A Furry Little Christmas

I have a five minute rule for rubbish movies; if it has annoyed me within 5 minutes, I dump it. However I found plot sweet, the female vet delightfully upbeat despite a tragic past and the support cast didn't jar at all.

The story is another one where a woman who is a veterinarian with a kid goes home to Vermont for the first time in years. She meets a doctor. They hang out. The story is pretty average with no great highs or lows or surprises. The only tension is how far away she lives.

There are some cute animals.

I wasn't impressed, but there was nothing really wrong with it.

I'm not going to put a rating on this review; it wouldn't be fair because I fast forwarded through a lot of it. The roller skating scene was symbolic of what was missing. People. Reminds me of some of the Christmas movies of the 2020 Christmas season. Walking empty sidewalks in the downtown shopping center. The plop was traditional, but it takes place in a ghost town. Sorta like a stage play based on four people, but without any supporting townspeople. Like "High Noon" with Gary Cooper. Oops, I just dated myself. Maybe the mistake was to attempt to appear normal, but without backdrop people.

The lead actress had the most annoying voice which grated all the way through the film. The worst was Alice who was working at the theatre when the lead characters went to see the Nutcracker. It sounded like it was playing at speed. Apart from that the film was ok.

So much going wrong for it to be enjoyable - and I have no issue with low-budget movies.

• the music was so loud you couldn't hear most of the dialogue
• there were bizarre editing choices during conversations (the scene where they meet the grandfather made me feel unwell)
• there's a "small town" setting with the largest, most garish cabins I've seen and people pretending they're "rural"
• the male lead kept squinting like he was either high on set or told to do his best Zoolander impression
• the plot a) tells instead of shows and b) has the female lead to succumb to the pressure of her father and new boyfriend

We enjoy wholesome, cheesy movies, but this was actually just bad in too many ways to excuse.