A Holiday Boyfriend

People usually fall into two camps. those who love Hallmark rom-coms and those who hate Hallmark rom-coms! I am more or less indifferent, but the wife loves these things and roped me into watching this last night. I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. There is nothing new or surprising here, but it was engaging, hit all of the Christmas rom-com tropes and made me smile in the right places, I think! I can honestly say that I enjoyed it more than most of the movies that Hollywood thinks we all want to see around Christmas.

I'm shocked that there might be actors who auditioned and *didn't* get the part. Everyone in this movie is one (very small) step above an elementary school play where the kids stand in the middle of the stage and shout their lines at the audience. If I could have found the remote control under all the wrapping paper I would have shut it off long before it finally ended.

Yeah ... this movie is NOT award-worthy fare ... BUT ... there are cute moments in this QUIRKY-infested sort'a rom-com ... that hits on some not-often-covered relationship snafus people encounter ... but most don't talk about. The female-trio is almost high-schooli'ish (why ARE these women *friends*!?!). Matt Merchant delivers a very complicated performance of a clearly very complicated person. Michelle was the MOST normal persona + wrote+sang a decent closing song. You will neither harm nor exercise your brain with this one ... but it is definitely worth the time if you're in for some exceedingly light fare. As the credits show - this one got by with a lotta help from the writer/director's family+friends.

Don't waste your time. The main character is the most unlikeable shallow bimbo of all time.

Usually these fims are either formulaic or badly done ego trips. This film, written and directed by the star, had some weaknesses in writing, but the plot was not contrived, the story developed reasonably, and the performances were (generally) excellent. The dynamic between the female friends was honest and natural. The male lead was a little stiff, but may have been written that way. I watched it to see what a woman-driven genre film could accomplish. Olivia Dunkley stepped beyond her stunt woman, action hero default to deliver an entertaining look at contemporary dating.