Blending Christmas

A very tired vehicle to reunite the Brady crew. All the actors seem to be looking around to find the drama, and find their lines. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha .... Help!!!

I thought this was a cute little homage to old Sitcom stars. Many of the original cast of the king of sitcoms, The Brady Bunch, was in this, including Cousin Oliver! Jennifer Elise Cox even had a role. She was the actress who played Jan in The Brady Bunch movie (Marsha, Marsha Marsha!) and pretty much stole the show. She has her moment in this one with her "Michelle, Michelle, Michelle" (and her "Laura, Laura, Laura," in case we didn't get it the first time.)

Greg Evigan of BJ and the Bear, and Telma Hopkins who added a ghostly presence. As well as Beth Broderick of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. She is always a welcome presence in a movie lending as always credibility, warmth, and common sense.

The plot was pretty slight with Aaron O'Connell trying to propose to Haylie Duff (7th Heaven among others) at a Dude Ranch (where else?) in the midst of feuding families.

It was harmless fun.

I am at a loss as to what the source of IMdB25288's hatred and spitefulness towards Ms Duff is. Not content with spewing vitriol and insults with one review, He goes in for a second round in a follow-up. The woman has 74 credits spanning from 1997 to 2021 and one on the way. Someone likes her. Maybe she broke his crayons when they were kids.

**Oh, I see his 2 reviews have been removed. Or maybe he deleted them. Good.**

Let's face it nobody watched this film for Ms. Duff. Regardless of her appearance or acting!! I, simply watched it for the Brady Bunch Reunion plus Oliver. I mean that was the catch to draw viewers in, in all of the ads I saw for it they spotlighted them. Congratulations it worked!

Brady boxes minus 'Marsha, Marsha, Marsha' and Oliver = Easter Eggs Everywhere. Talk about a sweet Christmas Movie!!!

Where weepy is wonderful. All ages can enjoy this one, folks.

Blending Christmas/Big Family Christmas (2021) -

I appreciated the fact that this wasn't the same tired formula that these films usually use and I really liked the concept of bringing family together for Christmas, because I do feel that the world is forgetting how to celebrate the season and what it really means. I don't mean the Jesus bit, but how family is important and their love is as much to be received as returned.

Aaron O'Connell in the leading role of Liam looked better than he had in some of his previous films and I liked his character, he had a big heart, although he did need to call her out on her bullsh!t. He deserved better I think, because Haylie Duff's character, Emma was a sulky so and so, who got so huffy so quickly that I had to wonder if it was a full moon or something. I actually couldn't even see what she was getting so upset about to start with.

I was glad that they didn't try and hide the rest of the family for the whole weekend, which would have made it very silly and farcical and in general I did like the story and the way it was filmed. It was only really Emma that annoyed me. And despite being on the desert, it still managed to have Christmassy elements.

However, some of the supporting "Family" were not the best actors available and based on their singing, they definitely weren't the Osmond family.

Having looked it up though, it turned out that they were apparently the Brady Bunch! I only remember the more recent films, so I couldn't identify those featured, but I hoped that they had delivered a better performance in their TV show. Mike Lookinland as Andrew was really quite cringey and I wouldn't want to ever see his version of 'A Christmas Carol'.

It wasn't the worst Made For TV Christmas Film that I've ever seen and I would probably revisit it in the distant future, but I think that it could have been delivered with a bit more aplomb.

4.5/10.