A Christmas Exchange

Unlike some of the reviews here, I liked this Lifetime Christmas movie. The story and dialogue were a bit cheesy and unoriginal, but the film engaged me; i.e., it pulled me in from the start. The script draws heavily from the plots of two classic romance movies: The Holiday and You've Got Mail (though it is thru their mobile phones instead of desktop computers). The story centers on Molly Cooper (played by Laura Vandervoort), who recently lost her job at the local newspaper. As a fan of British-based romance novels, which she enjoyed reading with her late grandmother, Molly sets out to find her true love (a dashing British prince) and (potentially) a new job by swapping her farmhouse (in a quiet, small-town) with Patrick Kensington's luxurious London apartment (played by Rainbow Sun Francks), who has also decided to make some lifestyle changes. If you have seen The Holiday and You've Got Mail, then you can figure out the rest. If you are looking for depth, this movie is not for you. The story is fun and cute, and though the dialogue isn't very deep, I did find myself laughing a bit throughout the film. What made this work for me was the acting. Vandervoort was great. She had this sort of sweet and determined vibe to her performance, which I enjoyed watching on screen. I was a fan of the TV series Bitten, so that helped, I suspect. Though I wasn't as impressed with Francks's performance, he did eventually grow on me as the movie progressed. The supporting cast was excellent. Gilmore Girl fans will no doubt be happy to see Yanic Truesdale (as Andy) in this one. He and Martin Roach (as Jim) were fun to watch. Rachael Crawford too had a very 'drama' like performance as Jules the novelist. The movie does instill some Christmas spirit and festive cheer; the music was pretty good too. All in all, it is not in the same league as The Holiday or You've Got Mail, but for a made-for-TV Christmas movie, it is pretty good, nonetheless. Simply put: it is fun, cute, and engaging.

I agree with some of the other reviewers: this is a cute and fun Christmas movie. Sure, it is a low budget made-for TV movie. Sure, it draws maybe a bit too much from other films. Sure, it gets the Brits all wrong. But it was entertaining, and I enjoyed it.

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime and Hallmark. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. And 'A Christmas Exchange' did have the sort of premise where the execution could have gone either way.

Lifetime's 2020 Christmas film batch, like all their previous years, was pretty hit and miss which was not unexpected when one takes the circumstances into account, though a better standard than 2019's generally. 'A Christmas Exchange' managed to be one of the high middle ones once it settled fully, despite there being a medium sized gap where there was some uncertainty of whether to continue or not. While there is not much exceptional here, much of me is glad of sticking with it.

'A Christmas Exchange' has faults. It does start on the slow side story-wise and the dialogue is somewhat cheesy to begin with. The photography could have done with more polish, the film is occasionally a little cheap.

Did feel that a few aspects felt rushed. Especially the out of the blue and too neat ending and even the whole final quarter. Really do wish that the central relationship was developed more and wasn't so underused, with too little face to face interaction that added to the rushed feeling of the ending and such a drastic decision made after too short a time.

Much is done well though. It is worth seeing for primarily the effervescent performance of Laura Vandervoort, who really brightens up the screen and makes her character likeable. Sun Francks also has the likeability and charm factor once he settles and relaxes, he looks comfortable after the first quarter (where he was a little uptight) and doesn't take any flaws with his character to extremes. Do wish that there was more of them together but they charm when they are. Yanic Truesdale is amusing in his role.

Furthermore, a great job is done with the Christmas atmosphere, where it does feel like Christmas and in an affectionate way. Some lovely Christmas touches and there are some very sweet, but not sickly, scenes. Was not crazy about the script early on, but it did have a nice mix of funny and poignant lines. The story may be thin but has a warm heart and charm and doesn't take itself too seriously. The scenery is typically lovely and the music is overdone in tone or placement.

In summary, decent but not great and inconsistent. 6/10.

Tried to watch this. Ended up scrolling through most of it cause it was too painful to watch. Hate movies with female leads that are emotional basketcases.

About great scripting because a great script guarantees a hit, no matter the budget. If all the scripts were great Hollywood wouldn't think twice about the budget because of all the hits. Maybe Canada forces great scripting because the government is willing to foot the bill and they have a limit. Here is a great script. The actors are great and everything works.