Perfect Strangers

This movie is what Christmas is about and my favorite Christmas film the acting is top rate by all, now for the negative part the ending I could scream at the director why did you end it that way I watch it every Christmas in the hope for a miracle and the end would change or that there would be another movie that carries the story on I can't believe some of the poor reviews are you watching the same movie as me or all those other unbelievable Christmas movies with no heart that leave you cold, the two stars have so much chemistry between them and so believable and beautiful to watch o well perhaps next Christmas.

All that snow, yet none falls on their heads. No 'breath' coming out their mouths? Couldn't suspend my reality for all the cheesy one liners.

This is delightfully filmed in snowy highland Scottish scenery and locations. The characterisation is great. The story is enjoyable. It is not entirely clear why it gets such poor reviews. Perhaps accents are a factor. Another reason that might be off-putting is that at times it is a bit over-schmalzy. However - ignoring the schmalz - I personally thought this was a great film. When compared to the highly standardized storylines behind many Hallmark movies etc this is far better scripted and acted. I suppose at the end of the day it comes down to personal taste. This was definitely to my taste and is unreservedly recommended.

I was not going to bother writing a review of this film until I saw all the 10 star reviews from people who obviously did not see this film. The giveaway was when they wrote things like "touching", "heartwarming" and "hysterically funny". Those are catch phrases one might use when reviewing a Christmas Romantic Comedy. However, this film is not funny or romantic, and with the exception of the female lead telling everybody it's Christmas (yay), it could very well be arbor day.

There is ZERO chemistry going on between the two leads. There is very little connection between anybody in this film. There are some weird things like the left/right business that turned out to be nothing. There is just a coating of slush on the ground, yet the last train couldn't get through. People (yes I'm saying it too) who claim to be freezing, yet don't button up their coats. A plow that's stuck in the garage because they can't get it out because of the coating of slush blocking the door.

Then, as a twist, nothing happens.

This was a decent Christmas movie. The story here is about two strangers, who are going thru some difficult times in their love life, coming together to find a way home for Christmas. What both don't realize, at the time, is that this journey home is more than simply catching a ride together. It becomes more about helping each other move on (and potentially work thru) their relationship woes (and the importance of spending time with others, even if they are strangers, during Christmas). I thought the story worked well for about the first 60 minutes or so. The dialogue between the leads was pretty good. There were a couple of nice scenes at the bar (at the inn) with some good conversation/dialogue between Jen (played Natalie Clark) and Rob (played by Kenny Boyle), our two protagonists in this story. I even had a few laughs during some of the scenes with Sid (played by Sanjeev Kohli), Ernie (played by Sylvester McCoy) and Frank (played by Frazer Hines). However, the story, I thought, broke down on Christmas morning. I am referring to the scene where Jen asks everyone to celebrate Christmas, they all say bah humbug, and she runs off into the woods (as opposed to running/walking along the road, which seemed odd, by the way). Shortly thereafter, Rob had an epiphany and runs after her, and when they get back, everyone is suddenly on board for a nice Christmas dinner. There is a big hole in the script between the first 60 minutes and the last half hour. The writers don't set the viewer up for the last third of the film. Thus, the final third seemed forced (or rushed). It is a pity, really. The acting, overall, was strong, I thought. Both Clark and Boyle' performances were convincing, and, as I noted above, they had some nice dialogue together. The chemistry between the two started to build up a bit on Christmas Eve, but, again, the writers could have done a better job setting this up before they jumped into bed together. For the most part, the supporting cast was great. As I alluded to above, Kohli, McCoy and Hines's performances were quite good (funny, I thought). The Scottish landscape in the film was a plus. There were some beautiful shots on the rolling hills. All in all, it is an entertaining Christmas movie, pretty good for the first two-thirds of the film.