Christmas at the Holly Day Inn

Of course I had never heard about the 2023 movie "Christmas at the Holly Day Inn" prior to sitting down and watching it. But I figured from the movie's cover that I would be in for an archetypical sappy Christmas movie here.

20 minutes in and I was ready to give up out of sheer and utter boredom. The movie had absolutely no Christmas spirit or charm, and the narrative was insanely slow paced with characters that were flaccid and one-dimensional. So writer Lisa Chapman didn't exactly manage to conjure up something grand here, and it was quite a struggle to sit through this ordeal of a movie.

The only familiar face on the screen was actor Mark Arnold, and he wasn't a leading actor. The acting performances in the movie were generally half-hearted for the most parts, which made it all the more unbearable to sit through the ordeal that is "Christmas at the Holly Day Inn".

If you enjoy traditional sappy Christmas movies, give "Christmas at the Holly Day Inn" a wide berth, because it just didn't cut it.

My rating of directors Monika Gergelova and Adam Wilson's 2023 movie lands on a two out of ten stars.

My excuse is that I am poorly. Under a blanket and in need of Christmas comfort having got a heavy cold. My goodness this is poor stuff.

Good to get one of these set in the UK - there are just dozens of American seasonal romances - but this doesn't ring true.

Dr Who (Colin Baker) and former EasterEnder Anita Dobson try their best with the jolity but it is hard to rescue a woeful script and disappointing settings.

I'm guessing it was filmed in Sept/October and the crew could only be supplemented by a handful of extras and the loan of a few garden fete atractions to make the big Christmas event.

The leads are sweet enough with a degree of chemistry but they aren't given the most believable material to work with.

There are a few directorial gaffes that make the piece lose pace - the hero parks several yards away when he turns up to change a tyre - weird!

They make cookies - at best they are gingerbread men and biscuits, we don't have a UK cookie baking tradition.

I wanted this to be so much better because it is about the UK but sadly it is in need of a re-think.

So many of these Christmas films follow the same tired formula. This is simply relocating the standard Hallmark/Reel One outside the US but hardly changing the structure and making no allowances for cultural differences.

Is this due to the strike in Hollywood?

Open the drawer and take out Script 101. "Strong but irritating/rude" female lead. Dopey male lead. Car breakdown, Misunderstanding. Standard denouement. Then all miraculously sorted out in time for love and marriage in less than a week...

Everyone works to save the Inn/Reindeer Farm/Ranch/Bakery/Whatever.

As for baking "cookies" in an English kitchen ...

Christmas At The Holly Day Inn (2023) -

I probably shouldn't have expected much when it took half an hour for the produced by credits to go by at the beginning of the film, you know when they've had to get funding from that many people, it's probably not been wanted by anyone that knows what they're doing.

And within minutes I did feel that the film was kind of amateur hour at Christmas time or like an after school special aimed at kids not adults, mostly due to the basic and hammy dialogue.

The lighting was off and the camera work was a bit shakey too. The production values weren't brilliant and the actors weren't great either.

I couldn't work out whether the cast were badly directed or if they were just really poor at doing their jobs. Anita Dobson should have been better, but it's always hard to tell with Colin Baker who tends to be quite flamboyant anyway.

I was prepared to give this one a go however, despite my reservations, which was more than the hotel had (Obviously - Standard plot device), but ultimately there was a bit where Oliver (Kevin Leslie) the leading man, got bumped in to just after the first break and his acting made me cringe so much that I gave up, because life is too short.

Unscored as unfinished.

This plot is very familiar to any Hallmark viewer, but here's the British version ...although the dialogue, like modern UK Christmas, is somewhat Americanised. I love that there's two generations, meaning I'll not grow out of all the characters and therefore rewatch the movie in future years, plus the older actors are TV legends from Doctor Who and EastEnders, two of the BBC's biggest / long-running dramas, so it is fun to see them in a less-intense story here. The plot tackles several situations viewers will relate to at some point in life eg work / retirement decisions, bereavement, starting over etc so I found the presentation really relatable.