A Big Fat Family Christmas

6.7 stars.

Not sure my thoughts align with any of the other reviewers thus far. I was looking for someone in agreement with my sentiments, but my search has been fruitless. First of all, 'A Big Fat Family Christmas' is not about Christmas, it's about a woman who is ashamed of being what she is because of some trauma she endured as a youngster. The story only takes place during the holidays, but it's coincidental as far as the theme is concerned. What a clever insertion of Christmas in order to get this film put into the Hallmark lineup (otherwise this story never makes it onto your TV screen).

We are led on a circuitous route and eventually transported to the crux, anticipated by all, but overly delayed. I don't see any point other than a testament of the feelings of a young American woman ashamed of her Chinese and Filipino descent. No romance and no feel-good Hallmark appeal is found as we witness two young Asians traipsing about San Francisco sharing their prolonged emotional and existential diatribes.

I cannot empathize with these likeable people because I've not experienced anything similar, but I have many Asian friends who have and I sympathize.

While there are some echoes of some common Christmas stories, there is a lot that is unique in this one. At the start it is about a photo=journalist who gets assigned to cover a famous Christmas party in the Chinese community without her editor knowing the family giving it is hers. As the story goes on, we learn that she has also had an influence on the development of the party.

Liv reacts strongly to anything that ties her to her family in public. At first I thought Shannon Chan-Kent was overacting with this. By the end of the story her emotion becomes more understandable. This woman brings real energy to the part.

There is a romance between Liv and the writer, Henry, assigned with her. They spend a lot of screen time together, but the romance between them is not as obvious as would be expected from all that screen time. There is Chinese-American history and culture and sights to see.

The conflict begins far earlier than usual but is complex and takes time to really develop. In that, there are some threads associated with racial bullying mixed up with and contributing to Liv's insecurities.

Chan-Kent sings twice in the movie including the climax. I believe the language was Cantonese. Her voice and the song are beautiful.

I liked this story. Scratch that. I loved it! It had the feel of Fat Greek Wedding movies, as the title gave the impression would be.

The asians are really good at comedy. I don't know the stars at all but Shannon, who, at first seemed long in the tooth to play the daughter, ended up being the biggest surprise for me.

She sold her character. She played it so beautifully that her age didn't matter to me anymore and I even managed to convince myself she was supposed to play a mid 30s single daughter. What a singing voice!! Wow!!

I have watched Tia grow up on TV and in movies, so it was kinda cool to see her play the mom in this one.

Give it a watch. I think you'll enjoy it too.

I really loved this movie. The two MCs were engaging and the supporting characters brought a lot to the story. All of the actors were good to excellent. The two Shannons (Shannon Kook is the male lead and Shannon Chan-Kent is the female lead) were really great in their roles. Kook's South African accent comes in handy.

The use of the word "fat" in the title is an excellent choice because of its meaning in Cantonese ("happy") as well as how it alludes to a certain Greek wedding.

The production was well-done. I know that filming the whole movie in San Francisco isn't feasible, but the exterior shots in the City were well-done and well-placed. I also loved that Cantonese was used in the dialog. It definitely made it feel real.

This was overall a really good Christmas movie. Reminiscent of a Wonderful Life when certain things go wrong. Also, the love shown among family and neighbors was wonderful. It was different from so many Hallmark movies because it just wasn't about the romance and regular holiday activities . It was very interesting to hear about Chinese culture and traditions. It was especially nice to hear Liv sing at the end of the show at the Christmas party in Cantonese. She did a beautiful job and it was very I thought all the characters were likable and interacted well with each other. I like that love of God, family and one another was the objective of the story.