Christmas in Carolina

The writing is uneven, the cinematography is odd (close-ups of wine glasses and barbells; camera not in line with the actor's eyes so it looks like he's looking elsewhere), and there are numerous montages that last way too long of actions to music without dialogue. And so much doesn't make sense! Don't bother rewinding, thinking you missed something; any background, relevant part, or connecting scenes aren't there. For example, Elle is missing, and the brothers leave to find her. The next scene, it's the next day, and she's in the house, like she never left, asking for a ride to the airport, and Wesley, who was out looking for her, opens the front door dressed in a sharp red suit (not what he left dressed in). If what I wrote doesn't make sense, understand that's how I felt most of the movie. I enjoyed family interactions and some of the actors, and those are the only redeeming factors of this movie.

What can be said about this one. The story is unrealistic and out of touch. The acting is bad and stiff. The sound is bad, the lighting is bad, the comedy is bad. Honestly this is the worst movie I've ever sat through. I guess they thought getting Laura and Eddie from Family matters was a draw so they put them on the advertisement and feature them in a few scenes and for some reason play they as brother and sister, I guess because of there past related roles, when they act more like husband and wife. The shirt 75 min run time is filled with about 30 minutes of musical montages where I guess they couldn't think of any dialogue. The funniest of these is watching several characters planning to wrap a gift for 5 minutes.

This is a poor attempt at a bad movie. I would put this up against any of the famous bad movies and likely win.

Good family scenes in a BEAUTIFUL middle class family. Very loving. A movie WHERE NO BLACK PERSON DIES OR LOSES A JOB.! UPBEAT. The best of it does happen at the family home! The writer and the producers are young. Just know Spielberg started writing for tv. Keep on keeping on!

When I see so many 1 star reviews, I get suspicious. Don't be. It's legitimate. This movie is truly terrible and I'll give the reasons why.

The first most obvious thing you notice is the sound. Most scenes have that slight echo like it's being recorded in a big room. In the first scene, the bar background noise competes for the viewers attention with the main actors. Incoherent conversation and even silverware and plate noises.

The acting is universally bad. The quality of acting across the board is below high school drama club. Sometimes it seems like the actors are trying too hard, overacting. Wesley's brother is distracting.

I would say the story is unusual except it's hard to find the story. For one thing, the leads don't get to Carolina until well past half-way. The transitions are horrible. Things progress without making sense. Elle's attitude toward everything changes completely without any explanation. She goes from crabby to nice instantaneously. Events progress at the end that don't make sense because they aren't explained. Wesley's brother brings up something that is never explained why he thought what he said. Elle shows up where I couldn't understand how she got there based on what happened immediately before that.

The dialogue is terrible. It's boring. It seems like the writers knew they had a problem because on Wesley and Elle's first real date, there was no dialogue. For that matter, Wesley and Elle had almost no screen time together. They each had more conversation with their confidants than with each other and that conversation was repetitive and boring. There were at least three sequences of a minute or longer with music and no dialogue.

There were some weird camera shots which were a directing fail attempting to look artsy, but adding nothing worthwhile.

I add 1 star to the minimum because this movie did one thing right that is usually my pet peeve. That was making text messages readable to the viewer.

The acting is not very good or off. T It is not realistic and not natural but thats because of the acting. The storyline seems rushed. It wasn't a Hallmark movie or some of the seasoned Christmas movies but I get the meaning. I see what the storyline is trying to say. Nothing is perfect. All in all if you love different types of Christmas movies like I love Christmas movies you will most likely like this movie. I stumbled on this movie on Tubi and I thought I would give it a look and I am glad I did. It wasn't the greatest movie but a good meaningful movie. I hope whoever reads this review enjoys the movie.