Deck the Walls

I have watched and reviewed literally hundreds of Hallmark-like Christmas movies. Did I somehow miss it, or this year are the premises getting even more impossibly ridiculous? A charity house flip where the mayor takes away all the remaining money??? So how did they get anything more done? Rose keeps coming back with new stuff. Is it all donated? If this isn't enough fun, Rose and Brysen have a negative history that isn't totally revealed all at once. And the lead contractor, Sal, has a negative history with reporter assigned for PR. And the mayor told Sal it was a print reporter, but he is filming for TV including a live finale. Like I said, impossibly ridiculous and somewhat derivative.

Is this a rom/com because almost all of the first third or more of the movie has very little positive time with Rose and Brysen together. Overall, I think the relationship development between these two was rushed. There is a second romance between Sal and Jake.

The story seems a little slow probably because so much of it is reliving backstory. I think all the backstory is an attempt to pull heartstrings as everything develops, but I just couldn't get into it because the writers kept throwing obstacles at the project. There are several musical interludes. Filler? Despite the project being such a rush there is still time for parlor games, karaoke, and ice skating.

The acting is OK, the dialogue has some good moments but also ones that are bland.

BTW my pet peeve is text messages that are too small to read. There is one just before the climax. I paused and got right next to the TV and still couldn't read it. I still don't know if it contributed to the important moment.

I almost dnf'd this in the first 10 minutes, but I persisted and I can't say I am happy about that...with the exception of getting to see Carolyn Hennesy as Aunt Gigi. This film starts as a hot mess. The dialogue is awkward, the meeting between characters is awkward, there are lots of sad themes liking bullying, divorce, poverty, death, coping techniques, loss of family home to fire, etc. For me this added a lot of negatives to what should be a light Hallmark holiday film, add in that this had advertising imbedded in it for both HomeGoods and Nutella and it rapidly moved into a film I not only can't recommend, but don't want to watch. (Not that I have anything against either HomeGoods or Nutella, but we are already watching too many commercials on cable which we pay for.)

The best part of this film was Aunt Gigi, played by the lovely Carolyn Hennesy. I have loved her as the tough but lovable mob lawyer on GH, where she has set an example of a strong, loyal, independent woman for years. The other aspect that was enjoyable was the exterior of the fixer-upper home. I am sorry to say those two items don't push this over into the recommendation category for me.

Hallmark scriptwriters are getting worse and worse when it comes to developing realistic conflict between the love interests. This was no exception. For some reason, Hallmark thinks we need to have the hero and heroine be at odds to start the story and then follow along as they smooth over their differences and fall in lovel The paper-thin plot failed to hold my interest. It needed more emphasis on story and less of a focus on Danny Pellegrino. It was great to see General Hospital's Carolyn Hennesy in a fun role, but she wasn't enough to save this snoozefest. The lack of chemistry between Wes Brown and. Ashley Greene also didn't help. And only the Hallmark Channel could come up with a premise that the community needs to rally together to build a new home for the high school principal because he's outgrown his old one. Habitat for the Middle Class.

DNF

I tried to get through this, but it is just so bland and boring. Nothing sweet or charming to pull me in. The chemistry is lacking with all the characters.

Most of the time what makes these kind of films tolerable is the chemistry between the two leads and when there is no chemistry and the story is bad written and conceived it's a recipe for disaster.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy holiday cheese, but this is just not it. I honestly don't get why it was made or how it made it past the outline stage.

I liked the aunt character but even she couldn't make me finish watching it. Not my holiday jam.

A looked forward to watching Deck the Walls mostly due to the cast. The house flipping/renovation Holiday Hallmark film is not a novel concept, but I really like both Ashley Greene and Wes Brown. I was impressed with the remainder of the cast leads as well. However, as others mentioned, the motivation behind the character's emotions towards one another took too long to be revealed, and while I do appreciate line upon line development, it was hard to get a grasp on, especially for a Hallmark movie. It would have been very easy to drop that Rose had a crush on Brysen growing up in the initial conversation with Sal. Even still, I didn't understand why she had such animosity towards him when he didn't even know. It would have been one thing if there was a conflict in their history, but nothing. He didn't know, he was with his high school sweetheart, and she kept it hidden. I also felt that the development between Sal and Jake was a little forced. I liked how the backstory unfolded but something just wasn't there. I also felt this featured the most intentional product placements I've seen in Hallmark movies before. Subtle placement is fine, but this was a bit over the top and I feel took a bit away from the film. I love Nutella though, and those cookies looked fire! I think if you are already fans of Ashley Greene, Wes Brown, or Danny Pellegrino, you will enjoy this just fine. It's a good movie to have on while baking cookies- far from the worst one of the season, but is far from an instant classic. It otherwise fits the typical rom-com story arc- here's to a Christmas wish that future lead characters won't be so weakened by odd insecurities or misunderstandings/miscommunication.