Les Pendules de Noël

Hallmark Christmas films vary in quality. Some good ones (a reaction not always expected), some mediocre at best and even very bad ones and plenty that fall somewhere in between. The concept for 'A Very Merry Mix Up' sounded nice, though hardly innovative. Am not always a fan of Alicia Witt, a Hallmark regular. Sometimes she is charming and has characters easy to like, at other times her acting to me is too affected and it makes me struggle to root for her or the film.

'A Very Merry Mix Up' is one of those solid/high-in between Hallmark festive efforts, certainly out of the ones seen by me recently. Not great (some major flaws here) or a complete Christmas cracker, but merry enough and far from the equivalent of a lump of coal at the bottom of a stocking. It also contains one of Witt's better and more endearing Hallmark festive performances, something that would have made or broken the film depending on whether she would be good or not considering she's the lead.

There are flaws in 'A Very Merry Mix Up'. As others have said, it is a very typical Hallmark Christmas film, with plot tropes that can be spotted a mile away from being used frequently. So it felt very predictable and in need of freshness throughout. The film can fall into ridiculous territory, especially towards the end, and is too reliant on coincidence.

Do agree that the music is distractingly overbearing. Not only does it dominate the film too much and is used too much, sometimes it doesn't even fit either and other festive films seen recently did much better at capturing the spirit of Christmas (some of what is heard here can be heard anywhere regardless of the occasion). More understated scoring was needed. Too many of the supporting characters are underdeveloped.

On the other hand, 'A Very Merry Mix Up' does have a lot of things that work in its favour. Witt plays her role with a lot of charm and doesn't take things too seriously. She is very comitted here while not getting too forced like some of her other Hallmark performances. Mark Wiebe is very down to earth and their chemistry has a good deal of spark. Their characters, while very familiar for Hallmark, are also actually interesting and are not annoying. All the acting is well above average, regardless of the flimsy character development in support.

Script has less of the corn, cheese, overdone sentiment and awkwardness that can be heard in other Hallmark efforts. Yeah, some of the dialogue still isn't great and can get contrived, but it flows well, is heart-warming and it doesn't get sugary. The story is very flawed, but it has a lot of charm and heart and some parts are quite poignant. The ending is foreseeable and a bit too tidy, but is very sweet nonetheless. The pace doesn't feel too rushed or too dull.

Concluding, has major flaws but has a lot of things that work well. Worthwhile. 6/10

A charming, if predictable, holiday romance.

Alicia Witt, as a sweet and artsy semi-ditz happily running her family's antique store, is engaged to a polished, money-focused, big-city real-estate salesman.

Through a series of cute travel mishaps on her way to meet his family for the first time, she ends up at the wrong house a couple of days before Christmas. That warm, happy family, by a credulity-stretching coincidence, welcomes and cherishes her in their extremely - but tastefully - decorated home. Of course they have a very nice son who falls for her, and shares interests and values that aren't on her fiancé's radar.

Complications, emotional struggles, and a happy resolution ensue.

Apart from that one weak plot coincidence to get her into the family, and the general niceness of both men when the chips are down, the only thing that annoyed me was the heroine's little speech at the end, in which she declaimed about a character issue that was not well set up.

Overall, a nice way to spend 2 hours while you're writing Christmas cards.

Hallmark follows pretty much the same story line with some slight variations. The good guys are incredibly good, the bad guys are terribly bad and there doesn't seem to be any gray areas in either group. The movie is saved by some nice performances, especially by Alicia Witt. She seems a genuinely nice person and you root for her to be happy. Of course, you pretty much know after the first 15 minutes how this will all turn out.

Alice owns an antique store and somehow hooked up with a stuffy corporate type which stretches belief right off the bat as there is absolutely no chemistry between them and they apparently have nothing in common (in first 5 minutes he plunks a really cheesy artificial tree the middle of her quaint antique shop). Because of the ever-present "deal", she ends up traveling to meet his family for the first time all alone.

In an incredible coincidence, she ends up meeting a man who shares the same last name as her fiancé and off we go to Hallmark World where she falls in love with a perfect but unrelated family. Once she learns the truth, she's off to the sterile mansion with the stony-faced, uptight soon-to-be in-laws. If you can't figure out what happens next then you've never seen a Hallmark movie.

I found the music distracting - as a matter of fact most of the newer Hallmark movies have that issue. The music is too loud or the voices are too soft but I often miss things and have to use closed captioning. I love Christmas music but tone it down already!

Alicia appears in several of our favorite Hallmark Christmas films, and some of them are among our favorites specifically because of her. There are only a couple we consider duds (like the snow globe film). Her quirky style works for us.

This story sidesteps many of the Christmas romance cliches, but does retain one which becomes central to the film ... the bad boyfriend trope. However, it's handled somewhat differently and the plot moves past it with a couple of intentionally awkward scenes which reveal to Witt's character just how wrong her fiancé is for her and how right the new man she discovered by accident.

The movie is funny with lots of warm moments and the awkward scenes with her fiancé's family sell her changing idea of what she wants in a relationship and in her life.

I really liked this Hallmark movie. It was actually pretty funny! Okay, so yes in real life they probably would have realized the misunderstanding a lot sooner and avoided much of the mess, but of course this is a movie and the unrealistic plot makes it more romantic, funny, and entertaining. I might even be willing to watch this one again!