El diario de Noel

I was binging some cheesy Christmas movies and I saw this and I thought ok sounds like another typical 4, 5 average I'll pass the time.

I was surprised, it was a really very nice movie. I even shed a tear there at the end.

I really liked it. Great movie, great acting. It touches on so many painful subjects but not in a heavy way. The actors are all great, nothing cheesy and it does have a Christmas vibe to it. Ok well maybe a few scenes were slightly cheesy but the rest is really good and sad , that I was really thrilled and smiled at those cheesy moments. I finished the movie having a lot of thoughts about my own life and the people in it, so relatable. Definitely not what i expected feeling after a Christmas movie.

Firstly, this movie wasn't actually filmed in winter time and the green screen and CGI really took me out of the story. This isn't Hallmark - what gives?

Secondly, this movie had so much to work with, but just didn't have the guts to go there. Everything was kept at such a surface level that it was hard to care or relate to the characters. I cry over pretty much anything, but I didn't shed a tear watching a movie about a woman searching for her birth mother and a man dealing with trauma and abandonment. There was no heart, no passion, no drama. No love. Rachel's decision didn't satisfy, the "closure" of Jacob's relationship with his father was anticlimactic, and the romance gave nothing. No conversation or kiss or anything that made it feel complete or earned at the end. Basically, it's a pass as far as Christmas movies go.

It's a heartwarming story; a feel-good story as most Christmas tales are although one might find it a bit cheesy.

The premise is rather unusual. How a diary could turn strangers into sweethearts, reconcile estranged relatives, and make a child fully understand her mother who abandons her is something to root for. And the movie brings out all the elements that make it a gem.

Justin Hartley and Barrett Doss have undeniably good chemistry on screen which makes their scenes together quite entertaining.

The soundtrack helps to energize it, and the cinematography captures the Christmassy feeling and tone.

There are many remarkable, quiet Christmas stories out there. This is one of them.

I feel like I need a hard shower to get all the sap off after watching this. They used every cliche in the book to pull at the heart strings and create a Norman rockwell-like atmosphere with very fake-looking snow. And it's pretty much snowing the entire movie.

But the biggest fault is that the main characters didn't spend nearly enough time together to fall so deeply in love. I watched this without my wife because I figured she'd find it far too corny, and she would have. The big, emotional speech at the end sounded very familiar, and I'm sure I've heard variations in other rom-coms (though I don't think the com part applies here). Definitely don't see this becoming a Christmas classic.

A famous author learns his mom has died and returns to his hometown to clean up her house. In the process he meets a woman looking for her birth mom and believes she had ties to his family.

I liked this movie a lot other than the pretty quick ending. Justin Hartley is really underrated as an actor. It was nice to see him out of Randall's shadow on This Is Us. The Vermont and Massachusetts winter scenery was beautiful and the cast dynamic was solid. The plot was simple but mostly believable.

As I said, my only complaint was the shotgun ending. Act 3 felt criminally short in comparison to the rest of the movie.