Christmas with Felicity

This is a sweet story about a young baker who rediscovers the magic of Christmas. With romance, drama, comedy, and plenty of baking, it has all the right ingredients for a heartwarming holiday movie.

I am pretty sure the reviews that gave this movie a ten are friends and family of the cast and production.

The movie is beyond bad. The plot, the acting, the costumes are of the worst possible quality.

I cannot help wondering, when watching these hallmarkish movies, if the actors offer to work for free. There is no other explanation for these people to be cast. As for the costumes, they were right off the racks of a thrift store and it showed.

The last scene in which everyone is dancing, they are obviously dancing to a tune totally different from what we actually hear or... they are also awful dancers.

I usually enjoy these type of easy to watch, feel-good movies. It is quite rare for me to give these kind of movies anything less than a 5 but this one is just so awkwardly bad that I got uncomfortable watching it.

It comes down to acting, casting, directing and camera angles. None of it works. The lead figures have no chemistry, their interactions feel very staged, almost like a middle school drama performance. The supporting cast really has terrible acting skills. Take "Caitlin" for example; her cry-acting is so bad that if you told me she was doing a parody performance, I'd believe you. The background actors and supporting cast are so awkward too. This is mostly due to the setting, directing, and camera work. It looks scripted, staged, unnatural. None of the acting feels genuine or natural. It's not just fake, it's uncomfortable.

And let's not forget the terrible matching. "Madison" is supposed to be 13 years old but looks like an 18 year old. She gets matched with a boy who looks like a sixth grader. It feels and looks so wrong...

The one thing I thought I could rely on in the UK's Channel 5 Christmas films was their unrelenting niceness - that is, until I saw this one (which was titled Baking My Way to Christmas in the UK, for some reason). The charm that usually fills these kind of films is sadly missing here. Making the lead character so mopey and unpleasant in the early part of the film backfires badly, and I can imagine that many viewers would have given up when the first ad break arrived. The script is terrible, the performances weak, and the story just never grips. As others have said, the 10-star reviews on here are mighty suspicious and should probably be taken with a pinch of salt.

This is a hallmark style holiday film that will make you smile. Cozy up with your family, some eggnog, and cookies and enjoy some lighthearted fun. Or have it on while you and the kids are baking cookies!