Eingeschneit zu Weihnachten

7.7 stars.

There is not much going on in this film, it's got a singular setting, a house, and some nearby streets, and I think a shop or two, but it's very limited. It's also a wee bit slow and missing something, but otherwise this is a decent movie. She is a vision, probably the best all around beauty for Hallmark female leads. But only by a nose, however, there are a few out of this world amazing females. What this means for me is that watching her is a sublime experience no matter what the level of entertainment value, therefore this was a good time for me. The male lead seems a bit more difficult to figure out, not the drop dead gorgeous male lead, but I think he has a special something about him, and of course, he's certainly no slouch in the looks department. The acting is okay, the "miracles" that happen are probably a farce (really it's just because one of the characters has a lot of connections). No way they do what they do under the circumstances. I was curious about the shots of the house, they used two different houses to represent the same house, so maybe I missed something because I had difficulty making the connection. Was one of the houses his? You'll see one house has a garage, the other doesn't. Neither here nor there I suppose. Not much to say about this story it's very very plain, but a beauty and a tall glass of water pass the time pretty smoothly.

This is another take on kids whose parents are unable to get home while another previously unacquainted couple teams up to take care of them. The story is uninspiring but cute while the characters run through the usual Christmas activities including the usual snow ball fight. There were a few musical montages - for me if there is more than one in a movie it seems like lazy writing.

This movie might have been fun if the lead couple had any chemistry. The au pair, who isn't credited on this site as of this writing, and kid's uncle, played by Jeremy Guilbaut only really connect on screen for about 1/3rd of the movie, or less, The uncle is too busy answering his phone for work for much of the first part and for much of the last part other things and people fill the screen time. As a family story it's fair, but as a romance it's poor.

Have said many times about my love of Christmas and getting a lot of pleasure out of in particular watching films, cartoons and specials during this period, something that most years has been much needed. Wanted to see some more festive films that were more recent, lower in budget and were not childhood favourites, so in a way to broaden my horizons and have been doing so since November 2019. Decided to see one that wasn't from Hallmark or Lifetime.

'Christmas Au Pair', or 'Snowed In at Christmas' in other places, could have been a good deal better than it was though. There are things that are good, but there are too many areas where it is lacking for me to recommend it. It is a long way from being one of the worst Christmas films seen recently, but it is also a long way from being one of the best. In my mind, 'Christmas Au Pair' is one of the average middle films, Christmas or otherwise from UPTV's 2021 output.

There are good things here. It is well above average in the acting department. Kayla Wallace did do a good job with what she is given, despite not being a fan of her character, and injects the role with a good deal of feeling. Jeremy Guilbaut's performance is beautifully understated but not phoned in. The children are not too sugary cute or too petulant.

Furthermore, 'Christmas Au Pair' is attractive enough visually, particularly in the scenery. The music has a pleasant nostalgia and isn't overused or overbearing. There are moments of charm and heart.

On the other hand, 'Christmas Au Pair' could have been a lot more. Wallace and Guilbaut have next to no chemistry together and both are disconnected together, individually they are committed but together there is never a sense of attraction or caring for the other let alone romance. The chemistry in general is too distant and the romance is really underdeveloped. Didn't care enough for the characters despite the cast's best efforts, Wallace's is far too judgemental to such an overblown degree and Guilbaut's is too in his own world.

Did find the script too stilted and schmaltzy. Although it did have charming and heartfelt moments, the story is thin, drags a lot and takes itself too seriously and safely (it shouldn't have been afraid of having some playfulness and light hearted-ness). Culminating in a blatantly predictable and unrealistically pat ending that doesn't make that much sense concluding the contrived conflict that came before it.

In summary, watchable but rather average. 5/10.

Do not look for anything stunning or surprising, here. Yet, when it comes to Christmas movies, predictability is a good thing. Yuletide is a time when sugar overloading becomes acceptable, if not desirable. If you want to spend your evening watching a yarn where characters are good, feelings are kind ad you are left warm inside, you do not want to be over critical. Just sit down with your pop corn basket and enjoy: this is one movie for you. The story is credible enough, the actors deliver well, the plot evolves without effort to the predictable, sweet end you expect. Thumbs up for Up Channel.

Every time Kayla Wallace is filmed in full profile, showing off her bubble butt, everyone takes a drink. The director should be ashamed of himself, it was so clearly shot that way intentionally.

Kayla is awfully cute in the role though and does a good job in this. Hope to see her in more movies like this. The kids were not overly obnoxious as is typical in romance movies. A very watchable feel-good movie.

Overall it was fun 90 minutes and we will watch it again next Christmas. With drinks, of course.