Patrick Stewart is a diverse and lovable actor, one that can fit any role and be endearing to audience. The first flaw of many this movie has is secluding him form the rest of cast and makes him recites dull version of A Christmas Carol. The other plots are different groups of similarly pretentious characters trying to be humorous and delivering some warm message, all of which fail to do so.
This is several short stories woven together with one underlying theme; finding solace in unfavorable situation of confined in elevator. There are so many noises and gibberish, it just doesn't feel authentic in any way. Most of these characters speak and do things no ordinary person would even consider normal. Perhaps the movie would like audience to suspense judgement to these supposed colorful characters, but they are simply revolting.
Maybe only one or two of them are decent, and that's already an overstatement considering they rely so heavily on terrible script. If this is an attempt to build any connection then it's a misguided one. The photographer and random lady subplot is superbly awful, almost rude even. They are just silly in an attempt for mild romance which eventually ends up creepy and inauthentic.
There is actually a good cast here, they are just trapped in situation or company no one would like to see, let alone experience. The orchestra assembly stuck in one elevator is just too much, too crude and with no real focus. Jon Heder is pretty good, although he must content with horrible boss cliché. The one elevator that has some kind of heart is the hospital one, it sometimes looks real enough, however it's still lacking depth to present a drama of faith.
With so many angles and good cast, it's actually surprising that every single one of them is flawed. Having insipid script and appalling characters, it's better to be stuck on an elevator in real life than trapped watching this.
