Love the fun and nostalgia Christmas brings, and cherish all the time spent with family and friends every year. As well singing all the Christmas songs and carols and re-visiting as many of the films and special as possible. Recently wanted to see some different and new Christmas films to stretch my horizons beyond the ones traditionally watched every year. Feelings have been extremely mixed doing this and even when trying to take them for what they're meant to be quite a good deal of them have been lacking.
Of which 'Merry Kissmas' has stood out in a bad way, in that it was one of the worst. Did watch it expecting some cheese and schmaltz (as long as it wasn't overdone), but was not expecting to bombarded so excessively by both that it made for uncomfortable viewing. And then there is the further problem of pretty much everything done on an amateurish level, this was another example of a film when there was the serious temptation to turn it off ('Christmas with a View' was another festive film to make me feel that way) but stayed with it to be fair. Absolutely hate judging films unfairly or on a biased level, have always really tried to make it my duty to not do it.
'Merry Kissmas' has only the scenery that was good. Which was wasted by photography and editing suggestive of somebody who was not sober. Nothing memorable about the music, which sometimes was placed questionably. 'Merry Kissmas' felt very disorganised and sluggish in the direction, like the director didn't know what to do.
As was the script, as well as being heavy gratingly so on the cheese, soap, cringe and schmaltz, it was as others have said jumpy and borderline incoherent. The story is the same, on top of being very dull and predictable, next to nothing made any sense and was ridiculous. There is no charm or warmth, very little Christ-massy and some of it had a mean-spirited edge. This was apparent early on and one does struggle trying to stick with it, while the ending is hard to stomach.
Either the stereotypical characters were dull as dishwater or were insufferably irritating. Particularly hated the lead character, such a distastefully unlikeable character that never grows. There was no chemistry between the leads, with the actors looking like they hated each other. This is something that is apparent with the rest of the cast too, everybody seems so distant and disconnected with each other. The acting is a mix of going over the top and robotic, almost everybody looked comfortable as their characters and it made me uncomfortable watching them. Doris Roberts is the only one who tries but she isn't enough to compensate.
Overall, no merriment here, merry is the last word to describe what was an utterly joyless experience, even when trying to take it for what it is. 1/10 Bethany Cox
