My Best Friend's Christmas

To be honest, this one didn't last on our screen for more than the third scene. The female lead is one of those actors who thinks that emoting requires CONSTANT head wiggling while she delivers lines. Of course, it doesn't sell the dialogue, it only distracts from it as the viewer becomes increasingly fascinated with whether the next random wiggle will be the one which makes her so dizzy she topples over.

Her ultra-irritating little girl voice didn't help.

Then the second actress came on and damned if she didn't have the same poor style, though her voice WAS irritating too, at least it wasn't as bad as the lead. However, she added pouty to every line. Yuck.

We have no intention of suffering through all that for the entire movie.

The only reason this gets 4 stars is because of Colton Little. To him I would say this. It's ok to be relegated to the romance genre but please try to be a little more picky. For godsakes, and your own, fire your manager. If this is the best he can come up with for you then you are doomed.

Yes, to go on about this man because well, he just exudes sex. He's handsome with smoldering eyes, a square jaw, and a strong chin and he makes the struggle to get through this a little easier.

As for schmaltzy holiday romcoms, this is among the worst. The female MC is so hard to like, being a combination of writing and the acting itself. She is such the silly little schoolgirl to which she actually admits in the movie. And that squeaky voice. WTHF is that? When I watched this I was thinking this is the most egregious behavior towards friends I've ever witnessed in one of these movies and had I been any of them I would have told her to go %!?@ herself. It was shocking to watch them all so easily forgive her.

Is this a subtle or not so, form of misogyny on the part of the writer and a willingness of the actors to participate in? I believe it is.

Finding those good romcoms that are low on sap with good acting, production values, and story, is challenging but actually out there. Unfortunately you're stuck with this mess in your search to find them.

Very predictable plot, and acting so hammy it would embarrass a pantomime.

Start with the premise of the best friend who really should be the boyfriend. Ashley really goes over the top in taking advantage of Liam. I can see why other reviewers are saying they don't want Ashley to get together with anyone.

Usually, in best friend romance movies there is a natural chemistry between the best friends, but it wasn't really there in this movie. Colton Little really didn't seem comfortable with Parhiala even before they started faking their romantic relationship.

The two women do nothing to flatter the fairer sex. Ashley is obviously competent, but she's irrational about Grant from start to finish and her antics are embarrassing. Bella is the stereotype of a social media diva.

None of the main actors seem natural in delivery of their lines. Maybe it's the inane dialogue. There's an emotional scene toward the end where both women actors seem to think that just raising their voices an octave is sufficient to portray emotion, especially Parhiala.

I usually don't agree with complaints about sound track volume. I rarely have a real problem with it despite complaints, but this sound track was distracting.

There was a couples dance scene and none of the main actors could dance decently. It almost looked like when the scene was shot, the actors were hearing different music or no music. They definitely weren't able to dance and deliver lines at the same time.

There's a scene with Bella eating where she was channeling Meg Ryan (Harry Met Sally).

There really is no story other than the competition/jealousy angle. Combine that with no acting and no dialogue and you have a perfect movie.

Strangely, the last quarter or so of the movie goes from horrible to simply mediocre or perhaps even fair.. The acting is less bad. The dialogue at least makes some sense, and the story ending isn't bad even though it is predictable.

Very rarely do I rate one of these Christmacy/Hallmarkish made for TV rom coms below a 5, but this one was bad.

Now I can actually enjoy a movie where the heroine has more chemistry with the guy she does not end up with. Angrily Ever After is an example. But with this heroine, I didn't like her with either guy. She had more romantic moments with the ex she was trying to get back, but they fell flat to me because of the way she was treating his girlfriend. Grant, I think his name was, was in a committed relationship with Bella. Ashely, our heroine, smiled up in Bella's face, pretended to be her friend while undermining her to get close to Grant the whole time. This was not cute in the least.

So we get ice skating, long intimate walks etc with Ashley and Grant as Ashely tries her best to reconnect with him. Yet no romance at all with Ashley and Liam. Liam really was the best friend, and their interactions were platonic while Ashley chased Grant.

I only watched to the end to see Ashley apologize to everyone. I could not root for a HEA btw Ashley and Liam, as he deserved so MUCH better.