The Borrowed Christmas

I love Christmas movies, even the shamelessly insipid ones. I can forgive the over-emoted, always-good-hearted, low-stakes movies because they are fun, guilty pleasures.

This movie is none f those things. It's a church play that didn't get beyond the rehearsal stage. Obviously flubbed lines, or awkward pauses while the actors try to remember their lines, and completely unbelievable emotions. Truly, it felt like a run thru the got accidentally recorded.

There is nothing redeeming here. It's not even worth a "so good it's bad" watch.

A man steps into a shop to rent himself a Christmas celebration. Since he pays well, we're instantly involved and excited to see if the shop owner will pull this off.

The limited location concept works fine, but it doesn't go unnoticed that the supporting cast is flared with first-timer mannerism. The two main characters played by Sherry Morris and Jeff Rose are very solid, I just wish their chemistry would be tested full out.

During the movie's first half, the story refuses to jingle, due to flawed storytelling. However, once the ornaments are up and daddy's home, we're in for a fulfilling and memorable Christmas sleep-over.

Maybe in the hands of a better producer/director, writer and better players A Borrowed Christmas might have gone as high as some of the more maudlin items from the Hallmark Channel. But this film didn't have the benefit of those talents.

The protagonist Jeff Rose a successful businessman gets a nostalgic yearning for an old fashioned family style Christmas. Only problem is that he's got no family anywhere in reasonable distance. What does he do but goes to a place where he has a mortgage and the local Cratchit like woman Sherry Morriss creates a family Christmas from central casting. Everything but Marley's spirit.

A maudlin idea not helped by a bunch of amateurish players who wouldn't make the cut in my favorite high school theatrical troupe, The Hanover Footlighters. Even church audiences are going to strain with this one.

So for those who do not know, this film is an adaptation of a play called The Rented Christmas. Why in the world they felt the need to change the title is beyond me, but that's by far the least offensive change that was made when creating this movie.

So the director is a Christian, and appears to make Christian films, which I want to make clear is not a problem, you can make religious movies if you want. But the original play isn't about Christianity, it's just not, it doesn't come up at any points. Some small changes in this movie such as having holiday decorations that feature Christ would be absolutely fine, but the film changes dialogue and even the entire message of the movie.

In terms of objective quality, every single high school theater production that has put on a production of the original play is 100% better than this movie. The film is supposed to take place in a rich man's mansion, but instead is clearly just shot inside the director's living room and there is basically zero effort done to try and make the room look fancy. Thing is, if you are on a low budget, don't try to make a film where the setting is extravagant and requires expensive sets if you cannot afford them.

Overall, nothing works in this movie, I cannot even begin to describe how bad the directing is, to the point that every word that comes out of each actor's mouth sounds like it was AI generated, or is just a bastardization of the play's original script. Watching this movie is like if you went on an adult film video site and put in the tags "Christmas" and "Christian" and then scrolled to the bottom. I would give it a 0.5/10 if I could. The only thing keeping it from me wanting to give it a 0/10, is that some of the actors are kids, meaning some of the bad acting can be excused by that small fact.

0.5/10, just go watch A Christmas Story.

I loved the premise of this movie, and I can stay with pretty much any movie even if the actors are a bit off, but I found this uncomfortable to watch. I see many reviewers compare it to a high school play and that is what it seemed like. The acting was very disjointed, cues looked to be missed and it seemed that they were a bit uncomfortable as well.