Coup de foudre au marché de Noël

I'm not sure how I watched this for 2 hours. I always like Brandt, but Jaicy, although fine in My Southern Family Christmas, is such a boring uncharismatic actress. She has this superior vibe in all her movies. Just not pleasant at all. Never happy, never laughs, rarely smiles.

The script was just okay. I think with another actress, it might have been a lot better. Kimberly should definitely have been in this, or any other actress except Jaicy.

I think Kimberly Daugherty chose Jaicy because there was no chance of any chemistry between them!

That's unfortunate, but casting is extremely important. Especially a lead in a romantic movie.

Not even close.

Joyeux Noel (2023) -

I always find it hard to believe that journalists are given so much money, time and leeway to deliver just one article and just a few days before Christmas for the big seasonal issue. Surely these things should be wrapped up well and truly before December even starts?

I also didn't believe that the two leading actors, Brant Daugherty as Mark and Jaicy Elliot in the role of Lea would ever be more than just friends, certainly not within the space of a few days and don't give me that magic of the season crap. I'd need to see an actual wand being waved and actual magic happening to believe this one.

Before he started to mellow and grow as a human, Mark was clearly not interested in Lea as a person or seemingly anything else for that matter, showing an indifference to most things, but obviously hiding an intelligence and capability to do his job. As the story progressed, I could see him warming to her for her abilities as a novice journalist, but not romantically, despite the festive activities that they took part in.

Sadly Lea was just annoying and stand offish. She was so concerned about being right all the time, that I couldn't imagine that she would ever let anyone in and where it was clear that Mark did start to ponder their connection, I could see nothing to suggest that she had any inclination towards him at all. Perhaps it was Jaicy's acting abilities that didn't show that budding romance or maybe she was directed or edited to come across like that, but it just didn't work. She was just an odd casting choice to go up opposite Brant who was the writer of the screenplay and must have had some input surely. Unless they were specifically trying to show that love is blind and don't get me wrong I believe that it should be about the person inside, but she didn't seem to have any redeeming features at all.

Brant Daugherty is an absolutely beautiful man, which made it easy to be on Mark's side from the off. In spite of his "Moody" monicker, he had a sweetness and a definite charm that just made him even more attractive. And in fairness to him, I wouldn't have wanted Lea tagging along either, regardless of whether she had found the information that lead to the story they were researching or not. So I might have started off with a bad attitude too, but at least he did mellow. I'd also be annoyed that I wasn't doing something more substantial as a journalist with ambition, but I would be thrilled to take a holiday to France for Christmas, whether I enjoyed the festivities and hoopla of it all or not, so he could have appreciated that a bit more keenly.

As the story progressed, and I did enjoy the journey that they were following with its investigative side that wasn't all tree decorating and cookie cutting, as these films can tend to be, I still couldn't buy Mark ever getting together with Lea. Not just because she was nowhere near as hot as him and had no personality, but also because their onscreen chemistry was sooo incompatible. I might have believed it more if it had been a TV series to show that opposites attract or beauty is in the eye of the beer holder, but I would have needed at least ten episodes of really good writing to ever want them to end up together. They didn't get that across in this hour and a half made for TV film though.

If either of them had been swapped out it would have actually been a nice little film as a whole, but that error irked the whole thing. He was so beautiful inside and out, while she was so dumpy and plain and lacking anything attractive from within that the final kiss actually made me cringe.

And while the two reporters searched for the information for their article intent on discovering who had painted a picture and written in a lost diary that Lea had found from so many years ago, there was some convenience to the events that unfolded as well. The lady that let them in to her house without ID and then later unearthed boxes full of photos that were incredibly helpful for instance and completely out of the blue, with no explanation at that.

It's also incredibly frustrating, when the characters are looking in to something, that they never explain to those that they've interviewed exactly what they know to get the full answers and they have no patience to come back when the person isn't busy. It's like watching a crime show when the lead Cop doesn't ask all the questions that are burning in my head, but keep going back to that person for another bit of information and another and so on.

Other than that Sophie (Ciara Prioux), the daughter of the inn keeper where they stayed, was incredibly annoying and I didn't even buy her French accent. She was actually a bit surplus to requirements, where they could have used her screen time to develop the romance instead. And the accordion player who seemed to turn up on every street corner looked like Freddy Krueger*.

However despite all of my moaning, it was still one of the better Christmas films I've seen this year, because the writing was mostly good, the production was well done and it was clear that they had a good budget. The setting was romantic at least and the creative season evenly spread throughout to provide warmth and joy. If they had put anyone else in Lea's role I might have given this film at least a 9/10, but she did let it down.

7.39/10.

*Robert Englund's burnt and knifed glove wearing character from 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984).

Cute storyline with lovely French backdrop but the wrong female lead ruined it for me. It is refreshing to see Hallmark embrace body inclusivity so I was rooting for the female lead but she didn't do the character justice. Very deadpan in her expressions - she was simply hard to like and root for as a character as a result.

I was also distracted by the wardrobe choices. I felt terribly for the female lead that they kept her in a boring neutral jacket the whole movie that was too small for her. You could see her adjusting it in every scene - it must have been distracting for her as well. Give the gal a colour that flatters her skin tone and actually fits her!

I had waited to watch this movie because the ads made it seem like it was going to be tough to watch. All I could focus on when seeing the ads is how the female lead is so monotone and has such a flat delivery.

Having watched the movie, I will say that this is certainly a problem that detracts from the story, which is unfortunate because I love the idea of more realistically sized women being leading ladies. The national average is closer to a size 14 than a size 0, I think they should have no trouble finding an average-sized woman who can deliver lines more convincingly. I've only seen her in this movie, so it's hard for me to know whether she's not a good actor or if she just wasn't good in this part. Who knows, maybe it was because they put her in a jacket that was 2-3 sizes too small that she was self-conscious and struggled to be comfortable as the character.

Also, I understand that characters must grow towards each other to fall in love on these hallmark movies but they started out at such different places. In the beginning he so clearly did not respect her and she came off as detached and disinterested so it was hard to buy into them being potential love interests or them being in love at the end. As I was watching, by the end I felt they gave off 'friend vibes' not 'hopelessly in love vibes'.

It's unfortunate because I liked the idea - it was different than the run-of-the-mill hallmark Christmas movie with the usual checklist of plot points - but the execution didn't live up to its potential.

Brant Daugherty is always good, I especially enjoyed him in the "The Baker's Son" and "Just for the Summer". I've seen Jaicy Elliot in a few rom-coms which have been hit and miss. Brant and his wife Kimberley wrote the script and I give them credit, it's different in a good way. At this time of year when Hallmark cuts Autumn movies short and rolls out Christmas movies that aren't very original, it's refreshing to watch one with a different plot.

The slow pace could have been deadly dull, but the leads and the supporting cast kept it interesting. It wasn't the ending we anticipated but it wasn't a cliched ending of "they lived happily ever after". Don't know where it was filmed, on a soundstage in the US with European exteriors, the old City of Quebec in Canada, Belgium or France, but nice locations.