Christmas with the Campbells

I came for Justin Long but stayed for Alex Moffat. He was hilarious in this movie. He made me crack up. I could tell he was ad-libbing. Brittany was cute as well. And the mom.

Otherwise this movie was pretty lame. Weird sex jokes mixed in with cute comedy. They just don't make good Christmas movies anymore, like The Holiday or Family Stone. This one might have been trying to copy Just Friend's humour but couldn't pull it off.

Anyway I'm still glad I watched it. It has a legit cast and that's what brought me to it. These days the Christmas movies (on Hallmark) have no names.

This one was not as cheesy as those.

Christmas with the Campbell's is not exactly your typical Christmas rom-com. Definitely not Hallmark level. We have some raunch and multitudes of sexual innuendo, but no actual sex/love scenes.

It does actually have a few funny moments but it's mostly forgettable. Well except for Justin Long's attempt at sounding like some weird cross between Yellowstone's John Dutton and Rip Wheeler to sound not so nerdy I guess. It's so distracting. He's a likable actor but not when he's trying as hard as he was here.

Saw afterwards that it was co-written but Vince Vaughn which I believe explains the sexual content and raunch.

If you are adjacent to the Hallmark Movie phenomenon but can't bring yourself to fully dive into the trash pile, this movie is for you.

The negative reviews of this movie are particularly hilarious, because they make it abundantly clear that the reviewer is not in on the joke. This movie hits every ridiculous stereotype head on while showing enough restraint to still be funny instead of heavy-handed.

Julia Duffy said some truly outrageous things, with impeccable comedic timing. Justin Long made me laugh out loud more than once. The whole main ensemble knows their role perfectly but plays it earnestly.

In my perfect movie, Brittany Snow would've had a chance to show off her comedic chops more, but she did an amazing job playing the pitch perfect straight man. Occasionally the overwhelming horniness of her character's ex was a bit much, but it was tolerable.

Overall, hilarious takedown of a well-trod genre.

No this is not a family friendly Christmas movie. It's almost an anti-Christmas movie. After I realized it was meant to be a spoof of the Hallmark movies it made more sense. I personally have a like/hate feeling towards those movies. So predictable and saccharine sweet. If you only watch one once in a while it's cute, but too many and you feel nauseous and depressed from the sugar crash. This silly movie hit just right. I needed a few laughs. I knew most of these actors were better than they were playing so it was funny to realize they were over the top on purpose. Justin Long must have used every cliche comment ever used by a sappy good ol' boy out there. I thought there were a couple of moments where you could tell he and the cast were trying not to laugh at their own lines. The old people being the crude ones was a bit over the top. The boyfriend was hilarious as the jerk. If you don't like cheesy Christmas stories and have a slightly naughty sense of humor this movie might be just what you are looking for. If you are a Christmas movie fanatic and only want the most sweet stories, you'll hate this. Definitely not appropriate for kids.

You might recall Brittany Snow from the Pitch Perfect movies. This movie had that same odd dialogue where characters say really odd, inappropriate or absolutely crazy things.

I am a HUGE Justin Long fan and I was really looking forward to this little Christmas truffle. But his character is really strange, like he grew up with the Amish.

Again - odd dialogue.

I ended up watching it all, attempting to jive with the vibe, but it's really not all that good.

That being said, it COULD have been good, perhaps with some tweaks in various areas. And, I did enjoy Brittany and Justin, even with his odd character.

Apparently this was filmed where it was really cold and there was a lot of snow which they used to great affect.

Also, it was great seeing Norm after all these years. NORM!