Christmas at the Holly Hotel

I like many of the Hallmark Christmas movies (yes, I know this isn't Hallmark), even the cheesy ones. I thought I'd give this a try...bad choice. Even within the first few minutes of the movie, it's bad but you think, hmm...maybe it'll pickup, no..it doesn't. It is horrible. I couldn't even finish it and that says a lot because like I said, I usually like even the cheesiest Christmas movies. The acting is so poor. It seems like they didn't even try. It was actually painful to watch the actors interact. It was super awkward and just lame. Don't even waste your time with this slop. It is just one to pass on.

This was one of the lowest energy movies I have seen in ages. The actors all looked and sounded like they were on the verge of falling asleep. Completely one note performances as though the only focus was spitting out the lines, but no warmth or feeling behind them. No chemistry between the lead characters, no excitement. The ending was not believable. I can't believe I wasted time on this!

There was a confusing plot point that also didn't work. I don't want to list spoilers but the flow was so random. Some of the hair /clothing choices were of poor quality as well. I did like the lead woman's dresses but that is not enough to recommend the film.

These Christmas romances are normally a go-to for me. They are formulaic, yes, but feature a charming and pretty woman who goes home for Christmas and in the midst of helping her parents, finds her dream job and dream man. Good so far. Until you realise that the female lead simply cannot act, that her 'charming' attempts to get out of a well-deserved speeding ticket make her look like a spoilt, petulant teenager, and nor can her 'parents'. The direction had them all sitting at a table featuring (for some reason) two bananas, a scene so dreadfully unconvincing that one found the fruit very interesting to look at! The male lead can, at least, act, but it's a small mercy given the rest of the film. Right, on that note, there's some paint I need to watch drying to wipe away the memory of this experience.

On Thanksgiving Day I tuned to this movie by accident (one channel off from the football game), and soon realized it was terrible. Before I could change to the game, though, my brother-in-law and some friends dropped by and they started watching the movie and joking at how bad it was. Its awfulness became sort of a cause celebre. We started to feel bad for the actors and writers and anyone involved because the whole thing was insipid. None of the characters had anything interesting to say except maybe alfalfa (not a spoiler). There were two dead characters but we didn't know why (not a spoiler). None of us had the heart to turn off this mess. We watched it all, laughed most of the time, then turned to the football game. Rated 5 for the unintentional humor.

This needs to be watched at 1.5 speed for any chance to be tolerable. I haven't actually finished watching it yet and I'm only one third in but it feels like hours.

Not sure exactly what they are doing to be so slow. It kind of highlights how hard it is to make a movie. Anytime I'm watching another movie that has some small flaw I'll remember this one and realise it's not that bad.

I hope it has a very exciting finale. Maybe a car chase, plot twist or its revealed that one of the characters has been dead all along. Oh wait, that just happened.

Still very tedious and as boring as this review. Sorry.