brilliant plan is to go online and find a "pretend" boyfriend for the coming holiday season so that she can avoid any future blind dates and complications. Guess who sees her ad! Rob! He believes his grandma is dying and wants to give her a last wish by becoming engaged. Oh, what a tangled web may be ahead, for Rob is Catholic and Julie is Jewish. Each must take a "cram course" in faking a new religion. But, amid the errors, both of them laugh and, in truth, like what they find in their pretend fiancés. Will it only be a case of hitched for the holidays! This darling film has a great cast (including Marilu Henner), lovely sets, fetching costumes, a mirthful script, and a lively direction. How welcome it is to find a seasonal film that touches on Hanukkah as well as Christmas. It also produces laughter, as when Rob's family buys Kwanzaa candle holders instead of Menorrahs! Naturally, romance fans will be delighted, too. Ditch the old re-runs and go get Hitched!

This is a bit quirkier take on the plot device where two strangers need to pretend to be in a relationship for the holidays. I enjoyed quite a few laughs as this Jewish girl agrees to this with a Catholic boy.

Their first rule is no touching and they break it about 10 seconds later when Julie sees the office creep and grabs Rob and kisses him. In fact this movie probably has more kissing than I've seen in any of these Hallmark friendly movies.

They keep getting into little dilemmas where they have to do some quick thinking that usually leads to a "white" lie. At one point, Rob's whole Catholic family pretends to be Jewish because Rob and Julie have told her family that he is Jewish. Admittedly this isn't PC which hopefully can be forgiven, but it is funny.

Joey Lawrence and Emily Hampshire are cute together.

This story is a nice change on the theme and takes a tiny twist at the end.

There have been several of these "fake boyfriend/girlfriend" Hallmark Christmas movies over the years, but this was one of the early ones, and it delivered. The Catholic "boyfriend' pretending to be Jewish was funny. The actors' takes to him blowing out the Minora candles cracks us up.

There are lots of laugh and chuckle moments, and that's what you're watching these for in the first place. Yeah, a good romance story is nice. This didn't have the "best" bonding structure between the romantic leads, but it worked well enough.

We've seen this a few times now, and i think we like it better every time.

Not sure why Lisa Bishop has to reduce this to a sexist moan as it wasn't written to be sexist! Such a shame and so unnecessary.

This is a simple little story that draws you in. It I has an easy storyline and is nice to watch and become involved in.

The characters are believable and enjoyable. The story is often predictable but that does not detract from the overall plot which still surprises at moments. There are some great moments in it where you want to hide in embarrassment but this is because in a way they are believable!

It doesn't have to have big expectations because that is what it is!

Settle down on a cold wet afternoon in front of a fire and enjoy!